From kim.plowright at gmail.com  Sun Nov  1 08:00:26 2009
From: kim.plowright at gmail.com (Kim Plowright)
Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 13:00:26 +0000
Subject: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Oct. 26: Choices
In-Reply-To: <4de8e0ae0910311722i44e2d75ep940f3f4cf593ebe1@mail.gmail.com>
References: <5c799fd60910260603o2e0395cdsc8a9ec697e254983@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CC24620F344A9D-3BD0-12150@webmail-d023.sysops.aol.com>
	<4ca6fcda0910311445k24b12923xcd19adc17748a1a1@mail.gmail.com>
	<4de8e0ae0910311722i44e2d75ep940f3f4cf593ebe1@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d7bcb20a0911010500g2e179812hcde8a023cce7059a@mail.gmail.com>

I heard a genius thing about the way they  set up the productions of
Sacha Baron Cohen's stuff, the other day.

Instead of setting up a company to produce the film as a whole (and
hence limit liability to the shell company, rather than the investing
parent companies if there's legal action) - they set up a separate
holding company for each scene in the movie.

Hence, if something went wrong with a certain scene, it wouldn't bring
down the whole movie.

With Routes - I'm sure I've said this before - we had to clear
*everything* with the legal compliance team at the commissioning
channel. They were brilliant - not at all about 'shutting things down'
- but about asking us questions to make us think about why we were
doing things in certain ways. We had a lot of 'Ah...... yeeees. Right,
we'll rethink that.' moments in those meetings.

eg - sending people round to doorstep people. From the point of view
of the storyteller, this sounds like an awesome experience, and it's
really easy to forget that the reader/player might experience this in
a very different way. They also questioned sending people in to
schools 'from a drug company' - essentially, when you move stories
like this out of the proscenium and in to the 'real' you start hitting
issues around things like fraud law.

We were bound by things like OFCOM rules, and the channel's editorial
guidelines (Which are really worth reading).
http://www.independentproducerhandbook.co.uk/ (in particular, viewer
trust section)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/codes/bcode/
These are there for good reason: to protect the broadcaster, the indie
producer, and the public. The three docs above are a distillation of
70-odd years of experience with making public media - they've grown
out of problems with producers doing things like 'faking' guests on
talk shows, but have also grown from real incidents. For example,
there's a fairly well known case in the UK where the BBC did a 'real'
ghost hunt on live television one halloween, and a chap committed
suicide as a result of being scared by the programme.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwatch

I think, as a maker, you tend to assume the audience is 'like you' -
bright, playful, capable of navigating their way through the boundary
between fiction and reality. This really isn't the case: the audience
are diverse, and you can't guarantee that they're as literate at
reading these experiences as the makers.

I don't see any of these things as blocking creativity, or 'stopping'
things: it's all about a basic  duty of moral care to the audience.
Constraints are good for creativity - it stops you having to work with
a blank canvas!

There was also a point where an idea of getting a group of teenagers
up on to a roof where they'd witness a sniper shooting someone was
mooted. I think I said no to that one, purely because of trying to
arrange insurance and sufficient health and safety assessments
wouldn't have been feasible in the time. Kids! Guns! High places! noo!

2009/11/1 Zenox Bochastle <zenoxbochastle at gmail.com>:
>>Does Sasha Baron Coen have this problem?
>
> Heh. SBC barely avoids jail as it is. And he doesn't avoid prosecution.
> _______________________________________________
> ARG_Discuss mailing list
> ARG_Discuss at igda.org
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss
>

From marcus.helm at gmail.com  Tue Nov  3 21:36:39 2009
From: marcus.helm at gmail.com (Hugh Davies)
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 13:36:39 +1100
Subject: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Oct. 26: Choices
In-Reply-To: <d7bcb20a0911010500g2e179812hcde8a023cce7059a@mail.gmail.com>
References: <5c799fd60910260603o2e0395cdsc8a9ec697e254983@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CC24620F344A9D-3BD0-12150@webmail-d023.sysops.aol.com>
	<4ca6fcda0910311445k24b12923xcd19adc17748a1a1@mail.gmail.com>
	<4de8e0ae0910311722i44e2d75ep940f3f4cf593ebe1@mail.gmail.com>
	<d7bcb20a0911010500g2e179812hcde8a023cce7059a@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4ca6fcda0911031836k5c1d4813w9db21a372b1e9916@mail.gmail.com>

