There's an interesting article on the New York Times website, looking into the US videogame industry's plans to establish a political action committee and to donate money to game-friendly politicians and candidates. Michael D. Gallagher, chief executive of the Entertainment Software Association, comments:
"We will be writing checks to campaigns by the end of this quarter. This is an important step in the political maturation process of the industry that we are ready to take now. This is about identifying and supporting champions for the game industry on Capitol Hill so that they support us."
It's interesting that Gallagher seamlessly equates political maturation with the donation of cold hard cash - is this literally what it costs for the industry to gain respectability and support in the political community? It's all so brazen, and apparently perfectly normal - it is how the music and movie industries have operated for years.
The writer makes a vital point, though. He asserts that Wii, the casual games phenomenon and music titles like Guitar Hero have legitimised the videogame industry, preparing the way for the courtship of politicians. It was only two years ago that Hilary Clinton was demanding tougher legislation in the wake of the Hot Coffee scandal - industry donations would have been dirty money back then. But now that middle-aged women and pensioners are enjoying the likes of Bookworm Adventures and Brain Training, cash-strapped politicos are happy to take games industry moolah.
This section is also intriguing:
Mr. Gallagher did say that in this election year his association would mobilize the more than 100,000 gamers who have joined the association's Video Game Voters Network. Like the association and its nascent PAC (political action committee), the voters group opposes efforts to regulate games more strictly than books, movies and other media.
Hand a politician some cash and he might be sympathetic to the industry - line-up 20,000 passionate gamers in his State who are ready to campaign against stricter legislation and suddenly you've got his full attention...
