John Sharp has announced that he is stepping down from his role as co-chair of the annual indie game conference IndieCade, explaining that he no longer believes that conferences are the way to help independent game developers succeed.

“Implicit in my work with IndieCade was a belief that conferences—the talks, the panels and the interstitial moments of community—are vehicles for change,” Sharp said in a recent blog post. “Looking back at the last six years, I no longer believe this is a meaningful way to sustainably support marginalized communities.”

He explained that while conferences like IndieCade can be a great place for developers to showcase their games, the events do little in the way of real support.

“For me, a big motivation for volunteering my time to co-chair the IndieCade conference has been giving marginalized voices a platform to share their work,” he added. “Events like IndieCade and GDC’s diversity track give these developers and critics a platform to share their work, but I fear these events are not providing sustainable, long-term benefit to those outside academia and game development companies.”

According to Sharp, one problem with events like IndieCade is that the financial burden for speakers to attend the event can sometimes be too high for the average independent developer, even with the free conference pass provided to them.

“Over the last couple of years, IndieCade has made efforts to provide some financial assistance to conference speakers who need it, but it has been a token gesture at best, as we’ve only been able to cover a portion of the speaker expenses relating to travel, lodging and meals,” he said. “I’m proud that we have made this effort, and applaud that IndieCade supported my co-chairs and I in trying, but it just hasn’t been enough.”

Sharp also explained that while IndieCade can help make some developers “conference famous,” it does little to support them in meaningful ways that can actually help them become more successful.

“While I’m no longer helping IndieCade organize and run its conference, I do plan to continue looking for ways to create a space for sustaining a diverse and inclusive community for game making,” Sharp concluded. “Perhaps this can happen through the IndieCade Foundation, maybe it will be through partnering with an existing arts organization. If you have ideas about how to make this happen, or you have the resources to help make this happen, let’s talk and see what we can do. Even better, start something on your own. The more people working to create ways to sustain the margins of games, the better.”

You can read Sharp’s full blog post here.

Photo by Doug Kline