Blade Edge

Lifetime Membership

When my IGDA membership expired last month, I decided to renew with the Lifetime Member option. I had been doing some speaking out in defense and support of the organization, so it’s only proper. That, and I have truly benefited enough from the IGDA to make the investment worthwhile besides. There’s nothing really direct that the IGDA has done for me, rather it’s how I’ve used the IGDA that has created the benefit. See, there wasn’t much of a game development scene in New Jersey 9 years ago when I seriously began considering a career in game development. I didn’t even think I could find many people around here to work with. Boy was I wrong! In revitalizing the then-inactive IGDA NJ chapter back in 2000, over the years I met a lot of people, and the game industry scene continues to grow every year, with the NJ chapter hosting meetings of 30-40 or more people on a regular basis. This and the connection I have to other developers and friends through the IGDA is my main personal benefit to being a member of the organization.

I’m thinking of coining a new phrase: It’s not what the IGDA can do for you, it’s not what you can do for the IGDA, it’s what you can make the IGDA do for you. (If you like that, tweet it or something). Many people don’t realize or perhaps don’t grasp the power they have to affect change within the organization if they are willing to put in the time and effort. And yea, the phrase sounds a bit selfish at the end, but more often than not, this change also benefits a great many other people as well (I know I’m not the only one who thanks the NJ Chapter for getting into the games industry here locally). We all share common interests within the organization, after all.

IGDA Annual Meeting Livestream

So my latest effort in helping out the IGDA is to attempt to live stream the Annual Meeting at GDC. Here, the Board of Directors and IGDA management give a short presentation on the status of the IGDA (membership, funds, programs, etc). We also get to see any of the new board members who are able to attend. Finally, the audience gets a direct line to the Board via a Q&A session towards the end. This is the main purpose of my idea to live stream the session. Last year saw some really great interaction between the Board and the members represented in the audience, and I would definitely like to provide this opportunity for IGDA members who are unable to attend this meeting. Head on over to GDNet for the full announcement.

I heard from Simon Carless that GDC will be blanketed with wifi this year, although they’re not sure just how well that’s going to work – so that’s my one main fear in being able to pull this off. At worst, if the signal isn’t strong enough for a smooth video feed, then we can always just cut that out and stick with audio. I also hope that the external USB mic makes it to the show – since my laptop (which will be doing the streaming) only has a built-in mic that makes too much noise when I type.

Either way this should be interesting, and hopefully beneficial to a lot of IGDA members who couldn’t make the trip out to GDC this year (or ever) in order to attend in person.