Very interesting and useful stuff
Thanks Kim


On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 12:00 AM, Kim Plowright <kim.plowright at gmail.com>wrote:

> I heard a genius thing about the way they  set up the productions of
> Sacha Baron Cohen's stuff, the other day.
>
> Instead of setting up a company to produce the film as a whole (and
> hence limit liability to the shell company, rather than the investing
> parent companies if there's legal action) - they set up a separate
> holding company for each scene in the movie.
>
> Hence, if something went wrong with a certain scene, it wouldn't bring
> down the whole movie.
>
> With Routes - I'm sure I've said this before - we had to clear
> *everything* with the legal compliance team at the commissioning
> channel. They were brilliant - not at all about 'shutting things down'
> - but about asking us questions to make us think about why we were
> doing things in certain ways. We had a lot of 'Ah...... yeeees. Right,
> we'll rethink that.' moments in those meetings.
>
> eg - sending people round to doorstep people. From the point of view
> of the storyteller, this sounds like an awesome experience, and it's
> really easy to forget that the reader/player might experience this in
> a very different way. They also questioned sending people in to
> schools 'from a drug company' - essentially, when you move stories
> like this out of the proscenium and in to the 'real' you start hitting
> issues around things like fraud law.
>
> We were bound by things like OFCOM rules, and the channel's editorial
> guidelines (Which are really worth reading).
> http://www.independentproducerhandbook.co.uk/ (in particular, viewer
> trust section)
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/
> http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/codes/bcode/
> These are there for good reason: to protect the broadcaster, the indie
> producer, and the public. The three docs above are a distillation of
> 70-odd years of experience with making public media - they've grown
> out of problems with producers doing things like 'faking' guests on
> talk shows, but have also grown from real incidents. For example,
> there's a fairly well known case in the UK where the BBC did a 'real'
> ghost hunt on live television one halloween, and a chap committed
> suicide as a result of being scared by the programme.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwatch
>
> I think, as a maker, you tend to assume the audience is 'like you' -
> bright, playful, capable of navigating their way through the boundary
> between fiction and reality. This really isn't the case: the audience
> are diverse, and you can't guarantee that they're as literate at
> reading these experiences as the makers.
>
> I don't see any of these things as blocking creativity, or 'stopping'
> things: it's all about a basic  duty of moral care to the audience.
> Constraints are good for creativity - it stops you having to work with
> a blank canvas!
>
> There was also a point where an idea of getting a group of teenagers
> up on to a roof where they'd witness a sniper shooting someone was
> mooted. I think I said no to that one, purely because of trying to
> arrange insurance and sufficient health and safety assessments
> wouldn't have been feasible in the time. Kids! Guns! High places! noo!
>
> 2009/11/1 Zenox Bochastle <zenoxbochastle at gmail.com>:
> >>Does Sasha Baron Coen have this problem?
> >
> > Heh. SBC barely avoids jail as it is. And he doesn't avoid prosecution.
> > _______________________________________________
> > ARG_Discuss mailing list
> > ARG_Discuss at igda.org
> > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss
> >
> _______________________________________________
> ARG_Discuss mailing list
> ARG_Discuss at igda.org
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss
>

From joel_josephson at kindersite.org  Wed Nov  4 00:27:32 2009
From: joel_josephson at kindersite.org (Kindersite Joel)
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 07:27:32 +0200
Subject: [arg_discuss] Using Alternate Reality Games in language education
Message-ID: <9F690D1136B94514BA8BA9CA9E79A2D3@aa1>

r.e. European Union funded education project



ARGuing for Multilingual Motivation in Web 2.0  (ARGuing) is a European 
Union education project.



The project has created the first use of an Alternate Reality Game for 
motivating secondary school students to learn languages. The project has 
also learnt how an ARG can be adapted to almost any area of education.



The game that was created was called ' The Tower of Babel' and included a 
story designed to engage the target student group. The students had to save 
the planet by completing specific quests, collaboratively and 
internationally. The project has been a huge success with over 400 teachers 
and students from 17 countries playing the game ' The Tower of Babel'. In 
the final pilot over 9,000 quests were answered and 800 files uploaded.



