Established March 2021, last updated March 2021

introduction

What is the Code of Conduct?

This Code of Conduct outlines the expectations we hold for anyone participating in NZ Games Festival.1 It also contains a number of helpful resources for approaching interpersonal disputes.

Who does it apply to?

If you attend an NZ Games Festival event (including those held under the Play by Play, Level Up, and The Pavs: NZ Game Awards sub-brands), or are platformed by NZ Games Festival (including Board members, Committee members, volunteers, speakers, event facilitators, judges, jury & award nominees/winners) we expect you to uphold these standards, and any additional rules set out for specific events.

This Code doesn’t apply to employees of our event venues. However, we expect our venue partners to treat festival-goers respectfully nonetheless, and are here to help if you do have a negative experience with venue staff. Any venue-specific rules or Code of Conducts should be honoured in addition to this one.

When does it apply?

Our Code of Conduct applies whenever you’re attending an NZ Games Festival event, or communicating with or on behalf of NZ Games Festival.

Why do we have a Code of Conduct?

Our goal at NZ Games Festival is to create a fun, safe and rewarding festival experience for our attendees. Creating the right atmosphere requires commitment from all our participants (including the festival team) to respect each other. 

Since our inception we’ve had a Safe Space Policy to address potential harassment and other unsafe behaviour at events. This Code of Conduct expands our toolkit to help address and prevent that behaviour. Issues of unsafe behaviour aside, the Code also encourages members of the games community who experience conflict to take steps to resolve that conflict themselves, and hopefully avoid it happening in the first place!

The Code doesn’t create legal obligations for any individual, NZ Games Festival,the Board, or Committee. Instead, it outlines what we expect from all festival participants, and how we expect to handle reports of unacceptable behaviour. NZ Games Festival does have the right to remove and/or ban individuals from current and/or future festival events, and we will do this where we consider appropriate. Dealing with these matters can be complicated and context-dependent, so the Board has discretion to amend, replace or depart from the Code as it considers necessary.

1NZ Games Festival is run by Play by Play Limited. In this Code, we use “NZ Games Festival” and “NZGF” to refer both to the company and to the broader NZ Games Festival event. Where we refer to the “Board”, we mean the volunteer board of directors of Play by Play Limited.

The Code

Expected behaviours

Each one of us can make NZ Games Festival events enjoyable for each other! Here’s how you can help:

  • Treat each other with dignity, kindness and respect. 
  • Invite others into the fun (But if they’re happy as is then don’t pressure them)
  • Communicate with each other
  • Adhere to each other’s boundaries – especially physical boundaries
  • Take time away for yourself to recharge, if you need it. 
  • Feel empowered to query behaviours or incidents that make you uncomfortable, either at the time or by reporting after the fact. 
  • Consider the needs of those around you
  • Look after each other – help your friends get home safely.
  • Do what you can to help ensure others are having just as good a time as you are!
Unacceptable behaviour

NZ Games Festival recognises that harassment can have far-reaching consequences on you or the recipient’s emotional and physical health. We’re dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience, and do not tolerate harassment or other unacceptable behaviour in any form. 

Harassment may include:

  • Discriminatory actions or offensive/unwelcome comments, including those relating to
    • Gender 
    • Gender-expression 
    • Sexual orientation
    • Disability – physical, psychiatric, intellectual, abnormality of anatomical structure 
    • Physical appearance
    • Body size
    • Age
    • Race
    • Religion
    • Lifestyle choices (including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, employment)

 

  • Sexual harassment (irrespective of gender), as in unwanted attention of a sexually-oriented nature, including (but not limited to)
    • Offensive comments or gestures of a sexual nature 
    • Sexual or smutty jokes 
    • Repeated comments/ invitations/ intrusions into someone’s private life 
    • Unwelcome physical contact or simulations of physical contact 
    • Provocative visual material

 

