Statement of Commitment

We at the Cardboard Republic are aware of the current protests occurring across the United States in the wake of George Floyd’s death and are committed to supporting black, indigenous, mixed-race, people of color across the industry. We stand with the Black Lives Matter movement and are opposed to racism and police brutality. We are making the following pledges regarding our coverage of games:

1. Twenty percent of the games we cover from this point on will have been designed, developed, illustrated, or have had other substantial involvement from BIMPOC.
2. Coverage of each game will include commentary on and/or analysis of how the game deals with race and culture, whenever applicable.
3. We will support BIMPOC colleagues in gaming media through sharing their work, collaborating on projects, and welcoming them as contributors to our site.

Inclusivity has always been part of our mission, but we want to be very clear about what that means for us moving forward. Please expect an article from us later this week elaborating on these points.

This was a statement that we posted last week in an effort not just to reiterate our support for the ongoing movement itself but to signal our commitment to making actual adjustments to how we operate as part of that support. As promised, and in the interest of transparency, we would like to take this space to briefly expand upon our goals in more detail.

1. Twenty percent of the games we cover from this point on will have been designed, developed, illustrated, or have had other substantial involvement from BIMPOC.

We’ll be tracking this to the best of our ability and will revisit our data periodically once we resume regular game coverage again to see how we’re doing. We came to the 20% number by examining our archive and shelves and aimed for a percentage that was higher than we have covered in the past but is still achievable. In all honestly, this number feels low, and we hope to adjust it as time goes on. We also recognize that in some cases, this may be impossible to track, but we’ll do our best.

2. Coverage of each game will include commentary on and/or analysis of how the game deals with race and culture, whenever applicable.

We’ve traditionally provided in-depth analyses on the majority of our game coverage and have addressed when such matters have arisen in specific titles. However, it was always more of a case by case basis rather than part of our overall critique rubric. Moving forward we will be looking at them specifically in regard to how they speak to race and culture in addition to all of our normal criteria. How this will come across in our coverage will vary from title to title: some games will certainly warrant more words than others. Moreover, we want to stress that the clause “whenever applicable” is not meant to allow us an out from difficult conversations, but instead to give us the freedom to cover abstract games or those where such topics aren’t present.

3. We will support BIMPOC colleagues in gaming media through sharing their work, collaborating on projects, and welcoming them as contributors to our site.

We have always valued when board game content is approached from different viewpoints, with different voices, and championing different games, as doing so creates a more vibrant and representative cross-section of the hobby’s audience. It also is a welcome shakeup from large scale coverage, which can sometimes feel rather homogeneous. We will continue to retweet and share work by BIMPOC in gaming media, and we will make a concerted effort to do this more often. While our site has pulled back on operations over the last year due to the intervention of life events, including collaborations and inviting new contributors, as we begin to wind back up we will be doing so with an eye toward including more BIMPOC voices.

We are considering each of these points to be a work in progress, and we recognize that we are a collective of mostly cis white creators. We’re open to feedback and are always working to educate ourselves better. Periodically, we’re going to revisit these points to hold ourselves accountable and offer transparency. We’ll share where we succeeded, where we failed, and discuss how we can continue working for justice as the gaming community changes.

These commitments are not a wide stretch from our overall site ethos, which we’ve maintained since its founding in 2012. We have always aimed to include special focus on independent creators and give coverage to games that might not make it into larger gaming media. But we’ve also learned that simply trying to do our best is not enough – we need specific goals in order to have measurable outcomes.

As our nation, and the world at large, work to dismantle systemic oppression and build a better future, we commit to stand with BIMPOC, with Black Lives Matter, and with those fighting for justice and freedom.

These are some of our efforts we’re doing here at the site. If you’re interested in broader efforts for the community (which we encourage) but don’t know where to start, we recommend checking out this Ways To Help page.