anyone know about this thing?

http://igdadallas.com/

can anyone join and hang out at these events?

Not familiar with the Dallas chapter but use their contact form to find out if IGDA membership is required. By and large IGDA meetings are open to all. Some charge non-IGDA members a small fee to attend (and some more often than others depending on the type of event) but I've never heard of a chapter that only allows IGDA members to attend.

As a Lifetime Member and chapter co-founder (10 yrs membership) I have to say the IGDA helped me really connect with my local industry here in NJ. I swore when I first started the chapter it was a game dev wasteland out here but now I have dozens of local industry friends. IGDA is a great org and you can make it do all sorts of things for you if you're willing to put in the time since it's primarily a volunteer organization.

Alot of these seem to be somewhat inactive, I've noticed for NYC the last 2 post where 4 years apart. I would of really liked to be able to participate in a igda type of community :-/

If you're in NYC you should be doing these. I don't make the trip up often but it's a good crew

Alot of these seem to be somewhat inactive, I've noticed for NYC the last 2 post where 4 years apart. I would of really liked to be able to participate in a igda type of community :-/

Just a note, but as Gaiiden said the IGDA and especially the chapters are very volunteer driven for their content. If you would like to participate in it maybe the answer is to restart it? :-p

edit: If you are worried people won't attend, I found when I started the chapter at my old university that everybody wants to attend it's just that nobody wants to start the organization. If you don't mind organizing the rest will pick up fairly quickly. Even after a month or so I didn't have to do much besides make sure we had a space to meet in. Other people did a good job of volunteering to present/find presenters it was just the first step nobody wanted to take.

Just a note, but as Gaiiden said the IGDA and especially the chapters are very volunteer driven for their content. If you would like to participate in it maybe the answer is to restart it? :-p

That's pretty much exactly what I did to get my local chapter going. And it's totally true. You want something that's not there? Go do it!

My chapter is also a great example in that we're in a bit of a lull right now as our leaders have moved on to serious jobs, families, etc. New blood is always a good thing, especially when that person wants to make things happen.

If you're in NYC you should be doing these. I don't make the trip up often but it's a good crew

Sounds cool!, I think I would be a little shy to go alone the first time tho, do you know if it would be fine to bring a friend until I make new ones? also I'm just a hobbiest game developer by night, and a regular database developer by day. These guys/gals would probably be light years ahead of me skill wise! I hope they will take kindly to a hobbiest such as myself.