The project has created a number of resources that are available online, 
these include:

  1.. A re-usable game platform (on a Moodle platform) that includes 
multiple languages http://ictthatworks.net:8080/moodle/ - you can view 
inside the platform by sending an email to me. Please place in the subject 
line of the email ? TofB platform
  2.. A project website with additional information 
http://www.arg-education.eu . On the website are papers to download 
including:
    1.. A methodology to make and use Alternate Reality Games in education
    2.. A set of case studies of other ARGs and serious games with empirical 
evidence of results
    3.. A set of use case scenarios that show examples of how ARGs could be 
used for other subjects or cross-subjects
    4.. An online teacher training course to enable educators to use the ARG 
the project produced
    5.. Summaries of papers on the pedagogy, evaluation and the technology 
employed. (full papers are available in the conference proceedings of the 
3rd European Conference on Games Based Learning 
http://academic-conferences.org/ecgbl/ecgbl2009/ecgbl09-proceedings.htm )


The project team are also offering consultancy services to other educators 
interested in using ARGs in education.



Please feel free to contact us with any questions.



Prof. Thomas Connolly

Coordinator ARGuing EU project

University of The West of Scotland

Thomas at arg-education.eu

http://www.arg-education.eu/ 


From camherst at gmail.com  Sat Nov  7 18:57:25 2009
From: camherst at gmail.com (Christopher Amherst)
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 2009 18:57:25 -0500
Subject: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Oct. 26: Choices
In-Reply-To: <5c799fd60910260603o2e0395cdsc8a9ec697e254983@mail.gmail.com>
References: <5c799fd60910260603o2e0395cdsc8a9ec697e254983@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <19849af80911071557y46b40877l7f1308587ab56176@mail.gmail.com>

Actually with the lawsuit against Toyota's campaign and the recent
actions against spam blogs,
I'm having to keep in mind that there will be a need for a disclaimer
on any "in-game" sites
I use done in a similar style to what "World Without Oil" did on their sites.


Signed,
Christopher


On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 8:03 AM, Andrea Phillips <andrhia at gmail.com> wrote:
> Since we're on the subject already, sort of... I'm pretty sure many of
> us have had fabulous ideas that you haven't implemented because of
> legal or ethical considerations. Anyone care to share those ideas and
> the thought process that led you to ultimately axing them?
>
> My example: for Routes, we wanted to send actors playing the role of
> lawyers or policemen on behalf of a big pharmaceutical company to
> knock on players' doors and deliver them with mocked-up C&D papers. We
> ultimately decided this wouldn't be the right thing to do. One big
> issue was the age group we were creating for -- if a teen player's
> parents answered the door, it might put the player in a difficult
> position, because as with Toyota, the player had opted in but the
> parents hadn't. And "But mom, it's for a game" isn't very convincing,
> is it?
>
> (Kim, care to weigh in more on the specifics of that particular decision?)
>
> So tell me, sirs and mesdames, where have you chosen to pull your punches?
>
> --
> Andrea Phillips
> http://www.aaphillips.com
> AIM: Andrh1a * Skype: Andrhia
> Words * Culture * Interaction
> _______________________________________________
> ARG_Discuss mailing list
> ARG_Discuss at igda.org
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss
>

From vladiweb at googlemail.com  Sun Nov  8 14:04:12 2009
From: vladiweb at googlemail.com (Vlad Alex)
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 20:04:12 +0100
Subject: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Oct. 26: Choices (Hugh Davies)
Message-ID: <a9403e9f0911081104t52f38c5doccc9e532f4694891@mail.gmail.com>

Very interesting discussion. I want - this time in my function of player -
admit the immersive effect of this "pseudo"-real scenario  "policemen/lawyer
on your door".

In one cool ARG I've playing we had to hack one bank website. Even if we
pretty knew, this website is set up specially for us, e.g. is "in-game",
hacking such sources was involving thrill (which is pretty good sign for an
ARG). But - and here comes the factor "player beeing just player": many of
us got next days a nice letter from a lawyer, whose client was owner of this
bank (or was owner of the bank account). Anyway, this letter was ingame, but
too authentic, and we've found soon the profile of this lawyer in various
social networks like "Xing" (which is actually used for serious business
connections, not just for free time conversations).

And many of us were troubled (since here in Germany are such lawyer letters
very frequent phenomen, as many lawyer are doing nothing but hunting their
cases and wanting to gouge people). Some of us wanted to quit the game,
because it was too real. They said: if it were real, they just had to quit
the game. If it were a fake, they will quite the game, because the PMs were
going too far.

