Who We Are - Our Community

We're made up of gamers just like you.  We're a collective of people who love video gaming and know gaming from first-hand experience. We want more like-minded gamers to join us in our goal to make gaming even better and enjoy video games with friends!

 

What We Stand For?
 

What's F.A.I.R.:

Fun. Accountability. Innovation. Responsibility.

-Players' Rights
-Developer Duties & Protections

-Consumer Responsibilities & Protections
-Corporate & Market Oversight

We believe in the old-school system: You get what you pay for when you pay for it! You own the products that you buy! You can expect to take delivery of purchases in reasonable amounts of time from when you order them! Not in five or ten years from now and after ten DLCs! Synchronistically, gaming industry workers deserve decent conditions. Their contribution to the bottom-line matters especially when they're working in the name of fun! We all share stakes in these ideas as members of the gaming ecosystem. We all benefit when they are true. We all lose when we let them slide.

We're passionate about gaming. We think gaming companies are best when they reflect that passion too! We care about gamers' experiences. We think the fate of the industry depends on that, too! We work to take responsibility as consumers to regulate our purchasing habits to ensure corporate conduct doesn't spoil our good time. Together we can be more effective in guiding the continued growth of the industry and shaping the development of our community as a whole!

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What type of organization is GBAMFS?

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A collaborative. GBAMFS is a Not for Profit/Educational organization (incorporation pending.) Also a membership (advocacy) organization structured as a federation. Our Society is a dues-based membership gamer social organization that contributes proceeds to the Gaming Brethren Advocates Mutual-aid Foundation.

As part of our mission to inform and educate, we offer a Style Guide for those choosing to cover gaming topics in a journalistic fashion. Please feel free to share it!  GBAMFS Style Guide.RTF

Note: At this time incorporation is still pending. There are no minutes or budget established yet.

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What do we do?

Keep an eye out for quality games. Keep an eye on the industry. Listen to players. Hear out companies. Hear from employees. Point out and report on trends. Offer reviews, ratings, and offer warnings if necessary. Communicate to our members and the broader gaming community pertinent info. Educate the public on gaming, games, and what it's all about and why they should care. Interact with public and private institutional partners, including artistic, cultural and regulatory groups.

We plan on issuing a regular email communique.


Issue items: (Subject to regular review & revision)
 

Are we platform-specific? (I.e. PC-only, only console)

Nope. We're for gamers across the ecosystem, but our focus is dedicated to electronic forms of entertainment: PC, Console and Handheld. 

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What is your stance on OSes? Are you Windows-only?

Microsoft Windows and Google's Android are the dominant platforms for gaming. There is no denying that. There is no denying the community has benefitted from the stability and versatility those platforms afford. Ease of Use is a top factor for many gamers. That said, we favor expanding, not limiting consumer choices.

We take an active interest in encouraging major developers to broaden their OS-platform support and in games that are set up that way. We want to show off the strong strides that the Linux gaming community has made too. Steam OS is one example. Let's work together to make that happen!

What is your policy on Open Source?
 

In favor but pragmatically. We see that the incentive to get rich making a popular consumer good is a big factor in inspiring some of the greatest games we've ever played. That's cool. We want that to continue.

We also feel that while some projects may not normally make any practical financial sense there is clearly a strong latent desire on the part of fans and hobbyists, tinkerers and artists to give back to the gaming community. Sometimes it doesn't take being motivated by profit to do good work that people can benefit from and enjoy the products of! Some fine examples of this are featured in our Games area.

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What is your position on #RighttoRepair, & #RighttoMod / Remix?
 

We're definitely in support!    -> Shoutout to Grayjay        https://grayjay.app/

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What is your policy on Censorship?

Oppose on principle. Small companies that are hosts of proprietary platforms may avoid concern, notice, or potential regulatory oversight. Major platform providers, marketplaces, and Gaming as a Service (GaaS) providers must be responsible corporate citizens responsive not only to market demands but public interest in providing these services.

What about moderation?

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Moderation for the comfort and safety of the online user environment is encouraged in that specific context. If and when it goes into the realm of squelching dissent overall or posing restrictions on public access to comment on the products and services, we take issue with that.
 

Do you support moving major online content hosts, marketplaces, games and services to different categories under law? I.e. Public Forum vs Publisher/Public Utility? Also brick-and-motar-style sales and product-fitness standards of accountability?
 

Yes. [gamer.jpg]

How should ratings be handled? ESRB-style? Governmental?
 

Continued service of ESRB is meditated upon by us. Some may prefer a regulatory back-stop to this but it may be unnecessary. It's done fine so far.
 

What about faster broadband? How and when is that going to happen? What is GBAMFS view on it?
 

