It’s been quite the week for The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA). Earlier Jon Del Arroz was accepted as a member to GAMA and made a post in their Facebook group introducing himself. He was hired to work with The Gaming Goat Games and Jeff Bergren. You’ll recall that Bergren made the news last summer when he was escorted out of Gen Con.
Shortly after the post, Rodney Smith of the Watch It Played channel made note of his thoughts on Jon via his Twitter feed and on Facebook:
I made a post today to the GAMA FB group after seeing that Jeff Bergren had hired Jon Del-Arroz and both were now GAMA members. The post was removed by moderators for violating posting rules, so I’m posting it here in the hopes that other GAMA members see it. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/h5votLmHgd
— Watch It Played (@WatchItPlayed) May 4, 2022
For those that don’t want to read the whole thread, Rodney basically has concerns that Jon is a serial harasser and has repeatedly violated GAMA’s code of conduct. Back in 2018, it was reported that Del Arroz was banned from Worldcon for harassment. Jim Chines has a detailed blog post on that topic.
Shortly after Rodney’s post, well-known game designer and activist Eric Lang chimed in on the topic.
After learning that Rodney Smith’s post highlighting a serial harasser’s pattern of abuse and violations was erased, I followed up with GAMA.
Let’s be clear, though: this is not a “GAMA is the enemy” post. It’s a renewed public reminder that harassers don’t disappear. pic.twitter.com/ChMy1Fb0En
— Eric Lang (@eric_lang) May 4, 2022
After looking into the matter, GAMA eventually released a statement on Del Arroz and suspended him for 28 days.
Earlier today, it came to the attention of GAMA staff that a new member was involved in many instances of behavior and activities that are in violation of our Facebook group’s rules.
— The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) (@TheGAMAOnline) May 4, 2022
Apparently unhappy with this decision, Del Arroz threatened to sue GAMA for libel over this.
It’s unclear if Del Arroz was serious or had other things to say on the matter as his account has recently been suspended by Twitter. I’ll let readers infer what they will from that.
As of today, other publishers and creators in the industry have made their thoughts on the situation well known:
More like leading in self-owns amirite pic.twitter.com/bD12G3TjD5
— Tiffany Leigh (@tiffanyleigh) May 5, 2022
Credit to Bounding Into Comics for first reporting on this, free to head over there for much more detailed post on each step of this saga.
Source: Board Game Quest