So imho PM's should be very cautious making such story lines - it can offend
and frighten people, even if it is not intended in a game. Surely, such
twist makes the game to more immersive experience, but even because of this
it can cause players leave the game.

From baroblik at videotron.ca  Sun Nov  8 14:52:49 2009
From: baroblik at videotron.ca (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Genevi=E8ve_Cardin?=)
Date: Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:52:49 -0500
Subject: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Oct. 26: Choices (Hugh Davies)
In-Reply-To: <a9403e9f0911081104t52f38c5doccc9e532f4694891@mail.gmail.com>
References: <a9403e9f0911081104t52f38c5doccc9e532f4694891@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <55679BE1-C40D-43AA-8EFC-393913829417@videotron.ca>

I couldn't agree more with you.

I think that you still find a thrill in the game to receive something  
from a lawyer in-game, with a logo of the game, or something graphic  
related to it, or some small characters @ the bottom saying : take  
this seriously, this is not a game.

When you go to the movie, you can be thrilled, affraid and even  
scared, even if you know it's just a movie.

Suspension of disbelief ... Should work for ARG's too.

G.

Le 09-11-08 ? 14:04, Vlad Alex a ?crit :

> Very interesting discussion. I want - this time in my function of  
> player -
> admit the immersive effect of this "pseudo"-real scenario   
> "policemen/lawyer
> on your door".
>
> In one cool ARG I've playing we had to hack one bank website. Even  
> if we
> pretty knew, this website is set up specially for us, e.g. is "in- 
> game",
> hacking such sources was involving thrill (which is pretty good sign  
> for an
> ARG). But - and here comes the factor "player beeing just player":  
> many of
> us got next days a nice letter from a lawyer, whose client was owner  
> of this
> bank (or was owner of the bank account). Anyway, this letter was  
> ingame, but
> too authentic, and we've found soon the profile of this lawyer in  
> various
> social networks like "Xing" (which is actually used for serious  
> business
> connections, not just for free time conversations).
>
> And many of us were troubled (since here in Germany are such lawyer  
> letters
> very frequent phenomen, as many lawyer are doing nothing but hunting  
> their
> cases and wanting to gouge people). Some of us wanted to quit the  
> game,
> because it was too real. They said: if it were real, they just had  
> to quit
> the game. If it were a fake, they will quite the game, because the  
> PMs were
> going too far.
>
> So imho PM's should be very cautious making such story lines - it  
> can offend
> and frighten people, even if it is not intended in a game. Surely,  
> such
> twist makes the game to more immersive experience, but even because  
> of this
> it can cause players leave the game.
> _______________________________________________
> ARG_Discuss mailing list
> ARG_Discuss at igda.org
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss


From yomzz at yomster.com  Mon Nov  9 13:19:48 2009
From: yomzz at yomster.com (Yoms)
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 18:19:48 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Oct. 26: Choices
In-Reply-To: <mailman.5.1257778804.42451.arg_discuss@igda.org>
References: <mailman.5.1257778804.42451.arg_discuss@igda.org>
Message-ID: <52375.87.194.220.228.1257790788.squirrel@yomster.com>

Hey all,

We have just finished the first run of a project over here in London,
where the question of choice, trust, and social responsibility played a
central role.

The object was to create an interactive film experience that people could
inhabit for two whole weeks. Participants had the ability to change the
path of an narrative by engaging with the characters or the plot, and by
doing this they could also extend the reality of the fictional world.

During our 'live' events, we had several 'plants' between the edgy parts
of the experience and each participant, though many did not know this.

With all the necessary precautions in place, people opted to stick with
the experience to the end. This involved various experiments, a
Milgram-type test, and a mock execution staged at 1am on an 8th floor
rooftop. One participant said it was one of the most exhilarating things
he'd ever done.

Some of the assets used were an Internet radio station (started
broadcasting 6 months prior to launch), a social network (full of
professionals eager to join a group that "mixed business with pleasure"),
and a spoof police site which urged the public to help fight crime
irrespective how "far fetched" some may seem.

Participants constantly probed behind the facade to check whether assets
were real or fictional, and our disclaimers always pointed them in the
right direction. The only snag was when people re-tweeted a report about a
police raid that took our radio station off-air. We're currently assessing
what happened, and working on a questionnaire to find out whether there
were enough safeguards in place, and how all the signposts were ignored by
the re-tweeters.

