Developer Appreciation Week 2017

Have you ever been so critical about a game that you read back that post later and gasped? As in, you start wondering if any dev addressed would jump off a cliff after reading it? Fear not, this week you have the chance to atone for your sins, for it is Developer Appreciation Week!

Developer what?! Yes, you read it right, dev appreciation week. This week you're going to lay down that pitchfork and dig up the lyre to go serenade some devs. Or at least I hope you do, after you've read this post.

Games are made by game companies. More specifically, games are made by developers that work for said game companies. Behind these big 'evil' corporations (as gamers tend to see them) are real people with families that are trying to make a living working on the things they love.

We gamers are passionate about our hobby, and - as anyone knows who has been paying any attention the past 40 years - passion leads to the dark side. Devs have to deal with online vitriol on a daily basis. And while I always aim to keep my tone in my blog posts civil, I know I haven't been a saint either. So let's put away our frustrations for a moment to let game developers know how much we appreciate their creation of the virtual worlds we love.

The history of DAW

If you're like, "wow Rav, that's so unlike you, what a great idea", well, that should already have given it away. DAW is not my idea; it's Scarybooster's and a long running yearly event! Since things are easily lost on the internet, here's a short history. (Note that DAW was around before I discovered blogging, so feel free to point out any flaws in the comment section.)

The first DAW was organized in 2010 by Scarybooster of Scary Worlds and quickly grew in popularity. Unfortunately, he no longer blogs, but you can still look up some of his first DAW posts on the Internet Archive (kudos to Belghast for figuring that out). With Scarybooster's disappearance from the blogosphere, Rowan from I Have Touched the Sky and Belghast of Tales of the Aggronaut took over. This is when I first learned of DAW as a participant. When I was wondering about this year's event on Twitter, Rowan handed me a torch and Belghast handed me a banner and now you're stuck with me.

(Edit: Only after already publishing this, I found out Scarybooster is still around on Twitter. Fail, Rav! Luckily, he is cool with me carrying on his initiative.)

I've always thought of DAW as a charming initiative and something that I want to see live on. It feels kind of impossible to fill the boots of Scarybooster, Rowan and Belghast; each of them has put their heart and a great deal of dedication into the event, writing a huge number of dev appreciating posts. But hopefully I won't have to make a heroic attempt alone. You can help to make DAW the success it deserves to be: all you need is a keyboard and an internet connection.

How does it work?

1. Dedicate at least one post to your favorite developer(s) or dev team this week. If you would rather make a video, stream, a podcast item or voice your ideas in a tweet, that's fine too. It's all about spreading that dev positivity! You can check out this list of DAW posts from 2015 if you're in need of inspiration.

2. Be positive! Don't trash another developer to make your point as to why your developer is better. DAW is about being positive and thanking all developers for their hard work.

3. Just enjoy yourself. Don't expect a developer to pat you on the back for you patting them on the back. They might see your post or they might not: what matters is that you've spread some dev positivity and had fun at it.

4. Share the love! Spread the word about DAW, because you will reach people that I don't. Retweet others (#DAW8)* and comment if you agree with a post. It's nice to know we're not throwing those flowers into the void.

5. Spam me with your creation. I will do my very best to track down DAW entries and include them in a wrap up post at the end of the week, but you can make it easier for me by posting a link to your article in the comments below or tweeting it to me (@Rav_Griffon).

(The above is based on one of Scarybooster's DAW announcement posts.)

DAW 2017 will run from April 3rd - 10th. You get a bonus day because I'm a bit late with posting, working on the banner (not my forte)! If you want to use it: here is the original and here is a text only version (pro tip: the latter looks pretty good when pasted on top of a screenshot of your favourite game).

Let's go serenade some devs!

Edit: The Developer Appreciation Week of 2017 is over, but you can read everyone's contributions in the wrap up post.

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*All logical hashtags I could think of (#DAW, #DAW2017, even #8thDAW) are already in use for completely different causes; the best I can come up with is #DAW8, since this year is the eighth edition. I'm open to suggestions!