We at Monte Cook Games operate our business—its practices and policies—on the basis of a handful of core values. Like all humans, we’re not perfect, but we always strive to ensure every product, activity, and decision we produce sits firmly on the foundation created by our core values. In no particular order, these include:
Our Team and Our Community
We believe that Monte Cook Games, and all businesses, have a myriad of stakeholders, all of whom are vital to the health and success of the endeavor. These include our employees (and our families), our fans and the players of our games, customers (particularly crowdfunding backers who trust us with an investment ahead of receiving their products), and contractors, vendors, and others we work with.
While traditional business management keeps these stakeholders firmly subservient to the interests of the owners or investors, we believe that all of these stakeholders are not just vital to the success of Monte Cook Games, but an integral part of why we exist and do what we do.
And if a single stakeholder group stands out in importance, it’s our team. The passion, vision, talent, and dedication of our team makes everything we do possible. We all hope that MCG will be the last job any of us will ever have, and we strive to make that the case through every means available to the company—compensation and benefits, work environment, camaraderie, and of course the exercise of the values outlined here.
Passion, Innovation, and Leadership in Game Experiences
Monte Cook Games exists, as the name implies, to make games. But not just any games. And not just great games. When we work on a product, we want everyone involved to feel that we are doing the best work of our lives. That this is the best product we’ve ever worked on. That each product is the best we’ve ever worked on. We don’t view any product as routine or de rigueur—instead, we view every product as an opportunity to do the best work of our lives.
Monte Cook Games is known for our innovation and stellar standards for writing, art, design, and production. We will always be a leader in this regard.
Human Creativity
We make games that inspire us—and if they don’t, we don’t make them.
Every aspect of the games and products we create reflects the passion and unique vision of the creator. This includes not just the game design and writing, but also the illustration, layout, editing, cartography, and even marketing that go into bringing a product from initial concept to your game table.
Generating imagery or text through a trained algorithm (“AI” or machine learning-derived art or writing) is the exact opposite of inspiration, vision, and passion. If a game or other product doesn’t express something that comes from the mind and heart of a creative human, it’s not the kind of thing we want to publish. In fact, it’s a betrayal of the values expressed here.
Inclusion
In our products, in the events we support, and in the gaming spaces we strive to create, we welcome people from all walks of life, all genders and orientations, all religions and cultures, and all ethnicities. We support the civil liberties of all people, and manifest that support in our own small way: through the fun and imagination of games.
In everything we make or do, we remain mindful of the community of gamers who interact with us—and we strive to welcome them and all who consider joining our community.
Good Stewardship
We believe in good stewardship of resources that affect the long-term well-being of our company, our employees, our community, and the world in which we live and move. These include not just our funds, our equipment, our reputation, and other company resources, but also our relationships with our fans and contributors, and, more broadly, the Earth and our environment.
Although fantasy is our business, we can’t be good stewards of that business if we make decisions based on fantasy. Our employees, our families, our crowdfunding backers, our fans, and our future all depend on vision and aspiration built upon a foundation of fact and truth. To this end, we look to leadership that bases its decisions on facts and the sharing of information, and if that leadership is not available, we will step up our efforts to champion the cause ourselves. To deliver the products we promise, and continue to be true to our core values, we can’t tolerate playing fast and loose with reality.
Good stewardship is a foundational value that underpins all of our other values and all of our company policies. It’s a critical value, because it’s the basis of good decision-making any time an issue arises that’s not covered by explicit policy.
Monte Cook
Shanna Germain
Charles Ryan
Owners, Monte Cook Games, LLCc