Welcome to Just Adventure + — Part 66
I Was a Teenage Adventure Gamer
Presidential Politics and How They Could Change the Future of the Gaming World
With the presidential elections coming up on Tuesday, what will it mean for the gaming community if say for example, Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman get elected? Well, it could mean a lot to us. Joe Lieberman is constantly vocal about what is going on in the gaming community and in the movie industry. He hates seeing games and movies that kids buy that have blood, guts, gore, and more blood, guts, and gore.
What this will also mean is that we will be carded when we buy games and movies. It’s happened to me before. I tried to buy Grand Theft Auto, got carded at the register, and they wouldn’t sell it to me. Bought Sleepy Hollow a few weeks ago–again, I got carded, and my mom told the cashier that I was allowed to have the movie. They still wouldn’t sell it to me, so my mom had to hand over the money. Imagine what this will do to us as a community. Just imagine.
There will be severe limitations on what a company can put in its games. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Joseph Lieberman and company force the ESRB (the Entertainment Software Ratings Board) to change its ratings system. Or at least the way that they rate software. Now, if that’s true, they’ll take all of the fun out of games. Remember when it was common for an adventure game to be about catching a mass murderer or a serial killer? If Gore and Lieberman are elected, we won’t have any games like that anymore. We’ll be stuck with games about finding magical eggs (Dinosaur for the Mac) or something dumb like that.
Now, I’m not saying to vote for George W. Bush, either. Bush and Cheney could mess things up in the gaming community as well. Imagine if all adventure games were about some hick sheriff (no offense to anyone who lives in a small town) that can catch a cold better than a criminal. Not that it will happen, but it could. And that’s scary.
Ralph Nader could do the same thing. He’s a Green Party member; the Green Party is for the environment. We could say goodbye to our nice, big cardboard boxes and have to exchange them for boxes that DVDs come in. And given some of the games I’ve seen lately (Blair Witch series should have come in DVD boxes because a box to hold a CD case and the manual is inside the CD case is a waste of space), that might not be a bad idea.
Now, if I’ve gotten off on a rant here, don’t be offended. However, on election day this year, pick the candidate who you feel would be the best person for the job. Think of the issues and think of what they stand for. And think to yourself the next time you play a game, “Would any of the candidates like to play a game like this, or would they be offended by a game like this?” Then ask yourself “Who is the best choice?” And while you’re at it … play a few adventure games.
