The International Game Developer’s Association: A Community of Practice Profile
The International Game Developer’s Association (IGDA) is a prime example of an active, established ‘community of practice’, as defined by theorist Etienne Wenger (2000). An extensive profile of the IGDA will be presented by divulging into the background/history and membership of the association, the activities that facilitate the community’s purpose, and a critical evaluation of the IGDA through the application of Wenger’s theory, with reference to a core membership.
Background, Membership & History
Background & History
The IGDA’s website provides a comprehensive background to the organisation, stating that it was established in 1994, is the largest not-for-profit game industry based association worldwide, and boasts over ’90 chapters and Special Interest Groups (SIGS)’ (IGDA 2015a), tailored to those who identify as game developers, whether they are currently working for a developer, or are simply entering the field for the first time (IGDA 2015a). Originally established to combat the glaring absence of developer voices in the legal arenas of the industry, the IGDA was conceived as a professional forum (IGDA 2015b), first and foremost. Taking this into account, the IGDA presents a mission composed of four primary parts; ‘advocacy’, ‘networking and community’, ‘professional development’, and ‘international outreach’ (see Figure 1.0), all of which are complicit in attempting to achieve the goals of espousing education and knowledge, lobbying for a greater understanding of the gaming industry and its practices, and the convergence of members worldwide (IGDA 2015a).
Figure 1.0: The IGDA website clearly lists its mission in the ‘About’ section, asserting that these elements are the primary goals of the community. Image: (IGDA 2015). Membership
Annual membership with the IGDA comes with a multitude of benefits, with differences varying minimally between different memberships, with each clearly stated on the IGDA website (top header -> Join). All members are able to access and utilise IGDA based content and opportunities and attend events, as well as be able to purchase discounted tickets to major gaming conferences and events worldwide (IGDA 2015c,d). Other across board benefits includecrowdfunding based advantages, discounts off education tuitions at specific institutions and health insurance (IGDA 2015d). In terms of the association’s leadership structure, the IGDA allows all members aside from student members, to vote in leadership and chapter based elections. Online membership activities and knowledge are outlaid constructively on the IGDA’s homepage, which acts as both a spruiker for public interest, and member activity (see Figure 1.1)
Figure 1.1: The IGDA website presents itself as both a source of public information on the association, as well as a hub for members and their exclusive benefits. Image: (IGDA 2015).
Scope and Activities
The IGDA’s scope is broad, with international chapters being divided into two primary groups, academic and professional. These groups foster the local engagement of the community presenting events and activities that allow for the direct interaction between members. Moreover, the IGDA has aptly extended its scope to integrate a multitude of fields in order to ‘enable the connection of developers for the purpose of networking, group learning, identification of challenges and endeavouring to advance the industry’ (IGDA 2015e). This has been achieved through the construction of Special Interest Groups, or SIGs, and they include SIGS based upon the technological (i.e. Artificial Intelligence, Gaming Design), the social/political (Women in Games, Blacks in Games, LGBTQ+), and the economic (Marketing)(IGDA 2015e). The IGDA’s website lists all chapters and SIGs and their social media presence/s to allow for easy access and contact (see Figure 1.2 below).
| Figure 1.2: The IGDA lists all chapters, academic or professional, emerging or established, on its website as to provide members with an easy access pathway to meeting other professionals within their locality. Image: (IGDA 2015). |
Discussion
Wenger’s 2000 theoretical article on ‘communities of practice’ provides a comprehensive, analytical outlook upon the ‘social learning systems’ (pg. 226) that structure networks of individuals who are bound by a particular specialty. As the knowledge, skills, and practices we associate with the occupation ‘game developer’ are composed, borrowed, and integrated through a number of differentiating disciplines within the game industry, the IGDA is a salient example of how the structural presence Wenger’s three modes of belonging and participation (Engagement, Imagination, and Alignment) are complicit in a functioning community (Wenger 2000, pg. 227-228). An analysis of the IGDA through Wenger’s critical lens will be attempted by perceiving the community’s showcase of professional competence, and boundary permeation through the IGDA Website. Considering membership benefits vary minimally between types, a standard ‘core’ membership will be considered in relation to events here.
