IGDA Elections – Dino Dini
February 11th, 2010 by Macguffin in UncategorizedIf you’re coming to this post without having seen the lead-in, you can find that post here. It links to all the other assessments I’ve posted. You can also find my disclaimer there – I’m on the Boston IGDA chapter’s board and support the candidacy of Darius Kazemi.
UPDATE – Mr. Dini responded to my questions below on his blog.
Mr. Dini is an interesting fellow. His statement is very well put-together, but raises a couple questions.
Mr. Dini lays out his experience, his point of view, and what he’d like to accomplish. His main aim, he writes, is to foster a better sense of community within the IGDA.
He doesn’t answer the hours question, but does say flatly that he’ll find the time to do what is needed.
(I’m not trying to focus hardcore on the hours thing. I’m just trying to call it when I see a question not answered, and this question seems to not get answered a lot.)
The biggest question raised by his post -and a little internet digging – concerns something he brings up a couple times: forum trolling. A number of Mr. Dini’s threads on the IGDA website’s forums go on a great length in arguments with other posters. I’m not saying he’s a troll, mind you – there’s a lot of food for thought and a ton of useful discussion in many of the posts – but by his own words, he has a problem with “[being] able to continue to say what [he thinks] without getting distracted or pulled into a troll fest hell.“
So, the question is this – Mr. Dini puts forward that he’s an excellent communicator, which can be seen clearly in his well-crafted statement and Q&A. But the thread linked above provides evidence of the opposite. Or perhaps, it’s the continuation of communication well after the point of diminishing returns has been reached. The question, then, would be to ask which Mr. Dini would show up to the IGDA board meetings.
Questions for Mr. Dini:
UPDATE – Mr. Dini responded to my questions below on his blog.
- How exactly do you plan to improve the sense of community and involvement among the membership? Can you give us some specific actions you would take?
- What do you think the IGDA’s role in the industry-wide Quality of Life discussions should be?
- What are you bringing to the table here that makes you a better candidate than the other nominees?
- Do you think the IGDA’s dependence on studio sponsorships for money is a bad thing? If yes, what will you do to begin changing this? If no, why not?
Tags: igda
February 13th, 2010 at 5:11 am
“this question [hours] seems to not get answered a lot”
Thanks for pointing this out. I believe this is one of the more important questions. And, for me, it is a key reason I cannot run.
If we elect people who do not have time to devote to the association, then we’ll only have ourselves to blame when things move slowly or not at all.
February 15th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Hi Scott,
Thanks for your questions. I have answered them on my blog: http://dinodini.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/igda-board-elections-some-answers/
Cheers,
-Dino
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:47 pm
FYI, Dino Dini was complacent about the board’s (in)actions during the Tim Langdell incident. Despite the board having the power to call for a vote or at least keep members informed, they didn’t. This was explained to Dino multiple times, but he kept defending the board.
Here’s a quote from Dino:
“Unless a board member does something that breaks the bylaws, they can’t really do very much about it, other than disagree with with what the board member says.”
Not only was this completely wrong, but some of the board came to the defense of the Tim (with no dissenters), if we remember Tom Buscaglia’s insults towards IGDA members and developers. It’s a poor double standard to allow board members to defend board members, but not defend us members. It’s horrible that Dino is actually for this double standard.
On opinions of having the board being silent and complacent with Langdell, Dino’s answer?
“I said I don’t want to see it. A public display of bickering among board members would do a lot of damage. This does not mean that the board do not argue with each other. I am sure that goes on all the time”
So he was for the board doing absolutely nothing. He was for the complete inaction, the complete silence. There were members who had to go to great lengths to even get the Tim issue heard, but Dino did nothing but argue with those people.
Dino wasn’t arguing with forum trolls, he is the troll, and a hindrance to positive change. Dino should not be trusted to do anything should another Langdell appear.
Please do not vote this guy in.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Adversary – can you back up any of these quotes with links or similar? If it’s the wiped IGDA forums, perhaps Wayback Machine or similar?
February 24th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Some of the posts were trashed in the forum swap, but you can get quotes of Dino’s contrarian remarks (he sometimes even contradicts his own opinions) here: http://www.igda.org/node/1036661
That’s the thread where I grabbed those quotes, but note that it isn’t the only thread where he’s made ridiculous statements about how the Board should never regulate itself and should not be held accountable for it’s outside abuses. I’d grab some from the main Langdell thread, but it’s too large for me to sort through at work.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Also, TIGSource has given a resounding NO to appointing Dino Dini:
http://tigsource.com/articles/2010/02/23/igda-elections-%E2%80%93-candidate-scrutiny
I’m pretty sure The Chaos Engine is probably up in arms against Dino too.
February 28th, 2010 at 11:15 am
I wouldn’t say TCE is up in arms against Dino. His candidacy has sparked some debate but nothing too anti. There are other candidates who are worth discussin.
The fact is most of the TCE members simply don’t care since its clear the IGDA does not actually represent them. So its mostly apathy over the election and quiet ridicule of the poor quality of candidates and obvious lack of votes (only 1700 last time I viewed the page)
Its notable that Dino has changed his IGDA forum avatar in response to the Not in my Name campaign which has sprung up. Where Dino’s logo now shows a version of the TCE logo being binned.
hmmmm yes a candidate for the IGDA effectively saying he does not care for the opinions of a forum that contains over 8000 Game Developers …thats probably not the smartest move but its in keeping with his views on TCE.
Dino’s constant support of the middle ground and railing against what he considers “Forum Trolls” who voice concerns about corruption on the board show that his election would be a do nothing,status quo vote.
Making the IGDA’s irrelevance to game developers worldwide even more convincing.
In one way I hope he does win, knowing him personally as I do, he is a passionate person who really believes in what he is trying to do, perhaps when he’s on the inside and see’s just how ineffective it actually is he might change his views.