  • Bullying, as in repeated, persistent, offensive, abusive, intimidating, malicious, or insulting behaviour, including (but not limited to)
    • Threats and intimidation
    • Manipulation and coercion
    • Verbally or degrading language, gestures or images
    • Shouting, yelling; using a raised voice and unpleasant tone
    • Unexplained displays of rage
    • Nit-picking and fault finding without justification
    • Constant humiliation
    • Belittling remarks either to the recipient or behind their back
    • Unjustified threats
    • Stalking or cyberstalking
    • Denigration and exclusion

 

The Board has the final say on what constitutes unacceptable behaviour. If NZ Games Festival is made aware of an allegation of unacceptable behaviour through an on-site volunteer or a report to the Board, it will investigate the complaint and reach a view on whether unacceptable behaviour has occurred, and take whatever action it considers appropriate.

Engaging in unacceptable behaviour at an NZ Games Festival event may result in a warning or expulsion from the event, as per our Safe Space Policy. Any breaches of NZ law will be referred to local law enforcement where appropriate.

Representatives of NZ Games Festival (including the Board, the Committee, and event volunteers) and those it platforms (including speakers, workshop facilitators, judges, jury, and award nominees/winners) are encouraged to adhere to this Code of Conduct outside of NZ Games Festival events and communications, too. It is important that we are good citizens within the community that we’re trying to foster! Conduct that brings NZ Games Festival into disrepute, regardless of where it occurs, may incur consequences.

Consequences of breaching the Code of Conduct may include: a warning, temporary exclusion from representative or platform roles, temporary exclusion from event/s, and/or complete exclusion from future festivals. All decisions are made at the sole discretion of festival organisers.

The Code

Expected behaviours

Each one of us can make NZ Games Festival events enjoyable for each other! Here’s how you can help:

  • Treat each other with dignity, kindness and respect. 
  • Invite others into the fun (But if they’re happy as is then don’t pressure them)
  • Communicate with each other
  • Adhere to each other’s boundaries – especially physical boundaries
  • Take time away for yourself to recharge, if you need it. 
  • Feel empowered to query behaviours or incidents that make you uncomfortable, either at the time or by reporting after the fact. 
  • Consider the needs of those around you
  • Look after each other – help your friends get home safely.
  • Do what you can to help ensure others are having just as good a time as you are!
Unacceptable behaviour

NZ Games Festival recognises that harassment can have far-reaching consequences on you or the recipient’s emotional and physical health. We’re dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience, and do not tolerate harassment or other unacceptable behaviour in any form. 

Harassment may include:

  • Discriminatory actions or offensive/unwelcome comments, including those relating to
    • Gender 
    • Gender-expression 
    • Sexual orientation
    • Disability – physical, psychiatric, intellectual, abnormality of anatomical structure 
    • Physical appearance
    • Body size
    • Age
    • Race
    • Religion
    • Lifestyle choices (including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, employment)
  • Sexual harassment (irrespective of gender), as in unwanted attention of a sexually-oriented nature, including (but not limited to)
    • Offensive comments or gestures of a sexual nature 
    • Sexual or smutty jokes 
    • Repeated comments/ invitations/ intrusions into someone’s private life 
    • Unwelcome physical contact or simulations of physical contact 
    • Provocative visual material
  • Bullying, as in repeated, persistent, offensive, abusive, intimidating, malicious, or insulting behaviour, including (but not limited to)
    • Threats and intimidation
    • Manipulation and coercion
    • Verbally or degrading language, gestures or images
    • Shouting, yelling; using a raised voice and unpleasant tone
    • Unexplained displays of rage
    • Nit-picking and fault finding without justification
    • Constant humiliation
    • Belittling remarks either to the recipient or behind their back
    • Unjustified threats
    • Stalking or cyberstalking
    • Denigration and exclusion

 

The Board has the final say on what constitutes unacceptable behaviour. If NZ Games Festival is made aware of an allegation of unacceptable behaviour through an on-site volunteer or a report to the Board, it will investigate the complaint and reach a view on whether unacceptable behaviour has occurred, and take whatever action it considers appropriate.

Engaging in unacceptable behaviour at an NZ Games Festival event may result in a warning or expulsion from the event, as per our Safe Space Policy. Any breaches of NZ law will be referred to local law enforcement where appropriate.

