Games Met Politics In 2005

Next Generation is running an article looking at the year in Gaming Politics, written by Mr. McCauley of the GamePolitics blog. From the article: "The silliest politicians of 2005 include North Carolina State Senator Austin Allran who proposed a bill to remove Solitaire from every state-owned PC; Illinois State Senator Deanna Demuzio, sponsor of the state's videogame legislation, who claimed games were neither art nor media; Pennsylvania State Rep. James Casorio who wrote there was no evidence that games are constructive forms of either recreation or learning; and Oklahoma State Rep. Fred Morgan, whose editorial recommending a videogame law for his state based on the Illinois model appeared three days after a federal judge ruled the Illinois law unconstitutional."

Comments

I hope someone laughed...

[nova_ostrich]

...who claimed games were neither art nor media...

I hope at least one person near him laughed when that claim was made. By definition, a video game is media. Art... I'll let close-minded people think it's not art. They're wrong, but that's more plausible than saying that a video game isn't media.

Wait a minute, that's almost a direct copy of this

[Anonymous Coward]

Next Generation has obviously been reading this material[Popular Link]; seems oddly familiar to a recent article there. Just how slow are these guys? :)

Slackmaster K

Solitare banning makes some sense

[paladinwannabe2]

We don't have solitare on the computers where I work. Only the IT people (like me) and senior staff have internet access. Considering I'm currently posting on Slashdot when I should be working, maybe they have the right idea...

Re:Solitare banning makes some sense

[Grifty]

That's a bit harsh.

Solitaire junkies might have to do something crazy, like smuggle in an actual deck of cards!

No Evidence?

[Grifty]

No evidence that games are constructive forms of either recreation or learning?

P'shaw, I know firsthand that games taught me to type, an essential skill this day and age.

Not to mention some of the social cause/effect lessons taught by MMORPGs...

Re:No Evidence?

[ToasterofDOOM]

You mean like the fact that jumping off you deck in a demonstration or playing for several days straight on instant noodles or no food at all is deadly? Yeah, that's plenty educational.

Re:No Evidence?

[antdude]

Games taught me to be quick with my reflexes. Helpful when I have to input a bunch of things.

And TV is?

[faloi]

no evidence that games are constructive forms of either recreation or learning

I hope there's evidence that TV is constructive for recreation or learning. Obviously they have to lump all of TV programming together, as they have video games. I learned typing through some of the typing games from yesteryear. And playing online games hasn't hurt my typing. Except that I feel obligated to type "teh" a lot.

I will say, to the authors credit, at least they picked a bi-partisan bunch of ill-informed politicians. Kind of refreshing to see in todays world.

Re:And TV is?

[thebdj]

I hope there's evidence that TV is constructive for recreation or learning.

There actually is some standard that sets what television programming is considered "educational". Interesting enough, the standard was actually lowered a few years back creating a whole new level of "educational" TV that was probably not really as educational or developmental as they would have liked. Besides, I do not see many kids past the age of like 5 or so watching PBS.

Uh-Oh...

[FourStarGeneral]

and Oklahoma State Rep. Fred Morgan, whose editorial recommending a videogame law for his state based on the Illinois model appeared three days after a federal judge ruled the Illinois law unconstitutional.

Political acts like this are what make me wonder why I bohered to register to vote, if all our political appointees are this ill-informed.

Re:Uh-Oh...

[Fjornir]

Inform them. Call your congresscritter. Write letters. Oppose something? Put it in your slashdot sig and ask people to call their reps as well.

Re:Uh-Oh...

[FourStarGeneral]

Good point. I need to add my representative's e-mail to my Contacts list...

Re:Uh-Oh...

[jlanthripp]

Don't waste your time sending e-mail to your congress critter. I'd be willing to bet that of the 535 members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, maybe 200 have actually seen a real e-mail displayed on a computer screen, 100 have actually read an e-mail on a screen, and maybe 20 have actually opened an e-mail client on their computer, accessed incoming e-mail and typed a reply at some point in their lives. The remainder might, possibly, have some vague knowledge that there is something called the Internet and that with it you can send something called e-mail.

Letters and telephone calls may not get a whole lot more attention than e-mails, but e-mails tend to go unread except *maybe* by some staffer who reads the subject header, the first sentence, and hits the delete button. At least they send a form letter reply when you write a dead-tree letter.

If you want your duly elected representative to really acknowledge your existence, the best and most effective way to achieve that is to call her office, tell the person who answers the phone that you'd like to make a $50,000 contribution to the general fund of the party to which she belongs, along with a $2,000 contribution to her re-election campaign (the max allowed by law) and ask for a 5-minute meeting to discuss a few things on your mind. Your $52,000 might possibly get you 5 minutes in a room with a freshman Representative. A meeting with a Senator will probably run you about $100,000 or more.

