IGDA Elections – Candidate Scrutiny

By: Derek Yu

On: February 23rd, 2010

IGDA

IGDA elections for the Board of Directors are going on right now. You have until February 28th (this Sunday) to vote for 5 new Board members. 5 members are also leaving, including Tom Buscaglia, who came under some fire during the Tim Langdell shenanigans.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the International Game Developers Association, it’s a non-profit “professional society for video and computer game developers worldwide” (Wikipedia). It is made of a central organization and many local chapters. Members pay $48 a year for access to IGDA events, products, and services.

People seem to have very differing opinions on the local chapters, which is not surprising, since their quality depends so much on local leaders and members. On the other hand, I’d say people’s opinion of the central org is overall pretty negative. Last year the IGDA was criticized heavily for having Tim “EDGE” Langdell on its Board of Directors and moving very slowly to remove him (he eventually resigned before they could remove him). This was not very long after the IGDA fumbled the Mike Capps situation. Mike, the President of Epic Games, was an IGDA board member when he infamously explained how Epic management expected their employees to work 60+ hours a week on games.

Beyond that, there’s the question of how much the IGDA actually does for game developers, and why they can be so defensive and evasive when one of their own is criticized. With that in mind, this election is important for the IGDA. The idea that another Langdell or Capps is lurking amidst the 23 candidates is a scary thought for members.

Scott Macmillan, an indie developer and a member of the Boston IGDA, realized this and started a section on his website to scrutinize the candidates further. He asked them each a few more specific questions based on their candidate profiles. This is a nice place to start if you’re an IGDA member and are interested in voting.

I’m not an IGDA member, but after reading through Scott’s site, I’d like to share my favorites:

Darius Kazemi

Darius Kazemi – I’ve met Darius at PAX and he’s an active member of TIGForums. He also made a neat mod for Spelunky that updates Twitter. So yeah, I think he’s a cool guy! But another reason I favor him for the IGDA board is because he runs a successful local chapter (Boston) and wants to focus on improving local chapters as a Director. I think this is a great idea, because I get a real sense that the IGDA’s strengths lie with the local chapters and not the bureaucratic central organization. That Darius is an enthusiastic and level-headed indie is great, too. (Greg Costikyan supports Darius in his Mike Capps article, by the way.)

Jane Pinckard – I don’t know Jane personally, but I’m familiar with a lot of her work, which includes writing for GameGirlAdvance, 1up, and various magazines. Good stuff. She wants to make the IGDA a more flexible and diverse place, and that sounds great. It’s notable that she intends to spend 10-15 hours a week on the IGDA, whereas the average amount of time for most candidates is 15 hours a month.

In short, Darius and Jane are young, energetic, creative, and indie-friendly folks so that’s why I like them. I think the IGDA could use more of that.

I’m fairly ambivalent about the other candidates, although I would not hesitate to say DO NOT VOTE FOR DINO DINI! During the Langdell fiasco Dino proved to be extremely irritating and counter-productive on the IGDA forums. He also stood solidly with the status quo (Langdell, Buscaglia, et al) and defended the forum’s shitty censors right up until the point where they censored one of his posts! I wish the IGDA forums hadn’t been wiped out after the incident, because it was something to see. At some point I did say “Be thankful that [Dustin Clingman and Dino Dini] are moderators of a forum and not in charge of something more important”. Hopefully I can continue saying that in March.

Posted in Community

bringamberlamps

IGDA will always be a crooked organization no matter who is running it. I think they’re better off dead. Down with the IGDA!
paul eres

$48 a month? are you sure? that’s almost as much as i spend on food each month.
Derek

Paul, it’s $48 a year. Apologies, that’s a terrible mistype.

(Also, damn, Paul, what the hell are you eating each month? I’m impressed.)
Craig Stern

That certainly explains the slender physique.
RobF

I think “do not vote for Dino Dini” should be a rule of thumb for just about anything, really.
nobody2

Please do not vote Dino Dini!!! He might as well have been sitting on Langdell’s lap, stroking his chin beard lovingly.
paul eres

haha — i mainly buy bulk quinoa, brown rice, wild rice, oatmeal, lentils, muesli, pasta, and green tea — pretty inexpensive if you buy several months’ supply all at once. typically it costs me about 60-70 a month, depending (quinoa is the most expensive of those, but it’s also the most complete protein).
deadeye

Why yes I do think a game called Dinodini about a magic dinosaur who does daring escape routines would be a good idea.
Bennett

Oh Dino Dini, you should have stuck to Kick Off.
Linus

Jane Pinckard? Why do I draw parallels to Star Trek?
Dustin

Dee-Dee is a piece of shit. Best of luck Darius!
benzine

i started reading and i was like – oh shit, i bet rinku replies and explains exactly what he eats each month. and he does. nice
www.oneswitch.org.uk

Michelle Hinn is a safe bet. She’s fronted the Game Accessibility Special Interest Group for many years at the IGDA and she’s a good sort.
nikki

“I wish the IGDA forums hadnâ€™t been wiped out after the incident, because it was something to see” ….
seriously WOW, take that google.cn!
Gutter

So whats the ultimate goal of this little crusade against the IGDA?
limtangdell

voting for Dino Dini to further the demise of the IGDA. he must win.
Melly

Man, after this article I think I’d have to vote for Darius. I mean, look at that face. He’s adorable. It’s hard to argue against that.

Also, a lulz to those that decide to take my comment seriously.
http://dariusforigda.org Darius K.

Hey, thanks for the endorsement Derek! It means a lot to me, and I promise to do right by the indie community!

“Also, a lulz to those that decide to take my comment seriously.”