Representatives of NZ Games Festival (including the Board, the Committee, and event volunteers) and those it platforms (including speakers, workshop facilitators, judges, jury, and award nominees/winners) are encouraged to adhere to this Code of Conduct outside of NZ Games Festival events and communications, too. It is important that we are good citizens within the community that we’re trying to foster! Conduct that brings NZ Games Festival into disrepute, regardless of where it occurs, may incur consequences.

Consequences of breaching the Code of Conduct may include: a warning, temporary exclusion from representative or platform roles, temporary exclusion from event/s, and/or complete exclusion from future festivals. All decisions are made at the sole discretion of festival organisers.

Code Breaches

Resolution

If you have an issue with an NZ Games Festival attendee, representative, or someone platformed by the festival, please seek resolution as soon as possible. The earlier an issue is tackled, the smoother the path to resolution!

The path to resolution, in order:

  1. You: reach out to the other person to have a good faith discussion about the issue
  2. A trusted support person: ask someone you trust to have a good faith discussion with the other person about the issue
  3. The event manager: if you think unacceptable behaviour is occurring at an event, report the issue to the event manager who will take any necessary action, as per our Safe Space Policy. Any of our purple shirted volunteers will be able to direct you to the event manager.
  4. NZGF Board: you can make a report to the NZGF Board (more on that below). You can contact us at info@nzgamesfest.com 
  5. NZGDA: if you are uncomfortable approaching the NZGF board or are unsatisfied with the NZGF resolution process, we encourage you to reach out to the NZGDA at info@nzgda.com
  6. External Authorities: if a criminal act has taken place, we encourage you to speak to local law enforcement

You can jump ahead to a later stage in the resolution process if you’re uncomfortable getting involved at an earlier level, if someone at a particular level is involved in the situation, or if the circumstances make a higher level resolution method more appropriate (but if you are feeling unsafe at an event, please contact a purple shirted on-site volunteer immediately). We trust your judgement.

Individual resolution

Harassment and other unacceptable behaviour exempt, interpersonal disputes are usually a miscommunication problem, which is why we recommend starting with a good faith discussion. While the NZ Games Festival does not tolerate unacceptable behaviour at its events and will take steps to stop it from occurring, the Festival’s role is not to resolve interpersonal disputes between members of the gaming community.

If you or a trusted support person want to have a good faith discussion with the other party, we recommend using the Situation-Behaviour-Impact conversation tool. This is a great way to organise your thoughts and enable productive discussion. 

You may also find MBIE’s Preparing for Mediation Workbook useful, regardless of whether you’re going into formal mediation. This is a helpful tool for identifying what the issue is, and what you want to achieve by having a conversation about the issue.

Reports to event managers

As outlined in our Safe Space Policy, you may contact a purple shirted on-site volunteer at any time if you see any unacceptable behaviour occurring.

Our volunteers and event managers will take any action they consider appropriate, at their sole discretion, in response to allegations of unacceptable behaviour.

In particular, while the first step may often be a warning, our event managers are entitled to eject an individual or group from the event if they consider that the individual or group has engaged, or is likely to engage, in unacceptable behaviour.

How to report to the NZGF board

We expect that in most cases reporting an issue to an on-site volunteer or event organiser will resolve it, but we recognise that resolving some issues may require further involvement or support from NZ Games Festival. Reports are handled by the standing NZGF Board at the time the report is received. You can view the volunteers who comprise the 2021 Board here. Committee members/event organisers are not involved in the reports process, though the Board may inform them of relevant reports if action is required on their part. 

You have a few options on how to make a report:

  1. In writing: Email info@nzgamesfest.com (recommended).
  2. Verbally: Call a current board member – phone numbers available on request via the above email address. For accuracy and accountability purposes, verbal reports will be transcribed by the board member and supplied back to the complainant for approval before being committed to the Festival records.
  3. Anonymously: Use this form to make an anonymous report (https://nzgamesfest.com/code-of-conduct-report/). Due to the anonymous nature of these reports we may be unable to follow up or escalate an anonymous report, but will commit anonymous reports to the Festival records for future reference.