Here's a summary of one of the events:

http://www.argn.com/2009/10/out_of_breath_a_night_at_pleasure_principled/

More to come as the project enters the next stage.

All best wishes

Yomi



From camherst at gmail.com  Tue Nov 10 12:36:30 2009
From: camherst at gmail.com (Christopher Amherst)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:36:30 -0500
Subject: [arg_discuss] Suggestions on a practicum introduction to ARGs (or
	ubiquitous storytelling)
Message-ID: <19849af80911100936t5d5cc4c2ld9fa9d2a9924c881@mail.gmail.com>

Last March, I moderated a panel that discussed similarities and
differences between ARGs and other art/game forms.
(Which I'm take suggestions on how to improve, generalize, or update)

I'm considering crafting a more hands-on and practical approach to
pervasive design experience.
As such, I'm wondering:
What suggestions or guidelines would people recommend for developing
such a workshop?

Minor caveat:
My expectations on the audience is that simple -
They are all well-versed in telling interactive stories as well as
narrative / character development.

The focus will be on techniques and methods that integrate that
activity into real world / real time.

Christopher

From camherst at gmail.com  Tue Nov 10 13:33:25 2009
From: camherst at gmail.com (Christopher Amherst)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:33:25 -0500
Subject: [arg_discuss] Academic programs?
Message-ID: <19849af80911101033h552d03bcje1435e2ca2dba36a@mail.gmail.com>

As I'm considered graduate level programs (and had asked this in other
forums), but

Does anyone have any programs that they would recommend (and why)?

Some of the previous recommendations were MIT, Georgia Tech, Carnegie
Mellon to name a few.

Christopher

From will at studiocypher.com  Tue Nov 10 17:46:04 2009
From: will at studiocypher.com (Will Emigh)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:46:04 -0500
Subject: [arg_discuss] Academic programs?
In-Reply-To: <19849af80911101033h552d03bcje1435e2ca2dba36a@mail.gmail.com>
References: <19849af80911101033h552d03bcje1435e2ca2dba36a@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <106548320911101446j2c905839h7155c17650dfd595@mail.gmail.com>

Indiana University at Bloomington has a Masters in Telecommunications
program that, despite the generic name, is geared towards game and
interactive media development.

They have some great faculty members, including Lee Sheldon (writer
for some of the Agatha Christie games and developer of the Skeleton
Chase ARGs) and Ted Castronova (an economist who studies game
economies).

Bloomington is a great place to live and the program is flexible
enough that you can get whatever you want out of it.

If you contact me off-list with your particular areas of interest, I
can tell you more about how well that would work at IUB.

In the interest of fair disclosure, I should mention that I'm a
satisfied graduate of the program who now develops games for a living.

-- Will

Studio Cypher, LLC
Amazing games, everywhere

www.studiocypher.com

On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 1:33 PM, Christopher Amherst <camherst at gmail.com> wrote:
> As I'm considered graduate level programs (and had asked this in other
> forums), but
>
> Does anyone have any programs that they would recommend (and why)?
>
> Some of the previous recommendations were MIT, Georgia Tech, Carnegie
> Mellon to name a few.
>
> Christopher
> _______________________________________________
> ARG_Discuss mailing list
> ARG_Discuss at igda.org
> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss
>

From joel_josephson at kindersite.org  Mon Nov 16 08:47:16 2009
From: joel_josephson at kindersite.org (Kindersite Joel)
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:47:16 +0200
Subject: [arg_discuss] Using Alternate Reality Games in language education
References: <mailman.11.1242741604.40071.arg_discuss@igda.org>
Message-ID: <AE1A5F2D3B6C446C97FED2B93B15FC31@aa1>


Wendy



In answer to your request below. The papers and game platform are now 
available for viewing.



I have placed the whole post below.



Joel



r.e. European Union funded education project



ARGuing for Multilingual Motivation in Web 2.0  (ARGuing) is a European 
Union education project.



The project has created the first use of an Alternate Reality Game for 
motivating secondary school students to learn languages. The project has 
also learnt how an ARG can be adapted to almost any area of education.



The game that was created was called ' The Tower of Babel' and included a 
story designed to engage the target student group. The students had to save 
the planet by completing specific quests, collaboratively and 
internationally. The project has been a huge success with over 400 teachers 
and students from 17 countries playing the game ' The Tower of Babel'. In 
the final pilot over 9,000 quests were answered and 800 files uploaded.



