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Games Government Entertainment Politics

Games Met Politics In 2005 23

Posted by Zonk from the shotgun-wedding dept.
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."
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Games Met Politics In 2005

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  • ...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.

  • No Evidence? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Grifty ( 939983 ) on Wednesday December 21, 2005 @04:49PM (#14311945) Homepage
    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...
    • 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.
    • Games taught me to be quick with my reflexes. Helpful when I have to input a bunch of things.
    • 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

  • And TV is? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by faloi ( 738831 ) on Wednesday December 21, 2005 @05:04PM (#14312075)
    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.
    • 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... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by FourStarGeneral ( 851478 )
    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.
    • Inform them. Call your congresscritter. Write letters. Oppose something? Put it in your slashdot sig and ask people to call their reps as well.
      • Good point. I need to add my representative's e-mail to my Contacts list...
        • 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 somethin
    • 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 la
      • 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 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by iridium_ionizer ( 790600 ) * on Wednesday December 21, 2005 @06:18PM (#14312666)
    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?
    • 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
    • Politicians don't say what makes sense. They say whatever gets them the most votes.
    • 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.
  • 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 p

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