Another Departure from GAMA

[Valamir]

Jonathan Albin resigns as Marketing Director for GAMA.

Problems in the GAMA hierarchy...what else is new.  I received this as part of an email broadcast.  As it is definitely industry related, and at tangentally related to publishing (although clearly more mainstream than indie) I thought others might find it of interest.

Please disseminate this as widely as you can. Place, at least a synopsis, on
WZL, on other forums as possible.

To The Games Industry,

For those that may not already heard, but I have resigned from my position
as Marketing Director for the Game Manufacturers Association, as of this the
27th day of April. 2004.

Before I get to the heart of the matter, I want to temper this with
words of praise.  GAMA, the Game Manufacturers Association, has been my life
and my career, even before I took up the mantle three years ago. Before that
time, I fought the good fight as an independent, volunteering for game
conventions near my home, and even dealing with open debates on the
merits of adventure gaming in churches and classrooms.

Through the combined efforts of the staff and volunteers, with the oversight
of the finance director, the GAMA Trade show has doubled, and has the
potential to do so again. In that same time, Origins has enjoyed a 60%
increase, which may become a doubling this year, over attendance the year I
started. Attendees and Exhibitors alike heralded 2003 as the
smoothest-operating national show ever. I take some credit in this endeavor,
but the glory goes to the whole, not to its integral parts. The whole is
definitely greater than they are.

When offered this job, I told my hirer that I was born for this, and so I
was. I have striven not only to build the attendance and participation from
the standpoint of an employee, but also as a gamer. I truly, deeply, desire
the betterment of the lot of designers, manufacturers, distributors,
retailers, and yes, players.

I, myself, am tired of the lack of communication, the lack of trust. It is
with a tenuous step that I approach several subjects that are at once near
and dear to my heart, but are also at the center of an impending storm, that
will come to a head before or at the Annual Membership Meeting at Origins.

You see, there have been considerable changes in GAMA since my insertion
into the eye of the storm, as it were, three years ago.  Companies that had
sworn never to participate again have not only begun to attend the Trade
Show and Origins, but have gone so far as to sponsor events, sponsor the
show, and aid in promoting it to their respective loyal fans.  Controls were
put in place to increase GAMA's profitability, and reduce its inefficiency.

Positions that seemed integral to the operation have been dissolved, and
new, lesser positions have been formed. Faces that were synonymous with GAMA
have shifted out of the limelight in favor of a more aggressive, more
hands-on management style.

Add to all this the fact that the organization is moving. A decision I
agreed with initially, on the basis that the organization could fare better
in the city of one of its shows. But it is not for my own benefit that I
feel the move was, and is, the wrong decision to have made. It is because
the process of making this decision has cost us the team that put Origins 03
together. Mark Simmons, Executive Director, resigned. Chris Fossum, Customer
Service and Volunteer Coordinator, resigned. David Petersen, Technical
Services, laid off. GAMA had offered to "assist me" in moving, but reversed that...

The key is that the organizational shifts are taking a toll on our
effectiveness. We are still rolling, still functioning. But like an
automobile missing a cylinder, no, half a block, we have lost most of our
cameraderie, and our internal strength.

GAMA's growth curve parallels my own stay with the organization. I have
taken pride in the growth, and have reveled in the clear plausibility that I
have had something to do with it at some real level.

I am a dreamer, and a visionary optimist. I not only see the growth of the
past, but the gleaming future ahead for our association. I feel the power of
our audience base as it expands, as we find new courses in the main flow of
merchandise into homes across the US and abroad. I recognize the benefit
that being associated with powerhouses like WizKids LLC and Wizards of the
Coast, as well as the mightily dedicated small companies like Dead Ant Games
and Flying Buffalo has brought to my life.  But the future light begins to
dim, when it becomes clear that while I have been integral in the past, my
lot as employee has diminished, and now ends.

I am greatly disappointed with the course of the past six months. On the
heels of one of our greatest victories, we have taken up the gauntlet of
dismantling the very structure that brought us to this place.  I do not
bring this to your attention in order to harm GAMA, the membership, or even
the industry itself.  I do so to do what is right, and to avert a great
calamity if it is possible.

Even as this resignation ends my relationship with you all as an employee of
this fine organization, I want it to be said that I fought for the good of
every person in pursuit of greatness in the adventure games industry. You
have no idea how painful it is for me to leave the place I feel I belong.
But I don't want it ever to be said that I let something horrible happen to
GAMA, when I had the chance to at least bring these points to the surface.

And, if after it is all said and done, the Association would consider a
different, more useful relationship with myself, I hereby pledge to continue
foster these relationships to an even greater level, to the best of my
ability.  But I have to say, that as they are, the current Executive
Committee and Executive Staffers have killed my spirit and have harmed my
capacity to do the best I can. And for that, I truly grieve.


Jonathan Albin
Marketing and Promotions Director
Game Manufacturers Association
80 Garden Center Drive #116
Broomfield, CO, 80020
303-635-2223 Phone
303-991-3583 Fax

[xiombarg]

Interesting... Tho I've read it several times now, and I'm not sure what his beef is. That GAMA is moving? That GAMA is changing? IF so, what changes does he object to?

[Dav]

The sum of it is that he seems to feel that GAMA is becoming captured (as in Capture Theory) by the few, when it was originally intended to be a forum where all game manufacturers could speak and entertain ideas for the industry as a whole without bias of size, profitability, or fanbase.  

However, as with all things that decide to dive into one form of resolution, the RPG industry is being choked to death by d20 and its assundry pieces of shit (err... products).  While I have a pretty openly hostile view toward d20 (as I do with pretty much any system that requires that many fucking pages to explain itself, and has countless subsystems, and odd addendums, and charts, and gridlined maps, and etc.), many do not share my view from an aesthetic point-of-view.  Which, while not fine, or even healthy, is reality.  However, as d20 vomits forth product after product, all saying the same crap, all subdividing an already-subdivided entity, we eventually have something so arcane and pointless that it can only produce repetition, rather than anything new.

Anyway, enough on the d20 carping.  Gama seems to be in danger, from a few insider opinions, of falling prey to capture theory.  That, in essence, is the fear.  It is valid, it is not really surprising, and honestly, I don't think the demise of Gama as an institution would be any great loss to the whole of the industry.

To sum my opinion and analysis: GAMA is being swallowed by the "big guys" the way GenCon was for so many years... the result: who gives a shit?  GAMA is a relic and is not truly needed in the industry any longer.

Dav

[Andy Kitkowski]

Tho I've read it several times now, and I'm not sure what his beef is.

Me too.  I think it's because the beefs weren't being explicitly stated.  It was a resignation letter focusing on good specifics, and glossing over the bad points.

I'd be interested in hearing, off the record, what Jonathan's specific issues with GAMA were.