>From [ http://www.gamingreport.com]:
Mark Oliva in Bavaria Editor & Webmaster, the Vintyri Project (TM) [ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ] Internet: [ http://www.SteigerwaldEDV.com/vintyri ] ------------------------------------------- Dear Friends, Over the past year, I have become increasingly frustrated with the process (or lack thereof) being used by GAMA to set policy and communicate with its stakeholders. Two major developments have prompted me to take immediate action. First, GAMA announced that it is altering the ORIGINS Awards this year. Instead of the traditional system which mixed popular and professional votes, the ORIGINS Awards will instead become a purely professional award, with a new class of awards, called "People's Choice" Awards which will be a purely popular award. GAMA is not addressing the key issues of the ORIGINS Awards: That other awards are gaining in popularity due to the perceived limitations of the ORIGINS Award process, and that too many good products are not getting the recognition they deserve. Instead, they are taking action that will, in my opinion, undermine the ORIGINS Awards and relegate them to a minor position in the hobby gaming industry. GAMA made this change without seeking input from the public, or from its membership. I have talked to a number of publishers who report that they were made aware that some changes were coming, but that the details were not discussed prior to the announcement. GAMA did not even discuss these changes in depth on their own mailing list, instead presenting the plan as fully formed and only seeking approval from the academy participants. Input to this point has been limited primarily to a discussion of the impact the awards will have on various miniatures categories. No debate has been held at all on how, if at all, these changes will improve the Awards and raise their stature and impact. Second, GAMA released a proposal to radically change its bylaws today. This change reduces the accountability of the Board of Directors and removes the ability of the Voting Members to directly impact the key financial, planning, and decision making positions of the organization. Again, this change was implemented without public input, and communication with the GAMA membership was limited to a series of telephone conversations. No effort was made to vet these proposals against the desires of the active GAMA membership, and no effort at all was made to determine if these changes would help GAMA solve its #1 problem: The fact that many of the most important publishers in gaming are not voting GAMA members. Furthermore, the stated goals of the current GAMA Board is to rush these radical bylaw changes through using a process known as a "Special Meeting". Under this system, the Board can allow voting members to participate in an email ballot without having a face-to-face meeting where open debate and challenges could be raised by activist members. The timeline for this Special Meeting will be short - perhaps as little as a month will pass before these extraordinary bylaw changes are voted on. Last year, as many of you know, I circulated a draft proposal for changes to the ORIGINS Awards that received extensive public and private input. Due to unforseen personal issues I was unable to press that initiative home in 2003, but I have renewed my committment to that fight for 2004. In addition, I am now prepared to support a full and wide ranging discussion about GAMA, its operations, its policies, its conventions, and its finances. To enable that discussion, I have been working to establish a home for constructive dialog and an initiative for change, which is now ready for public use. That home is www.fixgama.org. On that site you will find copies of key GAMA documents (including the radical new bylaw proposal), news, and discussion forums where you can participate in the conversation. To begin, I want to organize enough voting members of GAMA to stop the radical bylaw rewrite now underway, to clear the path for a top-down revision of GAMA's operating objectives and policies based on an objective of inclusiveness and clear value. Fixing GAMA is a huge task. To succeed, GAMA needs a strong foundation of support across the whole gaming industry. It needs to be transparent. It needs to be accountable. And it needs a clear focus to direct it so that it rewards all those who participate in it. Change begins here. The fight starts now. Sincerely, Ryan S. Dancey CEO, OrganizedPlay _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
