Penny Arcade Honored By Washington State

Dutch Gun writes "Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (Tycho and Gabe) of Penny Arcade have been honored by the Washington State legislature with a resolution. The bill praises their charity work (PDF) with Child's Play, for attracting tourist dollars by starting the Penny Arcade Expo, which has grown to become the largest video game exhibition in the country, providing student scholarships, and for their leadership role within the computer gaming community. Washington State is home to at least 45 game development companies, including such notable names as Nintendo of America, Microsoft, Bungie, Valve, ArenaNet, PopCap, Gas Powered Games, Monolith, Zipper Interactive, Snowblind Studios, and more. This is a marked departure from the typical news involving governments and gaming. One could see the courtship of the computer gaming industry by the State of Washington as a shrewd political move, given the current tough economic times and the seeming resistance of the entertainment industry to recessions. Or, perhaps a bit less cynically, this might just be a sign that gaming has reached a critical threshold of mainstream normalcy."

Comments

Reasons

[Norsefire]

I wouldn't say there is anything sinister behind it, or that it is a sign that "gaming has reached a critical threshold of mainstream normalcy". I think it is more that they have looked around for people who are offering positive contributions to society and they have chosen two people who bring in tourist dollars, give to charity and provide scholarships. The fact that they are gaming-related doesn't detract from these contributions nor does it indicate anything other than that Washington is willing to acknowledge the work they do.

Re:Reasons

[moderatorrater]

Agreed. If they only had the most popular webcomic, then they wouldn't be worth honoring. If they just did child's play, then they might or might not be, depending on the day. For single-handedly bringing the largest game expo in north america to their state that normally wouldn't have seen it probably would be worth honoring them for. Put all three together and it's a slam dunk.

I'm willing to bet that the senate hasn't seen most of the content of their comic, and if you ignore the content of their webcomic, they're great guys by anyone's standards.

Re:Not Once, But Twice

[socsoc]

Unless Washington has some crazy new political system, a bill honoring them would need to pass through both chambers. Yes, obviously the house and senate have both honored them.

Re:Not Once, But Twice

[shawb]

I suspect that this has far more to do with PAX bringing in 50k+ visitors than it does with anything else

To be fair, the file name of the PDF representing the Senate bill is called "Honoring Child's Play" and the PDF representing the House bill is called "Child's Play." At the very least the legislature is trying to make it LOOK like they are honoring the charitable aspects