![IGDA[1]](http://www.reaxxion.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IGDA1-667x364.jpg)
Jay Sherman
I've been playing games since I was 2 years old. Always had a preference to sprite gaming. Learning how to get acquainted with modern day gaming while still respecting the old school.
The International Games Developer Association (IGDA) has been one of GamerGate’s biggest foes, going all the way back to the movement’s founding. Through their actions, such as advertising Randi Harper’s Good Game Auto Blocker as an “anti-harassment” tool, the IGDA have shown themselves to be an enemy of gamers seeking ethics in journalism. Now, Reaxxion can reveal that the IGDA is not just antagonistic to gamers, but to actual game developers.
How The IGDA Solicits Indulgences From Developers
The IGDA wasn’t always an SJW institution, but pursuant to O’Sullivan’s Law, they’ve slowly become one due to left-wing entryism. When it was founded in the early 1990’s, the IGDA’s original purpose was to lobby against unfair working conditions in the industry and government censorship on video games. However, in the past five years, they’ve gradually abandoned their mission and became a paper tiger. They’ve even accepted money from publishers such as EA who have a long history of overworking their employees:
The hypocrisy of accepting money from studios who’ve been accused of overworking and abusing their employees is shameful. Game studios use their affiliation with IGDA as a shield from criticism, allowing them to continue their unsavory business practices with a patina of respectability.
The problem with the IGDA is that it has zero legal power, unlike real employee protection groups such as unions or guilds. As a 501(C)(6) (nonprofit business league) group, the IGDA couldn’t become a union—i.e. actually become useful—even if they wanted to. To maintain the appearance of supporting developers, the IGDA has set up a nice indulgence scheme, akin to the pre-Reformation Catholic Church. Studios can pay a small amount per employee to the IGDA and immediately receive protection against accusations of low quality of life (QOL) amongst its employees. Here are the figures the IGDA advertise for studios to be affiliated:
Ice Cream Socials Instead Of Advocacy
The original purpose of the organization has been warped to the point of meaninglessness. In recent years, the number of IGDA events has skyrocketed, particularly nice dinners at conventions such as GDC, PAX and the like. My theory is that the upper echelon of the original IGDA are on a tightrope. They can challenge studios and fight for game developers but lose out on that sweet corporate cash, or just be a paper tiger organization that hosts numerous “feel-good” parties at conventions. Like most SJW organizations, they’ve chosen the latter. Here is evidence of what the board members of IGDA argue about:
The saddest part about the IGDA is that they used to actually care. The most ironic part is that the organization that has chastised GamerGate by supporting Randi Harper’s Auto Blocker used to actually fight for ethics. For example, the IGDA tried to start a mass campaign to get famous anti-video game psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow’s medical license taken away for ethics violations in 2013. Keith Ablow went on Fox News to falsely claim that games inspired spree shooters like Cho, Lanza and others of their ilk. This record is from their board meeting minutes of January 2014, a full several months before GamerGate began:
Being An SJW Is Easier Than Actually Fighting For A Cause
Like many other hypocritical organizations, the IGDA backed off from these campaigns when the flames got too close. When GamerGate began last August, the head of the IGDA, Kate Edwards aka Tom Edwards (yes, the head of the IGDA is a transsexual), made a public condemnation of alleged harassment from GamerGate. Edwards also lied in July that the FBI was helping female game developers fight online harassment. Reaxxion’s own Steve Alexander revealed recently that even today, the FBI doesn’t really take the histrionic allegations coming from anti-GamerGate seriously.
The corruption doesn’t stop with Kate Edwards: noted board member Sheri Rubin is a financial supporter of both Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn.
Ice cream and beer is more important to the IGDA than actually fighting for better working conditions in the game industry.
The IGDA’s leaders have concocted the perfect scam: rallying for first world feminist privileges while using their organization to go on exotic vacations and throw wild parties. If an organization designed to advocate for game developers can become a waterboy for the worst kinds of corruption in the industry, any organization that isn’t vigilant can also be co-opted. It’s not just gamers who have been hurt by SJW entryists: even game developers have profiteering charlatans among them.
Read More: Why #GamerGate Needs To Hold Game Developers Accountable Too
