FediverseDotGames

As we did last year, we've sat down and considered what we want to achieve over the last twelve months. 2025 was a year we achieved a lot, and want to keep the momentum going as we move into 2026.

The scope of this year's strategy is probably a fair bit smaller than what we aimed for last year – and that's okay. We don't have big ideas on expanding and adding new services, though this may happen along the way. Instead, this year we'll be focusing on governance.

The biggest piece of work we'll be working on this year is creating Fediverse.Games as an independent, incorporated association in NSW, Australia. Presently, all services, hardware and the like is owned directly by me (Bob Dendry) – which is fine, but means that the entity that is Fediverse.Games is tied directly to my person. By separating Fediverse.Games from myself, we can implement better governance and ensure money coming in from our users as donations can only be used for the purposes of furthering our community's goals.

There's a number of steps that are required to achieve this goal. There's a lot of clerical work including selecting Directors, drafting constitutions, member schedules and the like, which is likely to take some time to draft and review. Once this work is complete and approved by the regulating body, I will start to take steps to transfer physical resources (servers, drives) and the like over to the association as donations. There will still be some ownership crossover remaining – which we'll discuss along the way, but this will be transparently handled.

What is an Incorporated Association?

In simple terms, being an incorporated association means (my paraphrasing):

• Our small, not-for-profit entity can operate as a separate legal entity to me and anyone else who helps with our day-to-day running.
• We cannot provide assets or profits to enrich members (including myself)
• Management Committee members are protected from personal liability provided they act in good faith.
• There are governance requirements, including financial reporting, keeping accurate minutes and holding Annual General Meetings.

This isn't an exhaustive list. You can find more details on the NSW Government website

Membership

You can have your say and contribute to the ongoing running of our services by becoming a member. The structure of membership was something that we had to consider closely, as there are requirements under incorporated association rules we must meet. As such, we will offer two main classes of memberships, each with different perks and responsibilities:

• Full Voting Members: Full Voting Members are elligible to vote in general meetings, be part of the management committee and are able to assist with the day-to-day running of the organisation. The key sticking point with this class of membership is that we are legally required to gather voting members' real names and contact details – and legally are required to provide a list of member names to other full members of the organisation. I know for a lot of people this will be a sticking point, and I absolutely understand why this is the case. That is why we've provided the below member class:
• Associate Member: Associate Members are not elligible to vote in general meetings or be part of the management committee. Instead, they are able to financially support the association and will receive perks for doing so (note: membership fees are not a payment for service). We are required to collect the names of our Associate Members, however a pseudonym (like you use for your Mastodon or Peertube account) is absolutely acceptable. There will be different tiers of Associate Member, which will have different perks associated.

The membership fees and benefits schedule will be provided in due course, prior to our registration as an incorporated association.

What Do All These Changes Mean For You?

From an operational point of view? Nothing.

More broadly, becoming an association places an onus on us to utilise donated money purely to meet its objectives. We're already doing this, but formalising this requirement will hold us better to account.

Questions?

Reach out to me on Mastodon if you want to chat more or get involved.