Designers Association Calls Out Missing Game Design Credits

Name the designer of the last game you played. If you had to think about it, the Tabletop Game Designers Association would like a word, and it has picked a good analogy to make its case.

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On 23 July the TTGDA published a press release calling on awards organisations, publishers, retailers and content creators to attribute game authorship "fully and accurately", after what it describes as several recent announcements that named only publishers. Its line: "You would never recommend The Widow as the latest book by Doubleday. It's by John Grisham. The same should go for tabletop games."

The association lists the usual failure points. Designers left off solicitations and marketing copy. Sales platforms that omit them from listings. Awards ceremonies that promote publishers more prominently than creators. The TTGDA says it has worked with GAMA on the Origins Awards and with Mensa on their Select winners to fix repeated omissions, and that Barnes & Noble now includes designer names in its listings. Amazon, it says, has resisted, despite being perfectly capable of making musicians and book authors searchable.

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There is praise, too. The release singles out the designer-focused Spiel des Jahres awards and BoardGameGeek's convention coverage, including the current Gen Con and SPIEL Essen lists, as examples of the industry getting it right.

The recommendations are practical rather than preachy: if you mention the publisher, mention the lead designers; a game is "by" its designer and "published by" its publisher; use a text overlay in review videos if reading names aloud is awkward; and let designers consent to, or withdraw from, promotions using their name.

Board member James Lowder, an author and RPG designer of more than 35 years, argues the industry must do better at acknowledging the people who imagine the games. It is an easy habit for the rest of us to pick up as well. Next time you post about your game night, name the designer alongside the game.

Sources: TTGDA press release | TTGDA | Wargamer