This must be one of the most difficult articles to write, but at the same time one of the most natural for me, based on a half-decade experience with Associativism. Less time than most people out there, more time than most still.
The focus of this article is not to talk about IGDA or Game Dev Syndicate directly. It is not about the benefits of Associativism having the panorama of discussions by ESA and other international bodies. I’m not going to talk about crunch combat and labor exploitation.
Its goal is to talk about our backyard. Our huge, diverse and constantly chaotic backyard.
For those who don’t know, I was Executive Director of the Cearense Association of Game Developers (ASCENDE Games) for a long time. Three years officially. Four if you count the period I was doing this function unofficially, in addition to other positions in the Association itself. By the time you’re reading this article, maybe I’m in a position again, who knows?
My first contact with the Association was before its foundation, in 2015 – 2016, at the height of my 20s. Part of a local effort by the game development scene in Fortaleza to gain visibility and representation, trying to build an organization that could give the least support to the activity where the voices were so bewildered that some people confused Game Dev with Gamer Culture (PS: have one or another person who still confuses).
The movement grew, went through ups and downs, and today ASCENDE Games is a Private Non-Profit Association, with legal company registration, recognized by the State, which works effectively to improve the conditions of the Games Industry in Ceará.
We’ve even had statewide programs to train Devs: SEBRAE DEVELOPERS, a partnership between ASCENDE Games and SEBRAE CE and GamePlan’s execution between 2019 and 2020. Without a doubt, our biggest victory so far in terms of coverage and results. It was neither the first nor the only victory.
This whole effort was by no means an individual effort, but for me it was a learning journey that perhaps made me mature faster than usual to understand how things work.
From a 20-year-old Indie Dev fresh out of college to Executive Director of an Association that represents a dozen companies and a few hundred professionals. This doesn’t seem like the normal route.
The truth is, when you’re starting out, regardless of your expertise as a Dev, you have a meritocratic view of the Industry: if I’m good enough, creative enough, and make a quality product, I’ll be a sales unicorn.
This pink dream crossed the minds of everyone who was just starting out, who saw the Games Industry as a dream where you could create the games you always wanted to play and that, for sure, other people would want to play too.
In reality, the pink dream doesn’t exist (especially for me who am Colorblind, at best it’s a pale salmon-colored dream).
And by that I don’t mean that meritocracy doesn’t work alone or that the industry is more than creativity and hard work. Well, that’s true, but that’s not the point.
What I mean is that for every Indie Dev who wants their place in the sun in Brazil; for every professional who has technical knowledge and needs a place to start; for every company that provided three or four services that had practically nothing to do with games to support themselves… For each of them there is a High Risk and High Reward system that is inaccessible to them. At least alone.
That’s where the Association enters. There are dialogues you can’t have if you’re isolated, there are changes you can’t make as a single voice, and, above all, there are entities that will never listen to you, no matter how well your business does.
Are there any successful exceptions in Brazil and in the world that did not depend on an Association to develop? Of course, otherwise we would enter the Paradox of Egg and Chicken. Are there any exceptions about companies and Devs that, alone, managed to change the system in their favor? We can count on the fingers of one hand.
What do I mean by changing the system anyway?
Have you ever stopped to think about how much tax your company pays? Quite, right? And would it be nice if you could pay less tax? Sure. Have you ever thought if, as an Entrepreneur, you knocked on the door of your State’s Secretary of Finance? It would be a useful five-minute conversation if he would see you, and nothing more.
Can you imagine what it would be like if you could count on a free space for the development of your projects? That the counterpart would be to share knowledge and help train new people? It’s a laudable corporate philanthropy initiative, but would you have the money to support that dream? Can you convince people that this is really necessary or beneficial for your region?
How about going to international events? Take the product you spent so many nights developing and finally show it to potential Publishers and Investors? Have you already purchased your tickets? Have you exchanged your dollars yet? Do you have at least ten thousand reais to shell out?
