“Awareness is an approach to preventing sexualized violence, discrimination of all kinds and crossing personal boundaries, which happens in our society and therefore also in event spaces, on a preventative and practical level. The long-term goal of Awareness is to sensitize many people to these issues through low-threshold events and to set an example of a more considerate way of being together in order to bring about a society as a whole. (…) Awareness must be understood as an ongoing process that process that is anchored in all areas of an event organization.” – act aware

The approach is that crossing personal boundaries is defined individually by the person concerned. This means that the incidents that lead to people feeling attacked, disregarded, discriminated against, hurt, belittled or overwhelmed is not questioned.

What is a harmless trifle for one person can already cause another person to lose their enjoyment of the event.

If you’re not sure whether your behavior is okay, we recommend that it’s better to ask too much than too little!

We act according to the principles of collective responsibility:

• We all have a shared responsibility. That’s why we invite everyone – attendees, professionals and the entire crew – to take responsibility together and to react wherever aggressive behavior is observed.
• Our attitude is person-centered: the perception of the person affected is not questioned – solidarity is our top priority.
• Consensus and agreement: individual boundaries are respected. No always means no! And even more important: only yes means yes!

Wherever many people come together, crossing of personal boundaries and/or discrimination can occur, and we are aware this can happen at our events. In order to get closer to our vision of safe co-existence for everyone, we are implementing awareness measures for attendees, professionals and our crew. We also follow the declaration of the German games industry association for more diversity.

Abusive behavior includes any form of inappropriate, discriminatory verbal comments related to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental impairments, appearance, ethnicity, age or religion. This also includes all forms of intentional intimidation, stalking/stalking, unauthorized photographing or filming of other people, uninterrupted disruption of lectures, inappropriate physical contact and unwanted sexual advances.

As an organizer, we can take measures that we consider appropriate towards participants who engage in such behavior. These can range from warning the person concerned to excluding them from current and future events.

Make an offer:
Signal that you are willing to help. Communicate what you can do for the person. Ask what the person wants, e.g. “Would you like to sit down for a moment?” / “I can use this phone number to call the awareness team – would you like that?” / “I can accompany you to the Silence Room – would you like that?

Contact our Awareness Team:
Call the Awareness Team to your location.

Accompaniment:
You can also bring the person to the Awareness Team if your capacities allow this. If you do not have the time yourself, please ask another person for help.

PLEASE NOTE:

• Do not ask any questions about the experience and do not judge whether the person needs help.
• Do not leave the person alone until support has arrived – unless they want it.
• Keep what you discuss confidential & be discreet with personal information.