IGDA: "We need leadership to step up and speak out against hate"

Earlier this month, the International Game Developers Association published a call to action urging leaders across the games industry to consider the consequences of layoffs, and prompting them to embrace sustainability.

Among the IGDA's 'must-do's for studios, the organisation called on them to "support diversity initiatives and internal roles to help retain the increased diverse talent the games industry has developed over the last decade."

When discussing the industry's current wave of mass layoffs at the Game Developers Conference with IGDA executive director Jakin Vela, we mention that diversity programs have been among the first things to be cut by companies undergoing redundancies.

"People are claiming that they're supporting diversity, [that] they're a diverse and inclusive studio, but they're not budgeting for it," Vela points out. "It's kind of hard to believe that that's actually a priority. And we see that with the layoffs, with the release or reduction of diversity programs.

"And the sad part is we need those programs now more than ever because so many more folks are coming into this industry. It's extremely volatile right now, we're continuously having massive layoffs and people are scared, [and] concerned about the sustainability of the industry as a whole. And that's even moreso on marginalised folks who don't typically have as large a social network or social capital to rely on in those times. As we all know, most people get their job because they know somebody, or someone had an in or a reference. And if you don't have that, how are we supporting diversity, and how are we retaining that talent? So, it's quite a big issue right now."

Vela discussed some early findings of the 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey (which will be published tomorrow), including the fact that about 85% of the game developers surveyed still believe that diversity is important, both in content, in the industry as a whole, and at their workplace.

"So it's not going anywhere," Vela continues. "People are still hyped up about [how] we need more diversity in the industry. I think, as a global industry, we need to understand the implications of diversity, especially from a global perspective, and how that can differ across cultures and across regions."

The decrease of diversity programs isn't the only issue at hand, the IGDA's DSS found. Around 28% of its respondents said that they didn't have any diversity or inclusive policies at their workplace, and 30% said they weren't sure if they did.

"So put together, we either have a lack of diversity programs and/or a lack of awareness, and that's really frustrating because there are great [Employee Resource Groups] and great support systems, but if studios aren't targeting their employees and saying, 'Hey, just FYI, this is a resource for you', then how else are they going to find out?," Vela says. "Studios can do a better job at making it a culture. You should expect us to have diversity, inclusive policies, and programs to support and retain great talent. That's just not the case yet."

Looking at the IGDA's latest figures on that front, Vela says "the demographics for diversity in the industry haven't increased as much as [they] were hoping," and remain pretty much in line with what they were during the last survey.

"We found that specifically people of colour, so Black and Latinx developers, are still at the same level," he says, mentioning that around 4% of the developers surveyed were Black and around 7% were Latinx. In terms of gender split, the industry remains around 31% women, he adds.

"Some of the interesting findings that I thought were pretty cool were that there's actually an overrepresentation of queer people [in the industry]. Which is fantastic. However, we had a developer satisfaction report called the LGBTQ+ Report that we launched last year [and] in that we actually found that there's a lack of non-binary and trans [people] in leadership."

Discussing diversity in games leads us to discussing the resurgence of GamerGate supporters over the past few months, and what more the industry can do to avoid hate movements popping up continuously.

"We need to squash the bug of harassment and hate, period," Vela says. "And the best way to do that is to collectively say, 'This is unacceptable behaviour, we don't stand for it, and there's no place for it in our industry.'

"Typically, those with the loudest voices are often those with resources, power, and financial support. We need studios, we need leadership, to step up and speak out against hate. I understand that people are scared, people are fearful of voicing their opinions because of Twitter mobs and social media warfare, all of that. I get that... but we need to accept the consequences and speak out. Because together, collectedly, we can squash that. And we need to. Because otherwise, it won't die, it won't disappear. And harassment, we need to eradicate it.

"I'm a firm believer that if we are to retain the amazing talent we have in our industry, and if we are to grow diversity initiatives, there's no place for hate, for misogyny, bigotry, homophobia, racism, ableism, all of it."

Vela points out the relevance of the 1ReasonToBe panel, which was back at GDC for the first time since before the pandemic.