Re:Uh-Oh...

[ClamIAm]

I know you rushed to get the oblig "OMG INSIGHTFUL" post, but your grasp of reality and logic seems tenuous at best.

One thing you didn't think of was the fact that editorials are not the same thing as a blog. They are written beforehand and may take a day or three to get into the newspaper.

Second, basing a law on another that has been ruled unconstitutional does not mean that the second is unconstitutional. The reason the first law was ruled one way could have been because of a minor detail or specific language used. A revised or changed version may be fine.

Re:Uh-Oh...

[FourStarGeneral]

You make a good point, but does it make an more sense to promote a questionable law before it's been cleared by the courts? How hard would it be to hold the editorial for a day or three to see how things played out?

Funny

[iridium_ionizer]

Senator Joe Lieberman and Senator Hillary Clinton. Does anyone think it's funny that the two most prominent Democrats who oppose the killing of virtual people (videogames) are also the two most prominent Democrats who support the killing of real people (War in Iraq)? Is it hypocrisy or are they just trying to appeal to Soccer moms?

Re:Funny

[FriedTurkey]

All politicians have stupid issues they use to keep the masses busy so they don't pay attention to the real issues.

Democrat -> Rap Music/Videogames/Violence on TV

Republicans -> Flag Burning/War on Christmas/Gay Marriage

Re:Funny

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, now you put it like that, I agree with them. I prefer virtual people to real ones...

Re:Funny

[MadMoses]

Politicians don't say what makes sense. They say whatever gets them the most votes.

Re:Funny

[Pxtl]

They're appealing to people who're easily frightened. Scared of terrorists = invade Iraq (yes, I know). Scared of kids going bad = ban videogames. And so on.

Re:Solitare banning - a Sermon

[d.valued]

Solitaire-uh.. is the devil!

Solitaire is the plan-uh of the unholy one-uh to steal the souls-uh of innocent people-uh!

DO you know where your Solitaire time goes? It goes to-uh Satan himself-uh!

DO you care-uh about your loved ones-uh?

DO you want-uh to save-uh them from the fires of eternal damnation-uh?

Delete the infernal Solitaire, and tell them to stop playing with themselves!

Delete the infernal Solitaire, and tell them to spend time with to go outside-uh!

Delete the infernal Solitaire, and they will thank you.

Real learning

[Jacius]

Games teach lots of things, many of them directly applicable to real life. I'm not just talking Elmo's ABCs and other edutainment titles; games can trigger the use of many parts of the brain, building up skills, increasing the rate at which your brain can sort through information, and slow mental deterioration in the elderly.

I've heard (and probably repeated) the half-joke, "Of course video games teach stuff! Tetris taught me how to fit falling blocks together." I guess people laugh because they think that fitting blocks together doesn't have real-world applications. Architects, stonemasons, and engineers (among others) would, I imagine, beg to differ. Do you think that after playing so much Tetris, someone wouldn't be at least slightly more adept at fitting shaped objects together? It sure comes in handy when you're trying to assemble cheap boxed furniture, trying to figure out how tab A goes into slot B without covering up hole C, into which you're supposed to put peg D.

Similar, perhaps less-apparent examples can be found in other genres:

- RTS: Managing multiple groups of units to accomplish several sub-goals towards an ultimate goal. (Even a rank amateur should know that you can't send the same group of units into every battle without suffering some losses; so, why does the pointy-haired boss keep loading you up with big project after big project?)

- Racing: Handling different types and weights of car and avoiding obstacles without spinning out. (Going around a bend? Better slow down. Stuck in a dead-end? You may have to perform a three-point turn-around to get pointed in the direction you want to go.)

- FPS: Using different weapons/tools to most effectively eliminate enemies/problems. (Don't waste all your rockets on the imps, you'll need them for the boss. Programming language X doesn't have a very good string-parsing library? Try language Y.)

And so on...

The Elderly

[Puhase]

When the old people from the Family Values Coalition and other such organizations talk to the old people in Congress, amazingly they don't understand things like video games. Shocking.
These people are always striving to make it seem like they are personally "doing something" and if this comes across the table, its rather uncontroversial to 95% of Congress. Very few districts/states have large video game makers as part of their constituency, and so there are few votes against such efforts. Only ACLU type people as well as the small interested lobbyest groups would put up any sort of fight.

Luckily, as the next generation comes into power, I see this become far more of a "non-issue" and legislation moving in the direction of what service video games can play in advancing society. Roles such as education and psychological therapy.