Preface to the Code
Initiated by SAZ, an international group of game designers with members of Spiele-Autoren-Zunft (SAZ), members of Société des Auteurs de Jeux (SAJ) as well as of not organized game designers, have created the below Code of Respect and Responsibility during the last months.
From many critical discussions in the past, we feel the need, to take more responsibility for our games. This Code is a declaration of intent to the best of our knowledge and belief, intended to lead to more reflective action. There are issues of respectful and careful handling of themes and content in analogue games. In our opinion, the game industry also lacks diversity. Many people don‘t see themselves represented in games or at game events. Representation can lead to participation, and the game industry as a whole would greatly benefit from that.
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For the implementation of these goals, for example, the Creator's Guide by Meeples for Change can help. In the future, this currently only English guide will also be available in other languages and its content will be expanded.
Code of Respect and Responsibility
We game designers advocate respect towards others. We acknowledge and value a diverse society in its many forms, such as gender, skin color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, mental and physical abilities, religious or cultural background.
We take responsibility for our games, actions and speech. Consequently, we are committed to the following principles:
- We strive for a diverse, fair and respectful representation of society, culture, and historical context in our games, including the game cover and the rules.
- We thoroughly research the cultural, social, historical, and scientific contexts represented in our games.
- We consider the impact this representation can have on the people represented and the players.
- We design our games so that they are as accessible as possible for all people.
- We recognize the cultural expression of humor, irony, satire, and caricature, but are aware their use can be hurtful.
- We acknowledge that we can make mistakes, but that we will try to correct these errors when and where possible.
- When we notice problematic aspects in other designers' work, we respectfully point them out and offer our help to find possible solutions and alternatives.
We ask publishers and illustrators to adopt the same standards. And we encourage EVERYONE in the game industry – no matter whether game designer, publisher, illustrator, editor, blogger, or journalist – to support this code as a personal standard of conduct.
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I also support this code:
We have already signed this Code::
Initial signatories: Katrin Abfalter, Julian Allain, Hadi Barkat, Christian Beiersdorf, Daniel Bernsen, Antonin Boccara, Andrea Boennen, Régis Bonnessée, Nicolas Bourgouin, Johan Buenvenuto, Pierre Buty, Peggy Chassenet, Charles Chevallier, Christophe Coat, Leo Colovini, Nicolas de Oliveira, Jeroen Doumen, Alexandre Droit, Hilko Drude, Sébastien Dujardin, Vincent Dutrait, Alexandre Emerit, Laurent Escoffier, Bruno Faidutti, Michael Feldkötter, Alain Fondrille, David Franck, Friedemann Friese, Arve D. Fühler, Romaric Galonnier, Julien Griffon, Markus Hagenauer, Dirk Hanneforth, Fred Horn, Kévin Jost, Henri Kermarrec, Stefan Kloß, Hartmut Kommerell, Wolfgang Kramer, Loïc Lamy, Carlo E. Lanzavecchia, Agnès Largeaud, Matt Leacock, Tom Lehmann, Yoann Levet, Fabien Mas, Doris Matthäus, Andrea Mezzotero, Nicolaas Neuwahl, Walter Obert, Rory O'Connor, Anna Oppolzer, Julien Prothière, Christophe Raimbault, Uwe Rapp, Talita Rhein, Théo Rivière, Juan Rodrìguez, Carlo A. Rossi, Manuel Rozoy, Nicolas Sato, Natalie Saunier, Rémi Saunier, Jens-Peter Schliemann, Paul Schulz, Florian Sirieix, Vi Tacq, Klaus Teuber, Marco Teubner, Joachim Thôme, Jesús Torres Castro, Florent Toscano, Benoit Turpin, Fréderic Vuagnat, Tom Vuarchex, Anja Wrede, Sara Zarian