What? The Gamemakers manifesto was written as part of the subject “mediaethics” in the summer term 2015 at the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg. The topic of the event was the digitization of society. Within this context, we have dealt with the link between games, digitization and society. As Game Design students it was important for us to show the role of games and gamemakers in the public.
Why? The reason for the manifesto were the developments within the gaming scene in recent months. Disputes like #GamerGate, discussions about diversity in video games and the continuous spread of games and its responsibility towards society, culture and the gamemakers themselves have inspired us to formulate the manifesto and make it available to the public. We hope for an open discussion and feedback under #GameMakersManifesto #GMM.
Who? The work of Andreas Zecher with weheart.github.io We hope we can add something to the four major principles of the great work by Andreas.
Get your own
Rupee-Avatar!
As a gamemaker I am part of the media education.
The classification of games in the media universe is the basis for this statement. Games are part of the media that are a part of the public sphere. The awareness of its own public image should be strengthened. In addition, each gamemaker contributes through his work to the public and therefore has a responsibility.
Someone should do a research
project on my Twitter mentions. They're a perpetual train wreck of mansplaining,
misogyny, and harassment.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) 7. Juli 2015
Sometimes, I read stuff like this from Steam - and I’m embarrassed to be a gamer. pic.twitter.com/S0ZwaDgMpQ
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) 1. Juli 2015As a gamemaker I take an active part in the debate and the discussion about games.
The reflection of the own creative output helps to classify his own work in the games industry and exposing themselves to criticism and to criticize. Three points are essential: participation, experimentation and freedom. By participation we understand that you can make and play any games and can also take part in the public discourse about games. This excludes all forms of discrimination, sexism and racism. Games can be used as a space for exploration of personal and ethical boundaries and are perfectly suited for experiments. This type of experiment is shaped by freedom thoughts, because on one hand you have to have complete freedom to express themselves in games, on the other hand appreciate freedom rights of others.
As a gamemaker I am supporting and defending an open gameculture.
Community and the culture around games are extremly important because that’s the place where gamemakers and gamers, and the public come together. Ethical, moral and human values are important as a basis for an acceptable social interaction and communication. You should intervene when someone violates the rules of the community and the discourse. The loud voice of a few must not bring the crowd into silence.
As a gamemaker I try to provide identification by acting social.
Identity is divided into two areas: The first part are the attributes that describe the character and physical characteristics of a person. The second part of the identity is the social environment and the things you like. In the latter gamemakers should influence the second part by acting positively and becoming some sort of a role model.
Discuss!
Tweets of @gmmanifesto
Discuss!
Show your support and use your own Rupee-Avatar!
The GMM-Rupee serves everybody who wants to draw attention to this manifesto. Share it with the link:
http://gamemakersmanifesto.github.io/!
In addition the Rupee could be regarded as a official seal for Games which want to contribute to the dialogue and support this project. For this purpose we have made the Presskit.