The NZGDA hosts a variety of events, conversations, and social spaces for the purpose of collaborating and advancing the game development industry. Our community is made of creators who come from diverse backgrounds and bring with them a range of priorities and interests. This policy has been created to ensure that all of our spaces, events, and forums are a safe space for all. This means welcoming a range of opinions and perspectives, and ensuring that all behaviour and content within these spaces is respectful and constructive.
The NZGDA has created events and forums for the community to collaborate, share ideas, ask questions, and provide feedback. The skills, backgrounds, and experiences of our community are our strength, and we empower one another to share information. When we disagree, we see it as an opportunity to learn and grow, and we understand that we disagree with people’s ideas, not them as people. We do not criticise each other’s personal attributes, affiliations, or beliefs and refrain from discussing them.
Game development in New Zealand is a growing industry dependent on the skills of talented individuals. We value opportunities to share skills and ideas, and through this, take responsibility for sharing access to opportunities, resources, and information. We ensure that our conduct and our content is ethical and beneficial to our profession, the industry, and society at large. We make it a point to raise the voices of those who are underrepresented in our community.
The NZGDA and everyone within its spaces are individually responsible for their behaviour and the way it may be perceived by others. We are all, by virtue of gathering together, dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience. We are all accountable, we collaborate in good faith, and we all take responsibility for maintaining the principles of these guidelines in our discussions, events, and forums.
The NZGDA Code of Conduct policy that follows is guided by these principles for the purpose of creating a safe space for all participants.
This Code of Conduct outlines the expectations we hold for anyone participating in NZGDA events or communicating in NZGDA spaces.
This code of conduct applies to everyone participating with or within the NZGDA Sphere of Influence, either online or off – either as a participant or as a representative of the NZGDA (including board members, volunteers, speakers, event facilitators, and award nominees).
The NZGDA Sphere of Influence includes all official NZGDA spaces such as the mailing list, official communication channels such as info@nzgda.com, the NZGDA website(s), social media spaces, the NZGDC conference, and all other NZGDA managed spaces both online and off.
This Code of Conduct does not apply to employees of our event venues, however we do expect our event partners to treat conference attendees in a respectful manner. Any venue-specific rules or Code of Conduct should be followed in addition to this one.
Some NZGDA spaces may have additional rules in place, which will be made clearly available to participants. Participants are responsible for knowing and abiding by these rules.
The NZGDA reserves the right to expel any participant from any NZGDA event or space.
The NZGDA recognises that harassment can have far-reaching consequences on emotional and physical health and is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience
The NZGDA does not tolerate harassment in any form.
Harassment includes, but is not limited to:
Discriminatory actions or offensive/unwelcome comments, including those relating to: gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion, lifestyle choices and practices (including those – related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.)
Sexual harassment (irrespective of gender), as in unwanted attention of a sexually-oriented nature, including (but not limited to) offensive comments or gestures of a sexual nature, sexual or smutty jokes, repeated comments/invitations/ intrusions into someone’s private life, unwelcome physical contact or simulations of physical contact, provocative visual material.
Bullying, as in repeated, persistent, offensive, abusive, intimidating, malicious, or insulting behaviour, including (but not limited to) threats and intimidation, manipulation and coercion, verbally or degrading language, gestures or images, shouting, yelling; using a raised voice and unpleasant tone, unexplained displays of rage, intentional humiliation, remarks either to the recipient or behind their back, threats of violence, stalking or cyberstalking
If you or someone you know are being harassed within an NZGDA space, or have any other concerns, please contact the NZGDA Board at info@nzgda.com.
The NZGDA will record, retain, and share any and all records related to violations of the Code of Conduct according to the NZGDA Complaint Handling Policy.
Participants are expected to immediately stop any harassing behaviour upon request by the NZGDA or the organiser of any physical event or online space.
The NZGDA or any organiser of any physical event or online space reserves the right to ask any participant to leave the event at their discretion if they feel this Code of Conduct has been breached.
The Board will handle all complaints in accordance with the NZGDA Complaint Handling Policy, which will be available to all members upon request once finalised.
For more information, please see the full list of NZGDA rules: Rules of the NZGDA.
