International Game Developers Association

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The International Game Developers Association ( IGDA ) is a registered trademark in the United States non-profit organization. It is a professional and advocacy association for over 10,000 computer game developers worldwide, with the aim " to improve career prospects and the lives of game developers ." The IGDA awards at the annual Game Developers Conference, the Game Developers Choice Awards for the best computer games of yesteryear.

History

The IDGA was founded in 1994 as the Computer Game Developers Association. It was created as a result of political discussions on computer games, which to the so-called Video Game Rating Act and the introduction of the Entertainment Software Rating Board led. Because the game developers did not feel adequately represented in the debate, was at the Game Developers Conference 1994, the decision to create a private interest group. Co-founder and first President and Chairman of the Association was the longtime EA games developer Ernest Adams, who was also one of the initiators of the Game Developers Conference. In 1999, named the Association into the International Game Developers Association.

From September 2000 to March 2009, the Association of Jason Della Rocca was conducted as Executive Director. Under his leadership, the number of members of 500 grew to 15,000. His successor was Joshua Caulfield, who retired from office in July 2010. In August 2010, Gordon Bellamy took over the Presidency, he held until July 2012. In December, Kate Edwards was appointed the new Executive Director.

Organization

In recognition of the wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary nature of interactive entertainment, there are no barriers to entry for membership of the IGDA. Any person who considers himself as a game developer, may apply for membership. The Association is organized in Chapters, Special Interest Groups and Committees.

• Chapters are used for informal networking game developers at the local level. A Standard format for Chapters, there are not yet in spite of such considerations. They vary in size and frequency of meetings, for example, offer a forum for discussion of current problems in the computer games industry or show demos of the latest games. Local Chapter can cooperate with events such as the GameX Industry Summit.
• Special Interest Groups ( SIGs ) have to arouse the interest of developers for specific subjects or disciplines the goal. Example is the Game Education SIG, whose goal is " to create a community resource that strengthen the position of the IGDA in academic teaching and simultaneously improve the education of future and active games developers should ". Some SIGs act as sponsors for events such as the Global Game Jam.
• Committees are usually set to normally over a short period of time to perform experiments on a specific topic, which open into a report. Some, however, operate over a long period of time and create annual reports. Some of these reports lead to new standards in the gaming industry.

Controversies

For the Game Developers Conference in March 2013, the company YetiZen stepped up to the IGDA, to win them as a partner for the alignment of the GDC party for industry representatives. To advertise the event, dedicated YetiZen two models, their clothes and appearances, however, were perceived as inappropriate. The IGDA was accused, among other things, demean women, which denied the association in a statement and apologized for the event. In protest, declared, among other things Brenda Romero her resignation as Co - Chair of the IGDA Special Interest Group for women in the gaming industry.