All this and more is something that impacts the life of the Dev, even if sometimes the Dev doesn’t touch itself or can’t imagine this possibility.
Lower taxes? I thought it always was and always will be, can I really change it?
Wait, is there a way to create a space aimed at Game Dev in my city, where we can gather groups to exchange ideas and create projects together? This without me opening the 798th Coworking here?
So is there anyone who would be interested in me traveling abroad to show quality products and bring investments to my Municipality/State/Country?
Here we are only playing at the tip of the iceberg. Notices? Industry mapping for educational and inclusion programs? Reduction of import taxes for technological inputs needed for cutting-edge development? Special credit lines that understand and meet the needs of Game Devs?
All this is a fraction of the possible agendas, but which are only possible when you have more than one Dev acting and justifying these actions. Nobody is going to buy a public notice for a company; no one will be interested in lowering taxes for you and your Dev Kit; no one will offer you credit if they don’t have proof that this sector you are in is in fact worth investing.
And do you want to know why?
Alone we do not cast votes. We do not guarantee institutional support for benches, politicians or representatives in private institutions. Alone we do not represent interests that can grow. We do not represent dreams that can be used as government plans or hierarchical ascension strategies.
Want to see two different reactions on the same topic? Go to any Innovation, Culture, Creative Economy, Education or Technology Manager and ask them if your company can occupy a room in their building. He will say no. Or it will charge you a modest usage fee, if at all possible.
Do the same experiment representing a dozen companies. You will start to see a different reaction. The answer may be no, of course, but the reaction will be different. Bring the proposal with an industry plan, an organized mapping or a potential growth chart… It can give you the entire floor.
Are you missing a Public Notice for the sector in your region? Ask for a Councilor or Deputy. Or rather, ask an advisor who will never communicate what you said to the Councilor or Deputy.
Go as a collective and your chances increase considerably. Is it still difficult? Yes, it’s not just you with demands in the world, much less as a collective, but now your chances are greater than zero. Trust me, this makes a big difference, especially if you have numbers that prove how much money companies move (and how many potential voters the ecosystem reaches).
I’m not talking about dark interests, Machiavellianism or freeloaders. The vast majority of people I dealt with in command posts were good people, engaged, interested, and at best trapped in a bureaucracy that was beyond their power to make things more agile.
Many others want to understand how benefiting you will benefit them, since philanthropy is not exactly something common to be done to benefit companies.
Still, what we need to face is that there are interests. There are plans and objectives that are guiding actions in institutions, in your city or state and that, if you don’t have tickets with a special pass, you won’t know about them until it’s too late and you’ll only be able to get the very end of the benefits. These plans are even running right now. Here I know they are.
There are things that want to happen everywhere, initiatives and people who want to move things forward, but without specific motivators, without argumentation tools, it is difficult. A collective enters there. Do you become a gear? Yes. But you’ll be able to move the mechanism closer to where you want it to go and not get crushed by it.
Finally, I know that this is all obvious when we think about political and institutional relations in Brazil. It’s no mystery to understand this, but the last lesson is that it’s also ingrained in the Gaming Industry. We are not exempt from having to deal with these issues and anyone who believes that this is not the case is being naive.
Having much of my Game Dev maturation related to the Association taught me one important thing: collectively, the Game Industry is very strong. It’s no use presenting PwC’s industry growth charts to a Manager if you’re just an Indie Company or Studio, you’re not part of this billion dollar reality as you think you are.
Put more Indie Studios on the wheel and your power of persuasion increases, because it starts to become clear that this collective is able to take a slice of this revenue and bring it home, which will be converted into taxes, changes in the quality of life, indicators of economic growth and even a bonus for someone who opened doors for you before and reaped the rewards with you for having given up a work space, who knows?
This all generates a virtuous cycle with the possibility of truly changing an ecosystem and transforming what used to be the forest into a hub with potential for internationalization, generation of foreign exchange and the ability to change the panorama of an entire city or state for the better.
Do you doubt it? Wait to read more about Ceará in the coming years.