Professional Discussion and Interactivity
In terms of member discussion surrounding knowledge, skills and practices, the IGDA website presents a multitude of interactive platforms that allow for members to discuss and identify respective issues and flaws. These platforms include Chapter/SIG membership (and their exclusive local/specialty events and convergences), and IGDA website based content such as weekly ‘webinars’, member discussion forums, and major global events such as gaming conferences (IGDA 2015g), all in which allow members to access opportunities to contribute and ameliorate crucial questions surrounding knowledge. This presents Wenger’s dimension of community progression, ‘Enterprise’ (Wenger 2000, pg. 230), which focuses on the dissemination and critical reflection of professional competences (see Resources -> Overview) within a community, as the IGDA community is producing specific member-based events to discuss knowledge issues within the industry. Moreover, ‘Mutuality’, as Wenger terms what he considers ‘the depth of social capital’ (pg. 230), is also an important element when considering these congregations, as the IGDA is volunteer-based (IGDA 2015a), inferring that those who seek positions, and actively share knowledge and solutions within the community believe that their contribution will be reflected within the community for the benefit of the industry (Wenger 2000, pg. 230). The website also clearly presents an events calendar, which implements both global and local for the ease of members, whom can add them to their own personal calendar hosted by the site (see Figure 1.3).
| Figure 1.3: The IGDA Events Calendar lists a variety of events occurring within the wider community. Again, the website has been successful in acting as a hub to foster interaction between members. Image: (IGDA 2015). |
Wenger’s mode of ‘Alignment’ is of relevance when we consider local events and member adherence to the community’s mission (Wenger 2000, pg. 228). For example, IGDA Brisbane’s events, including educational workshops, game development competitions, and symposiums (BrIGDA 2015), allow for members to connect with others, discuss issues, share experiences, and ask for help/collaborate on personal projects. These events fundamentally present the IGDA as being successful in transmitting its mission and purpose to lower levels of structural governance, as members are sharing the core values (i.e. innovation and expression; see IGDA 2015f), and mission categories featured on the IGDA website (see Figure 1.1).
Boundary Permeation
Opportunities such as the annual IGDA Leadership Summit are key environments of disciplinary interaction between IGDA members. For example, the 2015 IGDA Leadership Summit presented four keynote speakers; a producer/strategist of Disney Animation Studios, a manager of Microsoft Studios Global Publishing, a business/development manager from a Dutch gaming studio, and a cognitive science expert with an interest in industry productivity (IGDA 2015). Given that all these are different occupations, yet equally significant in the professional composition of the industry, we can perceive that the IGDA celebrates and pushes for joint activities and discussion between different disciplines and their respective sub-communities such as SIGs (IGDA 2015h). This is further supported by the IGDA Leadership Summit website, which lists a range of joint-activities that (see Figure 1.4 below) portray the meeting of members from different disciplines.
| Figure 1.4: The IGDA Leadership Summit acutely presents the activities involved within the Summit which simultaneous present Leadership knowledge, as well as the coordination of disciplines as key community topics. Image: (IGDA 2015). |
Wenger’s boundary dimensions, Coordination and Transparency are the most likely dimensions featured within this process, with members coordinating their disciplines and their respective meanings (Wenger 2000, pg. 234). However, considering that the IGDA has a variety of differentiating events globally and locally, and that the nature of game development itself is based upon the congregation of various disciplines, ‘Negotiability’ (Wenger 2000) between disciplines and their weight in terms of game development (and thus, the production and maintenance of power relations) may be present. In terms of boundary discourses, however, some may be considered crucial to the entire communities. One example presented by the IGDA is the placement of an ‘Online Harassment Resource’ upon its website (see Figure 1.5 below), and noted as being presented by the Womenin Games SIG.
