Della Rocca Ends IGDA Tenure With 'Fiery Farewell'

Outgoing IGDA (International Game Developers Association) executive director Jason Della Rocca has ended his nine year term at the organization with what he himself describes as a “mini rant” and “fiery farewell”. The speech was first made as part of the intentionally inflammatory 'rant session' that takes place yearly at GDC, and is phrased as an apology for his work at IGDA over the years. Paraphrasing the speech on his blog Reality Panic, Della Rocca began: "Serving the IGDA for the past 9 years has been extremely rewarding and challenging. I helped to get a lot done, but somehow feel that I failed the community." "Sorry for being too focused on the nuts and bolts, with my head down in execution. I just didn’t spend enough time on the big picture vision stuff. It’s scary, and easy to avoid when you’re just ‘busy’ doing stuff," he continued. He further apologized for what he saw as a lack of leadership skills in encouraging IGDA members to fully participate through their membership, as well as failing to build up more community leaders and volunteers. "Sorry for not overcoming your general apathy and laziness," he added. "Sorry for not getting you to be more serious about the profession of game development. You are no longer a bunch of hacks. This is a real art and science. We need to be way more deliberate and control the path the profession takes as it evolves into the future." After apologizing for not helping members to "realize your power!" he ended his comments succinctly: "Oh well, f* you, it’s not my job anymore!"