Jennie Robinson Faber
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9 session pages and 10 PS Guide markdown files for the Baby Ghosts cooperative foundations curriculum. Import script creates documents in Outline wiki with cross-links between paired session/PS Guide pages.
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Session 3: Actionable Values and Impact
Pre-session
Peer Supports: See PS Guide: Session 3 for pre-session tasks.
Welcome
- Slide: Tag Yourself activity
Intro - 3 min
Over the last two sessions, we've covered WHY cooperatives matter to game developers who are challenging toxic industry norms,WHAT we want to build through shared purpose and values, and now we will dive into theHOW: The day-to-day tools you need to make democratic work... work! These tools aretechnologies for liberation, and every small step we take toward collectivism matters.
You've identified your values (Session 1) and started aligning with your collaborators (Session 2). But values on paper (or in your Miro board) don't prevent burnout or resolve conflict. This session introduces two tools to make values operational. Something you can return to when decisions get hard.
With these tools, we can change our work relationships immediately by choosing:
- consent over coercion
- transparency over secrecy and gatekeeping
- collective care over competition
- slow over fast
- horizontal over hierarchical
Check-in - 5 min
Last session you practiced The Talk and worked on scale and pace definitions with your team.
what's a tension that came up - something that surprised you, or that you're still thinking about?
Case study from PS Presenter - 10 min
- how they arrived at their current values
- what changed through iteration
- one example of values guiding a real decision
- show the mess!
Scenarios - 15 min
So let's practice. We'll give you two scenarios. Start with your values before you jump to the solution.
Scenario 1: Someone is really excited about your studio and really wants to join, but you don't have funding to pay them. They claim that they just want experience. How do you handle this?
Scenario 2: A high-profile client who is legit and proven to have the funding wants to commission you to make art for them using generative AI. Your studio is at an early stage where getting clients at all is challenging. What do you do?
Give groups 3–4 minutes per scenario. Remind them: start with your values before you jump to the solution. Brief sharing around the room — what values came up? How did they shape the conversation?
Tying your values to practices - 5 min
You've identified values. You've had hard conversations about alignment. But how do values actually show up day-to-day?
Values that live only in a document or a Miro board don't prevent burnout, resolve conflict, or guide decisions under pressure. The gap between "we value transparency" and actually practicing transparency is where most studios struggle.
They also don't hold your studio together when someone asks "why are we even doing this?" In a Ghost Guild session after the program, we will work on public narrative - the practice of telling the story of why your studio exists in a way that actually moves people. For now, just notice: when you're working through Why/What/How, your "Why" is the beginning of that story. Hold tight to it!
This section introduces two tools to close that gap:
- Why/What/How framework - for turning values into concrete practices. You’ll work on this with your Peer Supports.
- Layers of Effect - for checking whether potential outcomes from your actions match your intentions
Both tools give you something to return to when decisions get hard, when you're under deadline pressure, or when you realize you've drifted from what you said mattered.
Tools and frameworks
for practicing values and assessing impact
Why/What/How framework - 10 min
Using the framework
The order matters: Why, then What, then How. And your values should guide all three levels.
WHY - Why does this value matter to us? What's at stake? Example: "We value transparency because secrecy entrenches power and excludes people from decisions that affect them."
WHAT - What does practicing this value look like? What are we committing to? Example: "All financial information is accessible to all members. Compensation is open."
HOW - How will we actually do this? What specific activities or outputs? Example: "Monthly financial summaries shared in Slack. Quarterly budget review meetings. New members oriented to finances in onboarding."
You’ll work on this one more with your Peer Supports!
Layers of Effect - 25 min
The second tool helps you see impact before (and after) you act.
Layers of Effect is a framework for mapping the ripple effects of your decisions - both intended and unintended. It's adapted from an exercise by UX designer Kat Zhou.
Miro template [FACIL-08: add to studio boards]
How it works
The framework uses three concentric rings:
Primary Effects (centre ring) These are thefundamental intentions behind your activity - the direct, immediate impacts you're trying to create. For instance, a cooperative might focus on equitable profit sharing among all members, or prioritize sustainable and fair labour practices.
Questions to ask:
- What direct benefits will people experience?
- Who might be immediately excluded or harmed?
- What vulnerabilities are we creating?
- What breaks immediately?
Secondary Effects (middle ring) These areknown but perhaps not immediately obvious impacts. An example could be the cooperative's influence on promoting diversity and inclusion in the games industry, or its role in advocating for mental health awareness through its games and community interactions.
Questions to ask:
- How could positive behaviours spread through networks?
- What dependencies or new risks are we introducing?
- Who bears the burden of adaptation?
- What erodes over months?
Tertiary Effects (outer ring) These involveunforeseen consequences that arise from your activities. This might include setting new industry standards for ethical game development, or inadvertently creating a platform for global collaboration and cultural exchange among developers and players.
Questions to ask:
- What industry standards could this establish?
- What long-term societal impacts might emerge?
- Which communities or ecosystems pay the price?
- What shifts over years?
At each layer, think about:
- Who gains?
- Who pays?
- Who's invisible but affected?
As effects move outward, who becomes responsible for unintended consequences?
Using colour to map effects
On the template:
- Yellow = opportunities and benefits
- Red = risks and costs
These might be connected - a benefit in one layer can create a risk in another.
How to use it
- Before decisions:
- map potential effects to anticipate consequences
- To course-correct:
- when something feels off, check whether your effects are matching your values
- To refine values:
- if you keep seeing the same unintended consequences, your values might need updating!
We'll walk through a Baby Ghosts example (or presenter's example) so you can see this in action.
Activity: Identify one decision - 5 min
Each studio identifies one upcoming decision they could run through either tool this week with their Peer Support.
This doesn't need to be a big decision. Small decisions work well for practice.
Share your decision in your studio channel before you leave today.
Recap - 5 min
To recap:
- Start with your individual and collective values - talk them over
- Talk about the WHY before you get to the WHAT and HOW
- Use Layers of Effect to see if your impact is matching your values
We've covered a lot of topics here, but they are all centred around the goal of making sure your values are more than just lip-service.
Closing - 5 min
Which tool are you most curious to try?
Homework (with Peer Supports)
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Apply Layers of Effect to an upcoming decision – Use the Miro template on your studio board. Walk through: what are the primary, secondary, and tertiary effects? Who gains, who pays, who's invisible but affected?
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Work through Why/What/How with your Peer Supports – Start with at least one value from your team's values map.
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Discuss as a studio – How often should you revisit your values and check whether your effects match your intentions?