Keeping safe and healthy at in-person game jams
- March 27, 2019
Jess Gates
Jess Gates is a game designer with a huge passion for accessibility. They have supported people with disabilities in accommodation and community settings, and run camps and activity programs for young people and families experiencing disadvantage. Jess enjoys creating games about ethical and social issues, and enabling creators of games, things and spaces to actively and intentionally include all kinds of people.
Game jams have somewhat of a reputation for being pretty dodgy environments for jammer’s health and safety. Everyone gets caught in the swell of making something stupendously wonderful, and they forget to sleep (or eat, or drink water, or be kind and respectful and inclusive). Fortunately, there’s heaps of stuff you and your jam site can do to make an in-person game jam safe for everyone and help you escape with your health intact.
Some of this is set up even before the jam begins, especially things to do with the physical environment. Make sure there’s a dedicated, central space for breaks, relaxation and chilling out. A lot of people think jams are all work, no play – making a space dedicated to the “play”, and times when activities designed for relaxation and enjoyment are run in this space challenges that perspective.
Separate-from-the-jamming-space sleeping areas are amazing, enabling jammers who prefer to stay the night a quieter space to sleep. It’s important to also make sure these are labelled respectfully to include nonbinary, genderqueer and agender folk, and anyone else outside the gender binary.
A code of conduct is a great start too – but don’t hide it away somewhere vaguely in the ticketing info. Go through it in your introductions and housekeeping. Have copies in all your jam rooms. Everyone at the jam site should be singing the code of conduct in their sleep.
Make it clear how people can report anyone breaking it, so people feel comfortable they will be listened to. Talk about what happens if someone does break it: who’s responsible for enforcing it and how is it enforced. Staff and volunteers on the site should also know what they need to do in these situations – don’t leave them in the dark!
Set an alarm for mealtimes if your site isn’t catered. You may feel like you’re in a science experiment, but honestly, when you’ve gone down a rabbit-hole of code for six hours and it’s now 11pm and all the shops are closed, you’ll wish you had set that reminder for dinnertime.
Use alarms for regular reminders to drink water, stand up, and go for a walk. Put on a groovy song and get your entire jam team to dance it out. Gamify drinking water by having a running tally of how many times you fill up your drink bottle (and yes, bring a water bottle). Get creative and strange and weird and different – this is game development, after all. This neat video made by Maize Wallin for the GGJ Yarra site showcases some top tips for keeping safe and healthy while jamming, particularly in the hot Australian summer heat.
After all I’ve said, we need to remember everybody has different ways they take care of themselves. You know you better than I do, so do what you need to do to look after yourself. Make your own agreement to yourself, your mind, your body, and your health – to look after them all in your next in-person jam. The games will always be there. Those things may not be.