;_;
wtf

Melly why you always gotta be a dick? Just because you moderate the forums doesn’t mean you moderate everything man. Learn to not be a dick for once.
http://www.macguffingames.com Macguffin

Hey Derek – thanks very much for publicizing this! Anything that can draw attention to all of this is awesome.

@Oneswitch re: Hinn – I was very tempted to vote for her, but in doing the research I found out she’d recently been forced out of another non-profit… and another board member controversy is exactly what the IGDA doesn’t need after Langdell. I was hoping she’d respond in some way to this information, but I haven’t heard at all from her since I got the posts up, although I’ve emailed all the candidates as things went.
Dude Guy

Wait, did I miss some sort of controversy involving Dustin? He seems a good enough dude, provided one has the stones to weather his gleeful destruction of mediocre ideas (yes, I’ve taken his class).
http://wherecouldtom.be Tom Sennett

“Beyond that, thereâ€™s the question of how much the IGDA actually does for game developers…”

There sure is.
http://dariusforigda.org Darius K.

@Dude Guy — Dustin volunteered to be a moderator on the IGDA forums back when they were exploding during the Langdell stuff. I’m friends with Dustin but I do think he was pretty heavy-handed with the moderation of posts at the time.

But you know, that’s what sometimes happens in a volunteer org. Occasionally someone ends up with a gig they’re not really prepared for.
Jamal

Dino Dini made some awesome soccer games like Goal and Kickoff way back in the day.

Don’t know much more about him than that, other than he was involved in some minor controversies on the IGDA forums, where it seems he had a high priority to protect the (perceived?) sanctity of the organization.

He may also be a bit of a willing contrarian.

I don’t think it’s really fair to label Dino Dini a Tim Langdell supporter though, that most heinous of game dev attributions.
Phoned-In

– Public Crucifixion, because for some reason you need it

– Regurgitation/Duplication of like-powers

– Perpetual Incest, or as I like to think of it: “Oh Rly! Me Too!”

;)
nobody2

@Jamal

I saw them playing footsies with each other at the Olive Garden. Some kid in the next booth mentioned next gen gaming, and they both gasped in horror. The spaghetti noodle ends they had been sucking on together dropped onto their shared plate. Then they started sobbing gently. I quickly called for my check, and I only eat at home now. True story.
http://dariusforigda.org Darius K.

And I just wanted to clarify my above comment about Dustin — rereading it, it comes off a little harsher than I meant.

I’m not saying Dustin’s incapable of moderating a forum, but the situation he was in (hopping in to moderate an exploding forum as a new moderator) would have been hard for *anyone* to do. I certainly couldn’t have done it. Basically, forum moderation is really really hard and that’s why we pay people called community managers!

And that’s one of the IGDA’s many logistical challenges: we need to find volunteers who are experts and get them to step up and do what they’re good at.
Derek

Dustin’s idea of moderating was telling people over and over again to be “civil” while being really rude and sarcastic himself. In other words, it’s okay to be a dick as long as you don’t use curse words.

Civility sucks. >:(

Anyways, I doubt Dino is a Langdell supporter… but you can bet if something like Langdell comes up again, he’s going to be right there slowing down the proceedings.
Dude Guy

@Darius:

As someone who was once appointed a moderator at the height of a flame war so legendary that several other mods EPIC BANHAMMARZ’d close to 80 members in a single day, I can sympathize.

He’s not a fan of subtlety, but neither am I so I appreciate that. I was worried he’d stolen blood diamonds or boiled somebody’s devkit or something.
salade

Why do these things always have to be so political… this reminds me of USY (very few people will probably get that).
Lailoken

Why is voting political?
Melly

I wasn’t trying to be a dick. ;.;
kwyjibo

In Tim Langdell news – his motion to dismiss the case has been rejected.

But so have EA’s initial claim for the marks to be rescinded due to fraud.

http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?eno=1&pno=92051465&pty=CAN&mode=frame

I hope the independent community keep up the pressure.
Jamal

@nobody2

Your story moved me, and I am sending you a check right away for a therapy session!
Dino

I was talking to my friend Tonio and I hear that this chump Derek is talkin smack about me running for the IGDA. Give me a fuckin break.

Derek, I respected you before but now I see you ain’t nothing but a huge shmuck. You talk a lotta crap and then don’t even bother to back none of it up. What kinda accusations you think you’re making here, huh? I ain’t got nothing to do with that Langdell guy, and you know it. This is just low and I find it quite sad that a guys gotta go and resort to this to bring another guy down. You seriously ain’t nothing but a chump.

I ain’t gonna take your shit. I only have been trying to do whats right, and I get nothin but crap for it. How many times have you locked something on TIGSource cuz people couldn’t get the idea that they are supposed not derail it all into their own little soapbox? Don’t shit and then act like it don’t stink.

Talk about me all you want behind my back, but you ain’t icing this cats chances at getting nowhere, whether its being a IGDA Director or whatever. You think you are so big and untouchable and in such a high place, but you ain’t gonna keep me down. Ain’t nobody gonna keep Dino Dini down, and I guarantee that.

Arrivederci, asshole.
Dino

And if all of yous wanna believe this shmuck, then oh please go right ahead. I am such a bad evil guy. My worst fucking crime is making Soccer games. Jesus christ, that’s an awful thing for a guy to do. Ain’t it?
Jamal

I’m afraid you might have shown too late Dino. tigsource comments seem to have a short shelf life when two or three newer posts appear.

I too think Dino Dini was unfairly singled out when he had no wrong intentions.

Anyone else?
Someone who…

There’s no way in hell that was the real Dino .

Please don’t be fooled by this imposter.
Jamal

Hahaha, you are so right Someone…
Derek

That’s not Dino – that’s “The Situation” from Jersey Shore. D:
Paul

regarding the article, Tom Buscaglia isn’t leaving until 2011.