The role of Broadband is certainly important. Many of us live in the US and our Broadband service is poor. Whatever steps can be taken to improve it should be. While some suggest subsidies, others of us prefer to look at Antitrust and anti-monopoly law and regulations. We want to ensure what infrastructure we have is not being mismanged for short-term gains to private interests. Whatever route gets us to a lower ping and higher throughput is what we're going to take.
 

Is EULA & licensing law reform part of GBAMFS' agenda?
 

Affirmative. Ask how you can take part!

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Do you take a position on DRM and DAC controls?

Pretty much see them as OK within a certain context. If your game is online-only DAC may be a necessity. Should these be able to take over your whole system? Probably not. DRM is a complex and long-standing controversy in the gaming community. We tend to veer on the side of less is better. If your product is outstanding it may sell itself fine without resorting to all that. 
 

How should Privacy be handled in games?
 

Policies that unduly burden or restrict user ability to set their preferences should be adjusted. Although much of these concerns have been addressed through Tort law, there is a component of them that broaches Civil Liberties-type areas. As a pro-Gamer pro-Freedom group, we aren't against monetization strategies, but at the same time recognize that no private (or public) company has the right to sell you down the river under the terms of contract. Reasonable protections of you, your personal info, and metadata should be observed.
 

What about so-called 'Dark Patterns' in games?

Mental Health is an important issue. Some games are designed for purposes that really don't care about the long-term wellness of their customers. We're against that. 

What is your position on Diversity in Gaming?​

Gamers are diverse! Always have been. Some of the first programmers were women both in and outside of games. In fact one of the most famous and successful devs of all time (and also one of the earliest!) is a woman. Our page on Diversity in Gaming (pending!) is actually really important to our community's interests and educating everybody quite frankly on how People of Color, women, the differently-abled & disabled are all our playmates who share our pasttime! Even though this is an important documentary effort, it's not like we haven't known it all along! ... There are those who are new to the gaming community who have serious doubts, questions about their and others' identit[ies] and we respect their struggle. However their struggle is not necessarily ours and vice-versa! Meantime it is worth noting that the media has consistently+dramatically mischaracterized gamers' views and preferences. This needs to be addressed, and GBAMFS is here to address it!

What are gamers views on DEI?

Those are going to vary. DEI is a policy, often a government and/or corporate one. Since this is a policy question, it will invite a range of viewpoints to approach it with realism and respect to all those concerned. Which may be everybody, depending on where that policy is being promoted or enacted from. Basically GBAMFS takes no position on it except to support the ability of artists to make work that speaks to them and we hope speaks to us. So in principle, "fine if it's done right." There are going to be those skeptical and that is true of ANY work of art or commercial product. What we don't support is abuse, harassment, and vilification campaigns pro- OR con-! Without respect, we reject!

What are games, who really and what are gamers, and who decides?

Wow, that's deep! Those kinds of questions are ones that humankind has struggled with since before written language existed! Gamers probably aren't going to solve them just now. What we can do is agree to sit or stand, lay and relax together enjoying video games. It's really that simple. IF you're making it more complicated than that, that's probably on you. That's fine, but that's not what gaming is about.  We (basically, all of us,) have consensus on that! We're a community and a culture. We're not a costume or a conjectured constituency.

Existential questions and contemplation on fundamental categorical imperatives is in the realm of Philosophy, Social Science, sometimes Linguistics (often English, French, occasionally German.) Basically if that's what you're into that's fine. You're welcome to it. Don't expect to be indulged by the gamer community however. It's basically irrelevant to our culture and interests. Please respect our traditions, folktales, way of life and do not attempt to appropriate them for experimental/ideological purposes. If you do and elicit negative responses, feel free to be offended, but with the knowledge that we all (including you) probably would be best served by you choosing something else to take on as a cause. The cause of gaming,...that's like, playing and repping video games we love, that's enough for us!

What is GBAMFS official position on these matters?

Strongly agnostic. Who decides? Each gamer, when and where. Many of us believe games are art that should be protected, but not everybody. Anybody claiming to be ultimate authority on this is playing another game and it isn't video game-related. They're playing to be boss, whether they plead anti-boss standards or not. Gamers beat bosses, not follow them! "You can be whatever you want to be, so long as it's not the boss of me." — Or else you look like an enemy deserving to be overthrown in many gamers' eyes. We may not have all the power in the "real world," but in our spaces, we enjoy our recourse. Dare you attempt to take this from us, you'll be making a mistake... contentment is a real-world stat. We will enjoy our games, now.. that is all!

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This list is not complete, and official positions are based on consensus. You have the opportunity to help GBAMFS formulate our public planks, and decide where to take this org in the future! Join up now and let your voice be heard!​
 

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