| Figure 1.5: The Women in Games SIG is noted as being the presenter of the Online Harassment Resource found under the Resources tab on the IGDA website, however, as it is considered a boundary discourse, it has been able to become an issue for the entire IGDA community. Image: (IGDA 2015). |
Whilst this may not be considered a ‘boundary project’ explicitly, it does express that discipline issues can be discussed and integrated by different members of the IGDA community. Overall, the IGDA presents opportunities for members to interact with members from coordinating disciplines, and engage with knowledges and practices with multi-layered professional meanings.
Findings/Conclusion
In considering the analysis above, it can be supported that the IGDA is a community of practice that is structurally composed by Wenger’s modes of belonging. However, it is important to note that there are potentially differences between their prominences (Wenger 2000, pg. 228). Engagement, for example, is presented as the primary mode within the community in regards to discussion, with alignment also being important in the internalisation of the IGDA’s missions. Imagination is seemingly the least integrated, however, it is important to note that not all members have access to local chapters, possibly rendering Imagination as an important structural aspect for the IGDA to maintain members who are not engaging on a local level, but perhaps more so with the online forum, or attending global events, and developing a perception of the community through these mediums (Wenger 2000, 227-228). On another note, boundary intersection and permeation was not explicitly presented on the IGDA website, with very little (aside from events) implying that there are significant boundary processes, artefacts, and brokering individuals (Wenger 2000, pg. 235-237) within the community. However, when we consider that the gaming development is composed by a number of different disciplines (i.e. SIGs; see IGDA 2015h), and that this is a widespread knowledge amongst professionals, boundary processes must be a well-known core element of the gaming industry, perhaps rendering further explanation within event descriptions aside from simply networking, unrequired. Despite these perceived issues, it can conclusively be argued that the IGDA is a fully functional community for game developers.
References
Brisbane International Game Developers Association (BrIGDA), Homepage. Available from: <http://www.igdabrisbane.org/>. [20 September 2015].
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) 2015a, About. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/?page=about>. [9 September 2015].
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) 2015b, History of the IGDA. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/?page=history>. [13 September 2015].
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) 2015c, Select Your Membership Type/Join. Available from: <https://www.igda.org/general/register_member_type.asp?>. [10 September 2015].
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) 2015d, Member Benefits.Available from: <http://www.igda.org/?page=benefits>.[accessed 15 September 2015].
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) 2015e, Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Available from: <http://www.igda.org/?page=sigs>. [accessed 11 September 2015].
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) 2015f, Core Values. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/?page=corevalues>. [10 September 2015].
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) 2015g, Homepage. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/>. [9 September 2015].
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) 2015h, The IGDA Community. Available from: <https://www.igda.org/?page=community>. [23 September 2015].
IGDA Leadership Summit 2015, Speakers. Available from: <http://summit.igda.org/speakers/>. [16 September 2015].
Wenger, E 2000, ‘Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems’, Organization, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 225-226. Available from: SAGE Journals [9 September 2015].
Screenshots
Figure 1.0: (Screenshot) International Game Developers Association: About, 2015. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/?page=about>. [23 September 2015].
Figure 1.1: (Screenshot) International Game Developers Association: Homepage, 2015. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/>. [23 September 2015].
Figure 1.2: (Screenshot) International Game Developers Association: Chapters – Professional, 2015. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/?page=chaptersprofessional>. [23 September 2015].
Figure 1.3: (Screenshot) International Game Developers Association: Events, 2015. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/events/event_list.asp>. [23 September 2015].
Figure 1.4: (Screenshot) IGDA Leadership Summit: About, 2015. Available from: < http://summit.igda.org/about/>. [23 September 2015].
Figure 1.5: (Screenshot) International Game Developers Association: Online Harassment Resource, 2015. Available from: <http://www.igda.org/?page=harassmentresources>. [23 September 2015].