Jon Del Arroz has apparently joined the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA.org – a group for tabletop game publishers), and it’s already causing dissent.

Rodney Smith of Watch It Played, a YouTube game reviewer, wrote a comment to the private GAMA Member Facebook group to acquaint them with JDA’s track record but the moderators immediately took it down. Therefore, he reposted it to Twitter along with a copy of Jon Del Arroz’ self-introduction.

Del Arroz says he’s working with The Gaming Goat (TGG), a publisher whose CEO Jeff Bergen has several times been embroiled in controversy. For example, last year in a Board Game Geek forum over 1500 posts were made after TGG advertised the availability of a Tournament Fishing Rulebook in an ad that included a prominent image of a frog making the okay hand gesture, accused of being a right-wing dogwhistle combining the gesture with Pepe the Frog, another figure in alt-right memes.   

Rodney Smith also said:

Also, in case it's not clear, Jon's YouTube video about who the "hottest" reviewers are, is not talking about hotness in the way gamers generally use it to describe popular games. He's using it the *other* way. 3/3

— Watch It Played (@WatchItPlayed) May 4, 2022

GAMA answered on Twitter, and was engaged by another writer.

As a target of Jon's, I find GAMA's response upsetting. What's the point of saying you're making a safe space when you don't vet? He's been banned for hate speech by Twitter & Patreon. And he's banned from most comics conventions, events, and groups. A simple google search!

— T. Caires (they/them) (@TheOneTAR) May 4, 2022

Will GAMA take action?

Meanwhile, JDA is, as usual, enjoying the attention.

Incidentally, GAMA runs Origins Game Fair, which made news in 2018 when its previous Executive Director John Ward withdrew the event’s invitation for Larry Correia to be one of its guests of honor after the announcement was met with numerous protests: “Origins Game Fair Drops Larry Correia as Guest”.

Update: GAMA subsequently announced a suspension of JDA’s account.

GAMA member Eric Lang also had thoughtful comments. Thread starts here.

After learning that Rodney Smith's post highlighting a serial harasser's pattern of abuse and violations was erased, I followed up with GAMA.

Let's be clear, though: this is not a "GAMA is the enemy" post. It's a renewed public reminder that harassers don't disappear. pic.twitter.com/ChMy1Fb0En

— Eric Lang (@eric_lang) May 4, 2022