Silly Reasons Not to Attend GDC
Not attending GDC as a political protest is awfully silly. What exactly is the message that's intended to be sent? "The US Federal Government is doing bad things; therefore, I will punish GDC (run by a private company) and the most progressive city in the entire US."
Not quite sure what the grandstanding achieves after it's delivered on U.S.-based Linkedin/Twitter/Discord/Bluesky/Substack typed on iOS/Android, after shipping games made with Unity/Unreal to Steam.
The concerns about cost are valid, but this is a recycled complaint every year. And this year, GDC actually tried to bring a lower-priced pass. San Francisco's safety record is embarrassing, but there's rarely an issue in the main business centre, and it's far better than a decade ago.
The most astonishing part about my experience living in Europe is the obsession with U.S. politics, even during the Biden admin. While it is the world's funniest reality TV show, miniseries from countries like France, Germany, and Italy rival some of the best U.S. seasons.
I'm a fan of the Touch Grass Movement and literally the whole point of GDC is to network with industry peers and build community. If anything, attending and embracing the extremely international community of game developers is a protest against the world's trending events.
Seriously, it's one of the industry's most marvelous revelations: it's somehow developed global hotspots. Normally, we'd expect to see more agglomeration effects and knowledge spillovers grow over time, but something about the diversity of games has given it a polycentric structure.
As game developers, we have the unique opportunity to take advantage of this and explore places we would otherwise never have the chance to experience. I'm living proof of this, having lived in Los Angeles, Sweden, and now Cyprus, becoming a dual US and EU citizen.