We take all good faith reports seriously, but reserve the right to disregard reports made in bad faith (which are in themselves a form of harassment) in order to protect volunteers from abuse and burnout. Reports intended to silence legitimate criticism may be deleted without response.

How the NZGF Board handles reports

Report process

NZ Games Festival has sole discretion in how it decides to investigate and address reports. We think it’s helpful to understand what the reporting process may entail, so here’s a rough guide as to what our process of investigating and addressing a report might look like.

When a report is received, a Board member will follow up with the complainant (where the complainant is not anonymous) to ask how they would like to proceed:

  1. No further action desired; report committed to record and considered alongside any future reports.
  2. Support wanted; complainant may request support from NZ Games Festival as detailed below.
  3. Escalation needed; process continues as detailed below.

Where a complainant requests support, NZ Games Festival may be able to offer the following:

  • Support in arranging mediation: As an event that’s not run for profit we’re unable to assist with the costs of mediation, but we’re happy to contact the parties involved and suggest potential mediators
  • Offer of support person at event/s: If you’re not comfortable around someone and would like a wing-person to help you feel more comfortable at one of our events, we’d be more than happy to oblige. We’ll discuss the most appropriate person to assist you with you – they may be a Board member, a Committee member, a volunteer, or a friend of the festival.
  • Support in making a police complaint: Where a crime is alleged to have been committed, we are happy to provide a support person while making a complaint and assist authorities with any investigation needs.

If escalation is needed, the Board may further investigate the report and determine whether the Code of Conduct was breached, and take action as the Board considers appropriate. Before contacting the person complained about, the Board will confirm that the complainant is willing to be identified to the person complained about. The Board may ask the parties for formal statements about the incident.

If disciplinary action is needed, this may include:

  • Issuing a warning to the person complained about, which may be considered alongside any future conduct complaints
  • Exclusion from NZ Games Festival platform roles (speakers, facilitators, award finalist/winner) for a period of time which NZGF considers appropriate. Any awards exclusions do not apply to games made by teams, but the excluded person may be asked not to accept award/s on behalf of their team.
  • Exclusion from attending NZGF event/s for a period of time which NZ Games Festival considers appropriate.
  • Complete exclusion from future NZ Games Festivals. Complete exclusion has no expiry date but can be reviewed or revised by the standing NZGF Board at any time. 

We expect all NZ Games Festival representatives (the Board, Committee and event volunteers) to refrain from engaging in unacceptable behaviour, and the Board will take appropriate action in relation to complaints made about representatives. However, the Board’s dealings with Festival representatives are necessarily an internal matter for the Board, and the Board may adopt a different process when investigating these complaints.

Retention of reported information

All reports (whether escalated or not) are private and confidential, and are filed to the NZ Games Festival records for future reference. NZ Games Festival complies with the Privacy Act 1993 in relation to all reports.

If in doubt, talk to us

If it’s not covered here, if you’re unsure it’s a code breach, or if you think it’s outside of our jurisdiction – we’d still love to hear about it. We value our responsibilities as hosts, and want to continue to refine our processes to help ensure you have a safe and rewarding time at NZ Games Festival. Contact us at info@nzgamesfest.com.

Resources & Support

Here are some avenues for which you can seek information, personal support or discuss any issues or concerns you have. 

Conversation
  • Consult a close friend or family member
  • Talk to a trusted colleague
  • Consult one of your managers or team leaders
  • Talk to your health professional
  • If your organisation has an Employee Assistance Program, contact them
  • Visit your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau 
Tools for resolving interpersonal disputes
Online Bullying Resources
Mental Health Resources

Here are some avenues for which you can seek information, personal support or discuss any issues or concerns you have. 

Conversation
  • Consult a close friend or family member
  • Talk to a trusted colleague
  • Consult one of your managers or team leaders
  • Talk to your health professional
  • If your organisation has an Employee Assistance Program, contact them
  • Visit your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau 
Tools for resolving interpersonal disputes
Online Bullying Resources
Mental Health Resources