The project has created a number of resources that are available online, 
these include:

  1.. A re-usable game platform (on a Moodle platform) that includes 
multiple languages http://ictthatworks.net:8080/moodle/ - you can view 
inside the platform by sending an email to me. Please place in the subject 
line of the email - TofB platform
  2.. A project website with additional information 
http://www.arg-education.eu . On the website are papers to download 
including:
    1.. A methodology to make and use Alternate Reality Games in education
    2.. A set of case studies of other ARGs and serious games with empirical 
evidence of results
    3.. A set of use case scenarios that show examples of how ARGs could be 
used for other subjects or cross-subjects
    4.. An online teacher training course to enable educators to use the ARG 
the project produced
    5.. Summaries of papers on the pedagogy, evaluation and the technology 
employed. (full papers are available in the conference proceedings of the 
3rd European Conference on Games Based Learning 
http://academic-conferences.org/ecgbl/ecgbl2009/ecgbl09-proceedings.htm )

The project team are also offering consultancy services to other educators 
interested in using ARGs in education.



Please feel free to contact us with any questions.





Prof. Thomas Connolly

Coordinator ARGuing EU project

University of The West of Scotland

http://www.arg-education.eu/



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <arg_discuss-request at igda.org>
To: <arg_discuss at igda.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 4:00 PM
Subject: ARG_Discuss Digest, Vol 46, Issue 8


> Send ARG_Discuss mailing list submissions to
> arg_discuss at igda.org
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: ARG for language learning Final Pilot (Wendy Despain)
>

> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 21:56:33 -0700 (PDT)
> From: "Wendy Despain" <wendeth at wendydespain.com>
> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] ARG for language learning Final Pilot
> To: "Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG" <arg_discuss at igda.org>
> Message-ID:
> <1196b8753371757636c9e192cb7c507d.squirrel at webmail.wendydespain.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Hey Joel,
>
> When the papers go live on your site, please let us know. I will be
> very, very interested in your results. Loved the video, too. Looked
> fun!
>
> Wendy Despain
> International Hobo
>


From andrhia at gmail.com  Fri Nov 20 20:17:53 2009
From: andrhia at gmail.com (Andrea Phillips)
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:17:53 -0500
Subject: [arg_discuss] Fwd: IGDA: Healthcare Program
In-Reply-To: <d239b70fc6659f7d5fc1e4bd82a0f4a03f0.20091120214250@mcsv158.net>
References: <d239b70fc6659f7d5fc1e4bd82a0f4a03f0.20091120214250@mcsv158.net>
Message-ID: <5c799fd60911201717reb5238aj93590f73476f2fb2@mail.gmail.com>

Hi, guys,

I know not all of us are IGDA members, but the IGDA is actively working to
provide a good incentive for you to join if you haven't already. To that
end, the board and exec director have been busy planning a health insurance
benefit for members in the U.S., to become available in January. I thought
I'd pass along this very helpful email to the list to explain what's going
on to those of us who might have otherwise missed the news.

I'm really excited about this -- it's definitely one concrete way to make it
less scary to take on starting your own studio, that's for sure.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: IGDA <igdahq at talley.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Subject: IGDA: Healthcare Program
To: andrhia at gmail.com


    Email not displaying correctly? View it in your
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Dear IGDA Member,

We are happy to be launching a new program to provide access to group health
care. This email provides a short background, describes the basics of what
the program is and is not, and aims to answer some of the questions we've
heard so far.  *

Who:* This program will be available to Members in the USA - whether Full
Rate, Studio Affiliate, Student Members or Hardship Dues Rate Members. This
program will not be available to free users of the website, or any
individual who is not a member of the IGDA.
*
Why and How:* In response to frequent requests by Members, the IGDA has been
exploring options for providing access to health insurance at better rates
than what you would obtain on your own.  Naturally, there are many concerns
that need to be balanced and addressed in providing such a program to a wide
range of members.  After several months of research, the IGDA has decided to
partner with an established group called Health Benefits Professionals (HBP)
& Association Health Programs (AHP) which provides programs for many
associations.

