But will IGDA board call official members vote?
The Tim Langdell / IGDA saga has taken another twist today, as the petition to call a meeting regarding the Edge Games owner has reached the critical number of signatories.
The petition, created by IGDA member Corvus Elrod, seeks to force the board into calling an official vote on the ousting of Langdell, currently serving on the IGDA's board.
According to the organisation's bylaws, should ten per cent of the association's membership call for a meeting - roughly 1,200 people - a special meeting will have to be called.
After directly appealing to members, the petition now has over 2,000 signatories - but, as Elrod told Develop, that doesn't mean the battle is yet won.
"It's true, we've got the signatures we need," he said. "But now the hard work really begins, as we convince the board to take it seriously and the entire membership to take a stand and vote."
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Meanwhile, The Chaos Engine - whose legal fund to support Mobigame's battle with Edge we've previously written about - has launched its official website for donations.
Called 'Chaos Edge', the fund had already amassed just under 1,500 Euros in a little over a week. Furthermore, over 500 developers have joined the Facebook group in support of Mobigame's fight against Langdell.
Much as I'm sure he's a loathsome slithery beast, calling Langdell a 'trademark troll' here weakens both the report and TCE's case. Surely Develop should be impartial, reporting facts rather than opinion - otherwise Langdell could cite a witch hunt.
Langdell goes under the banner EDGE Games, yet when challenged to provide evidence that this company has released any product to retail since 1994, he is silent.
It's a shell company existing only to profit from others' use of the common English word 'edge'.
'Trademark Troll' is generous frankly.
Hey Andy,
Thanks for your comment! You have somewhat of a point - largely about the witch hunt - so I have removed it.
With regards to Develop being impartial, that is something we strive for, yeah - but, at the same time, Develop exists to promote, celebrate and aid developers from the UK, Europe and increasingly across the globe (much like the IGDA does, in a sense).
As such, there will be times when we do veer to one side slightly, when we think that it's things that are good or bad for our readership (see our praise for Tiga's new efforts in last month's issue for a positive example, or our disappointment at the findings of our quality of life survey).
Us having a voice isn't a bad thing, nor is it suddenly an avenue for bias to enter into the equation. If anything, it gives us more impetus to really discuss the things hurting developers.
But don't worry - we're not going to turn into The Sun. If we ever say we're OUTRAGED then feel free to shoot us ;)
Andy; there's a time to be impartial and a time to be very real.
Langdell's actions are that of a trademark troll. His contributions to the industry are worthless and how he got into the IGDA board is a mystery.
I'm stunned the IGDA has not acted yet. This is definitely not a good look for them.
As an IGDA member in the US, I didn't vote this year because I was too busy hoping I'd still have a job in a month.
I think most of the people who vote either a) know the person they're voting for or b) take a quick look at the person's statement and vote based on that.
I never heard of Tim Langdell before the election, and I didn't know he was suing people over the use of the work "edge". Knowing that now, my name is on the list to have him removed.
The way that he got in the board is simple: He lied about himself (mostly with his "spawn" sutff, like "spawned" EDGE magazine, that he stole the logo btw...), and got some votes... Yet he did not get sufficient votes to get elected.
But IGDA bylaws say that when there are not sufficient directors nor quorum for them to get elected, the board can appoint people... And thus they appointed Langdell.
Altough Langdell itself is a "evil" guy, he getting in the board is just a simptom of how damaged and out of control IGDA is.
Havingn known Mr Langdell for well over 20 years, (little or no contact since late 80's other than to be very well aware of his civil mis demeanours with a good actress friend in LA, to which most of us would hide our kids away), this man has little or no credence in video games, the citing of SKU's as developed games is laughable, that it comes up as mostly Spectrum and C64 is a tell tale. Do not be fooled my fellow game developers to allow this man a platform to eschew his own munificence (non existent) and his vexatiuos litigancy. We are a group who are far better than this in this great industry. IGDA - De Select this man before we all de select you.
Sincerely
David A. Palmer
(1981 - 2009 - 289 video games and no added SKU's)
