US nonprofit professional association From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a nonprofit professional association[1] whose stated mission is to "support and empower game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers."[2]
| |
| Formation | 1994 (as Computer Game Developers Association) |
|---|---|
| Type | 501(c)(6) organisation |
| Focus | Computer games and interactive media |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Membership | Over 12,000 |
Executive Director | Jakin Vela (since 2022) |
Chair of board of directors | Margaret Krohn (2023) |
| Website | igda |
The IGDA is incorporated in the United States as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization. It has over 12,000[3] members from all fields of game development. In recognition of the wide-ranging, multidisciplinary nature of interactive entertainment, everyone who participates in any way in the game development process is welcome to join the IGDA.
The beginnings of the IGDA emerged from several other organizations for computer game developers which were forming in the late 1980s and early 1990s:
Crawford's living room event in April 1988, the CGDC, had brought in 26 or 27 game developers.[10][11] It was such a success[7][10][12] that on the spot a steering committee was formed to host a larger event six months later at a Holiday Inn in Milpitas, California, which drew 127 developers.[7] Then this event continued to be held each Spring. It grew rapidly, by 50% or more each year, moving to larger and larger venues.[7] Early conference directors included developers such as Crawford, Brenda Laurel, Nicky Robinson, Anne Westfall, and Ernest W. Adams.[13]
In 1994 the CGDC then sponsored its own association, the Computer Game Developers Association, or CGDA, taking over the membership list from Walker and Brengle's CEDA. Initial board members included David Walker, Tim Brengle, Anne Westfall, and Ernest Adams, who became Chair. Jennifer Pahlka became the first Executive Director.[3] In 1997 when elections were held, Noah Falstein became the first elected chair.
A separate organization was also created in 1996, the IGDN, International Game Developers Network, run by people such as Marc Mencher and Gordon Walton.[14] It had its own conference, the International Game Developers Network Conference, launched in 1998 in Austin, Texas.
The two organizations, the CGDA and the IGDN, ran more or less in parallel for a while, and then merged in 1999 as the International Game Developers Association, with David Walker and Tim Brengle as members No. 1 and 2.[9][15] Hap Aziz on the board of the CGDA and David Weinstein on the board of the IGDN were tasked with merging the two organizations and named the IGDA as a combination of the CGDA and the IGDN.
The board of directors is the governing body of the IGDA. As of 2023, Margaret Krohn is the chair of the board of directors.[16]
Day-to-day operations of the IGDA are handled by Executive Directors. Since 1994, these have been:
Other structures within the IGDA include:
Aside from bringing game developers together, the IGDA focuses on the following issues present in the game development industry:[22]
Starting in 2014, the association has been working with the FBI to deal with the online harassment of developers.[23]
The IGDA introduced the first annual Global Industry Game Awards (GIGA) in August 2021, in collaboration with devcom, a branch of the annual Gamescom convention devoted to video game development. The awards were designed "to celebrate the contributions of individuals and discipline teams across the many facets of game development", with several awards given in each category of Art, Audio, Design, Engineering and Technology, Support, Writing and Narrative, and other awards, rather than focusing on the whole studio behind a given game.[24][25]
The IGDA, through its chapters and SIGs, organizes hundreds of events for members of the game development industry including chapter meetings and meetups. However, there are larger events that are organized that bring IGDA's international members together:
In 2009, Timothy Langdell resigned from the IGDA board after a movement to remove him due to his activities in enforcing the trademark name "Edge" used by Edge Games.[33]
During the GDC 2013 a party was hosted by co-presenters IGDA and the start-up incubator YetiZen. The event featured at least three girls in white outfits dancing, one was in a shorter t-shirt, another in a furry outfit.[34] Backlash over the presence of these female dancers resulted in the several people resigning in protest, most notably Brenda Romero from the IGDA's Women in Games Special Interest Group steering committee.[35] On the day following the party IGDA Executive Director Kate Edwards issued an apology stating "We regret that the IGDA was involved in this situation. We do not condone activities that objectify or demean women or any other group of people."[36]
On 20 November 2014 the IGDA added a link to "A Twitter tool to block some of the worst offenders in the recent wave of harassment" to their Online Harassment Resources web page.[37] However, due to the method of the list's generation several IGDA members including the Chairman of IGDA Puerto Rico Roberto Rosario were added to the list of harassers.[38][non-primary source needed] These errors resulted in the IGDA removing the link to the tool on 22 November.[39][non-primary source needed]
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