Recently there have been accusations of racist or discriminatory statements against game designers (not SAZ members). We would like to emphasize that the Game Designers Association has been working against discrimination and for a culture of tolerance since its foundation.

In 2018, the board of the Game Designers Association (SAZ) therefore also supported the initiative of German game journalists "Spielend für Toleranz - Gegen Rassismus und Fremdenfeindlichkeit" (Playing for Tolerance - Against Racism and Xenophobia) and thus clearly took a stand against such tendencies.

Since its beginnings, one of the main goals of the SAZ is to improve the recognition of game designers. We have made a lot of progress in this area and now also see ourselves as having a responsibility – within the scope of our possibilities – to take a social stance and to raise awareness for more attentiveness, e.g. with regard to social and historical topics.

We have therefore decided to set up a working group. This group will be tasked with developing a first draft of a "Code for Respect and Responsibility" in the coming months. This code is intended to create greater awareness in the games industry – not only among game designers – for tolerance, racism in all its forms, equal rights, and the sensitive handling of historical and cultural topics.