"One day [it] would be great when we don't have to have one, but until then, we need to amplify, speak out, and voice our concerns and say this is unacceptable. I think studio leadership really need to step up because everyone else on the grassroots level has done their part."

"Studio leadership really need to step up because everyone else on the grassroots level has done their part"

As the industry faces hateful movements, layoffs and, before all of that, a global pandemic, we ask Vela how the role of the IGDA has evolved alongside this turmoil.

"This is our 30th year as an organisation. We started out as an advocacy group, a voice for developers, so that they could have that [seat] at the table. So the iterations that the IGDA has gone through have really developed as the industry has developed, as challenges that developers face have changed."

The IGDA also had to evolve following GamesIndustry.biz's investigation into how it mishandled complaints of harassment and conduct violations. Following its publication, former members and leaders of the group shared thoughts on what the IGDA should and shouldn't be, and the organisation itself pledged to revamp its ethics processes.

Vela was only just transitioning to become executive director at the time we published our investigation, following on Renee Gittins, who had stepped down a month before.

"A lot of it was new to me, but I was actually a part of that revision process for the investigation," he explains. "I'm a sociologist, have a background in law, and was in education as well. Law, education, they have very strong, dense ethics policies and processes. So I used that, leaned on that, and we revamped a lot of the processes to delineate more how things go, step by step, so everyone's on the same page and so that we can communicate the transactions according[ly] – and by transaction I mean, 'Okay, we've done this, let's communicate. We've done this, let's communicate.'

"And so I was part of that and we'd got a lot of community feedback from that. We had an ethics forum regarding best practices, what people needed from that policy. And then we discussed and then incorporated that, and have since changed the ethics policies."

Vela says the IGDA hasn’t done anything further regarding the revision of the ethics policy.

"We haven't really been asked by our community to do more than that," he says. "I'm very empathetic. I understand that when something happens, people want to see things resolved so that trust can be rebuilt. And I believe that it has been. We've changed it since then, and we haven't had any feedback or things regarding that."

He continues: "It's imperative for me to let our community know that we value feedback and we value people believing that they can come to us, talk to us, and see things change. Of course, we can't make everyone happy because that's just not a thing in life. But we can listen, we can take that feedback and assess it, and move forward as best as possible. And I believe we've done that."

"We can't make everyone happy because that's just not a thing in life [but] we can take that feedback and assess it, and move forward as best as possible. And I believe we've done that"

As it moves forward, the IGDA's priorities include supporting career development, especially in the context of the layoffs, but also particularly in emerging markets. Vela points to the IGDA's mentorship platform, which he says has seen 565 new users over the past 12 months.

He also mentions initiatives like the incubation and acceleration special interest group that the IGDA recently launched looking to support startups, saying that the role of the IGDA is to "essentially constantly assess what developer needs are, and then honing in on those."

"Mentorship is a cornerstone of career progression, career advancement, especially in emerging ecosystems that don't have much history to work from," he continues. "In a North American context, we have a lot of history in the games industry. But with emerging markets, they have to kind of look around and get support from what works and what doesn't, but then they also have to interpret that and translate it into, 'How will this support our community here?' So mentorship is the first thing I always go to."

Thinking about the specific challenges developers in emerging markets encounter, and how to support them, Vela also mentions funding.

"Government funding is really important in emerging markets. So, for example, I was in São Paulo in Brazil in June speaking at a conference held by Spcine. That's a local government funding program that is really accelerating the game development local ecosystem there. Brazil already has a thriving ecosystem, but to grow the indies, to grow the connections globally and extend outward, that really requires a lot of money, to send people to GDC or Gamescom, or other really important and high impact conferences. So local funding, government funding.

"To get that government funding, we have to learn how to speak to government folks, people who are in policy, people who are changing the landscape of the business development policies in their local governments. So, knowing how to even identify who to talk to, how to talk to them, what they [want]... Because obviously business development initiatives in these local governments need a return on investment. They need to know, 'Okay, we're going to put money into this growing industry here. How will it thrive and help us in the future?'"