 *
When:* The Program is scheduled to launch in early January of 2010.
*
What it is:* In summary, this program will be what is known as a referral
affinity style program.  Through your membership in the IGDA, you will be
able to connect with a representative from HBP-AHP and describe your health
insurance needs - budget, spouse/dependants, chronic illness, etc. They will
get you access to rates that you would not be able to obtain otherwise.  The
options presented to you will be specific to your needs, and will come from
"A" rated carriers only.

The goal of offering this program is to provide access to health insurance
for as many members as possible with a level of flexibility that makes it an
attractive option to the majority of our members.
*
Some of the benefits:*

 - The rates offered through this program will generally be better than
rates you can obtain on your own.

- You have access to a trained Health Insurance professional to discuss your
individual situation in confidence and determine the type of plan and
options that are important to you.  You can (and should) use this person to
ask questions, get more information, and determine the best options for you
based on your current life situation and future plans.

- You can use this professional to support you in the event there are any
future questions, challenges or concerns about your plan at any time.  These
folks can help you to cut through much of the red tape and get answers in a
timely fashion.

- You will be offered plans from multiple competing carriers, as this plan
is not tied to a specific insurance company.  This allows you to see
different options and make selections that work best for your specific
situation.

- All of the carriers who will be presented to you are "A" rated carriers.
This is important due to the number of scams out there, and the need for a
carrier to be financially stable when you need to access the benefits of
your insurance.

- Coverage will be available to IGDA members and their families, with
minimal exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Members must pay the full
cost so adding family members or having pre-existing conditions may
dramatically affect your rates.

*What this program is NOT:*

- This is not an IGDA Group plan.  Although the rates you will get should be
comparable to what you would get as a group insured, the diversity of needs
reflected in our membership makes a single group plan undesirable.  If the
IGDA had gone down this road (which was examined) there would have been real
time delays as we put together a group, and less cost reduction until such a
group had actually been established through participation and payment of
premiums.

- This program is not insurance provided by the IGDA.  The IGDA will neither
be your carrier nor your agent. The IGDA's role in this is to reflect the
buying power of the membership in aggregate and pass the results of that
buying power back to you in terms of the discounts you will receive.

- This program is not a panacea or a silver bullet. There are some members
who will have better rates through their company or their specific
situations (example: subsidized COBRA).

- This is not going to be Subsidized Insurance:  The IGDA will not be paying
any part of your premiums.  This means that you may find cheaper coverage
through your employer if they pay part of your premiums.

- As with all health insurance, your premiums may still be high if you
choose super platinum levels of coverage, ppo options, low deductibles, have
existing chronic illness, etc. These variables are in your hands, not
decided on a group basis.

*A few final details:*

- This program will be part of the Basic Membership Package.  If the IGDA
changes the membership structure, this will remain available at the tier of
membership where it will benefit as many members as possible.

- The IGDA can offer this program without needing to raise dues in the
forseeable future.  Your dues are not used to subsidize premiums.

- This is not a move to unionize the IGDA.  There are over 180 other
associations working with HBP-AHP, both trade associations (that represent
companies) and professional associations (that represent individuals). They
are not unions. This is a benefit many kinds of organizations offer to their
members.

- This will not be right for everyone.  We wish it were. Our goal is to be a
benefit for as many as possible, but with thousands of members able to
participate in this program, each with different life circumstances, it's
just not possible to create a program that support everyone's needs. This
program should meet the needs of many members. If it doesn't, we'll revisit
the arrangement. We look forward to hearing feedback from those who take
advantage of this benefit.

- This program is specific to the US. If it succeeds, we will look into the
options available to do something similar in the other countries where we
have formal chapters.  There are many special requirements and challenges in
each individual country, and there may not be an option in every location.
If you live outside the USA and are interested in working with us to set up
something similar in your country, please contact the Executive Director,
Joshua Caulfield, directly at joshua at igda.org.

- More information on this plan will be posted as it becomes available on
our website. Some discussion has already occurred in the comments to the
initial announcement on the IGDA Board Blog -
http://www.igda.org/board-blog/igda-starts-healthcare-program<http://IGDA.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d239b70fc6659f7d5fc1e4bd8&id=d38766e064&e=2a0f4a03f0>


Thank you for your continued membership in the IGDA.

>From the IGDA Board of Directors,

Tobi Saulnier
Chair
  You are receiving this email as part of your membership to the
International Game Developers Association.

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-- 
Andrea Phillips
http://www.aaphillips.com
AIM: Andrh1a * Skype: Andrhia
Words * Culture * Interaction