IGDA Releases Quality Of Life Summit Videos

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced that it has made recorded videos from its Quality of Life summit. The summit was held at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March, and was the first event to focus solely on the work environment and related issues for game development professionals. Officials from the IGDA have also released additional materials including conference proceedings, slides, papers and reports – all of which are available free of charge. These materials detail the various discussions surrounding difficult working conditions, labor relations theories, legal issues surrounding overtime and case studies on creating a better working atmosphere. "The Summit was an important milestone in dealing with the often poor working conditions developers must endure," said Jason Della Rocca, executive director, IGDA. "Rather than pointing fingers, it served as a productive forum to address these challenges in a pragmatic manner. We are happy to share the insights with the entire community of developers." A list of speakers at the event include Clarinda Merripen (Cyberlore Studios), attorney Tom Buscaglia (T.H. Buscaglia & Associates), Deborah Tillett (BreakAway Games), Kim Pallister (Intel), Tobi Saulnier (Vicarious Visions), Steve McConnell (Construx Software), Gina Neff (University of California), Michel Allard (Ubisoft Montreal), Julian Eggebretch (Factor 5), Joe Minton (Cyberlore Studios), David Perry (Shiny Entertainment) and Rich Vogel (Sony Online Entertainment). Those wishing to view the summit materials, including proceedings, slides, papers and reports, should visit the official IGDA Quality Of Life website. Additionally, last year’s Quality of Life white paper can also be downloaded for free via the website. The issue of quality of working life within the video games industry first made headlines in July of last year, when Vivendi Universal was sued by a programmer over long hours of unpaid overtime. This then lead to the much-debated 'EA Spouse' controversy later in the year, culminating in Electronic Arts instigating a limited overtime policy in March of this year. The issues relating to working conditions continue to be an important to many employees, though - as reflected by the prominence of the IGDA’s summit.