Thought I'd address some points in here because honestly, I think this whole thing is ridiculous.
If you've released a game and nobody plays it, you're a games developer. If you develop a game and never release it, you're a games developer. Are you working on a game that's at any stage of development? Guess what, you're a games developer. You just have to be learning how to develop games and gaining the skills to do so to be a game dev. Can you do something really basic? That's all it takes.
When I studied games development at university, this was one of the main points that anyone who had a clue made sure to get into people's heads. There's not this fancy barrier to becoming a games developer. There's no minimum bar. There's no rite of passage. It just takes the desire to create a game and a little effort to try. Nothing more.
There shouldn't be anything more required, anyone should be able to be a games developer if they wanted to.
You don't have to be able call yourself a good developer, you don't need to be able to say you're experienced. You don't need develop a fully fledged game worth selling for £5. Heck you don't even need to call yourself a developer, it's your choice.
Games development is an art and as time goes on the tools are getting better, we're getting more that anyone can pick up and use and we're getting more resources teaching people how to do it. It should be open to anyone and people shouldn't be looked down on because your perception of a piece of art doesn't place it as highly as another.
I'm an aspiring developer, I've entered game jams before and I've worked on both group and personal projects. I've developed test projects, I've worked on getting certain systems working and testing different things out that can all come together to create a game, I've worked on something that has very real potential to become a full, commercially viable game. Have I released a full game? Nope. Am I games developer? You're damn right I am.
I still have a long way to go before I'm comfortable enough with my skills but I also hold myself to harsher standards and I'm also further than a lot of people out there. I don't look down on anyone who is less skilled at development than I am. I've played incredibly simple games that I could recreate with ease if I wanted to and still enjoyed them. Many of them are rough around the edges and very simplistic but they're still games and there's still something to appreciate in them.
The tools are also getting to the point these days that people of all backgrounds and skill sets can develop games. An artist can use an engine and use visual scripting to develop a game. Writers can easily create text based games. Sure they're not learning how everything works underneath and programming a bunch but that's no longer a requirement. That's a great thing, we can play games and get new ideas and stories we'd otherwise never get to see.
So many people here seem to be looking down on developers because they haven't "earned" the right to call themselves games developers. This isn't something anyone should need to earn. If someone develops a game and calls themselves a games developer, they deserve as much respect as anyone else. They've cared enough about the industry to enter it.
As for the title of game developer carrying weight, it shouldn't carry any more than letting you know that the person has worked on a game and knows a little about them. If you want to feel respected and that your name carries weight, that's something you earn. Just because someone you dislike has earned that doesn't make it right to be outraged and look down on them.
Those people in the VIP area of the IGF influenced the industry, they're respected by many people including well respected people in the industry itself. What they've worked on have been a major focus of attention and many people care about it. Them being in the VIP area was appropriate.
The GDC and IGF are inclusive, they focus on both the big and small pictures. They look at games, companies and the culture surrounding games. What you think of the skills of developers allowed to attend or even given focus doesn't matter, that's not what these events are about. You have completely and utterly missed the point.
Finally in regards to the OP and a few others's dislike of people hugging, having dyed hair and being friendly... really? What could possibly be wrong with any of that? You don't have to dye your hair or hug people. Hell, you don't even have to socialise so where's the problem here?
People having their hair dyed bright, awesome colours is great. The world would be more interesting if far more people did that. People being friendly, socialising and having a good time is also, shock horror, a good thing. It brings a more welcoming atmosphere, it shows people aren't afraid to be themselves.
As for gender neutral bathrooms, they're there so more people can feel safe and go to the bathroom without fear of getting hassle from anyone.
"I used one, but I wouldn't consider myself gender neutral"
That's not how it works, the bathroom is gender neutral as in it's not for use by people of one particular gender or another. That should be self explanatory. It's just there for anyone that needs it and (again) in particular, so people can feel safe. Many transgender people in particular will feel safer just by the inclusion by this so they can avoid fearing what others will think or do. This is called being considerate and it harms noone.
"this is a small industry, and always has, always will be (hopefully). All of this stuff has happened before with judges and juries in games or between developers both big and small, everyone just knows each other, they've worked together, they've played together. "
No, no it is not. This industry is one of the biggest in the world and is on the top of the entertainment industry. It hasn't been a small industry in decades. It's huge to the point where the amount of developers vastly outnumbers the amount of jobs going. People have to create their own jobs. If you think this industry is small then you've been either fooling yourself or you've been kept yourself secluded within small a small group that's been oblivious to the industry surrounding it.
Not everyone just knows each other, some people do and some of them attend events together but not everyone knows each other, not even close. Most of these people that know each other are from working together decades ago when the industry was a fair bit smaller.
Those times are gone, they're dead and they're not coming back. That's a good thing. The more people in the industry, the more views and ideas we get, things change faster and everyone is kept on their toes. You might want your small boys only club in the treehouse back but don't expect everyone else in the industry to be with you.
To summarise, I don't get this whole elitism thing going on here. It's a completely and utterly ridiculous stance to take and it shows a complete disrespect for the industry the OP claims to be a part of. I find it so so strange that someone that supposedly works in the games industry can hold such disdain for people enjoying themselves at an event.