4) Opportunistic Politician
This could have easily become a "We hate Jack Thompson" page, but he's not technically a politician - thankfully, he's so far gone he couldn't get elected to lead a carpool.
But there are others who aren't as crazy, and are therefore much more dangerous. It seems that every time an election year comes around or a new Grand Theft Auto releases, the good men and women of Capitol Hill, who most likely never played a video game, are up in arms. These Politicians love to call attention to the "dangers" of video games, citing some new study that they swear absolutely proves that video games are making our kids tear off their clothes and saw kittens in half.
The studies that they cite areinvariably refuted by other, more scientifically soundresearch, but that's brushed under the table.The scariest part is that no matter how little the politicosknow or how outrageous to gamers their claims are, people (parents and non-gamers, mostly) are listening.
Above:One of the self-appointed guardians of our morality... whom we fear
These arepeople whoalmost certainlybelieve that they have America's best interests at heart - or might just be looking to curry votes bypromising to get the government to do what parents and retailersshould be doing -by protectingeveryone from the violent, sexual and explicit content in games.
They're constantly burning through huge amounts of taxpayer dough trying to passpoorlyresearched, archaic, unconstitutionallaws against videogames. Bills of this type are invariablydeemed unconstitutional thanks to the court system, but it doesn't seem to be stopping the bill makers from wasting the country's money and resources trying to get new ones passed. The list ofpoliticians attacking gaming includes everyone from Vice President Dick Cheney, Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton to the governator himself,Arnold Schwarzenegger. Who, for the record,actually starred in several violent movies that have been made into video games.
How do we fight him?
We actually wouldn't encourage choosing whom you vote for based upon their gaming stance - there are more important things to consider.
But there'sstilla lot that can be done here. First, let the courts shoot down the laws - they will too, because nobody can seem to write one that doesn't violate the constitution. After that,it's all about education. Teach every parent you see about the ESRB ratings system and how to use it. Write your congressmen and tell them about it. Tell them you got 100% completion in GTA and haven't even stolen as much as a candy bar, let alone beaten a cop to death with a dildo you found after running over a bunch of hookers.
Encourage retailers to enforce the ratings system and not sell Manhunt 2 to anyone too short to see over the counter. Show them we can take care of ourselves. Above all, keep your cool. And then, just wait. Video gaming is this generation's rock and roll - the scapegoat upon which older people are blaming all of the world's evils. Eventually, people who grew up with games will get elected and start hating on something else their kids like, but they don't understand.
