Representative of Gamers: Profile of Game Developer Turned Legislator

The Escapist Staff

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Representative of Gamers: Profile of Game Developer Turned Legislator

A former game developer is running for office as a Representative in the United States Congress and The Escapist sat down with him to pick his brain on his gaming cred, his position on the EMA vs. Schwarzenegger case and how young people can make a difference.

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Not G. Ivingname

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Nov 18, 2009
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Why do I have to live on the west coast? You East coasters get to choose video game developers, I get to vote on which flaming torch I get to be screwed by.
 

Korten12

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Aug 26, 2009
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SirBryghtside said:
A good article - I like how we're being highbrow with this topic - but I didn't treally get this bit:

Game designers ought to have the same freedoms as film makers and other artists. In exchange, it's important to have fair disclosure about a game's content.
It sounds like the interviewer was subliminally messaging him :p
I think they meant to make it what he said.
 

Korten12

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Aug 26, 2009
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SirBryghtside said:
Korten12 said:
SirBryghtside said:
A good article - I like how we're being highbrow with this topic - but I didn't treally get this bit:

Game designers ought to have the same freedoms as film makers and other artists. In exchange, it's important to have fair disclosure about a game's content.
It sounds like the interviewer was subliminally messaging him :p
I think they meant to make it what he said.
But then the second one was obviously the Escapist's, in italics also:

A lot of our readers are in their early 20s, which means, statistically speaking, a lot of them don't vote. It can be hard to feel like you can make a difference when it seems like the Baby Boomers just run the show. What are the issues that the Millenial Generations need to be concerned about, and voting about?
It's a minor complaint, I know, but it just confused me a little.
It confused me also.
 

Cousin_IT

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Feb 6, 2008
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What ticket is he running on & What are his stances on issues that actually matter?
 

Tomtitan

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Listen, interesting interview and all, but there were a LOT of typos in that write-up. Enough for me to actually become confused while reading it. That kinda bugged me.

Good interview though, good luck to the guy I guess.
 

Mike Radio

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Oct 21, 2010
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Hey folks,

This is Mike, Chris's campaign manager.

I just want to clarify that Chris is running for NC House of Representatives rather than US Congress.

Also, if you can donate to help out our campaign and make sure that Chris returns to the NC House, we'd greatly appreciate it. Here's the link: http://chrisheagarty.com/content/donate
 

lumenadducere

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I have to say, I agree with his sentiment towards young voters. Why so many people my age are content to let people 2-4x their age make policy decisions baffles me. They're not the ones who are going to have to live with the shit they pull, we are. And I think we're far more informed of today's social issues than they are. And yet there's such a huge sense of "meh" towards the whole thing, which I really don't get.

And yes, I've heard all of the "arguments" against voting (one vote doesn't make a difference, both parties are the same, if you get all the other non-voters to vote then I'll vote too, etc.) but what it really boils down to is that each one of them is too damn lazy and ignorant to do something that actually matters. Freaking smacktards.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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Interesting, in the short term this guy seems like he represents gamers on the free speech elements at least, however in the long term I think he's more likely to be backing the kinds of issues that benefit game corperations rather than the actual users and consumers.

Nothing's perfect of course, but in the long run if he winds up getting more gaming stuff looked at more seriously in the goverment, I suspect we the gamers who have no advocacy of our own are going to find him coming down in favor of what benefits guys like Bobby Kotick who have all the money, rather than what's good for us.

We'll see what happens, no way to tell how things will develop.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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lumenadducere said:
I have to say, I agree with his sentiment towards young voters. Why so many people my age are content to let people 2-4x their age make policy decisions baffles me. They're not the ones who are going to have to live with the shit they pull, we are. And I think we're far more informed of today's social issues than they are. And yet there's such a huge sense of "meh" towards the whole thing, which I really don't get.

And yes, I've heard all of the "arguments" against voting (one vote doesn't make a difference, both parties are the same, if you get all the other non-voters to vote then I'll vote too, etc.) but what it really boils down to is that each one of them is too damn lazy and ignorant to do something that actually matters. Freaking smacktards.

I think it's a little more complicated than that actually. I've voted in every election that I could since I became old enough. I also registered Republican pretty early on because I tend to agree with that side of things more than I do with the Democrats (though this is by no means universal) and wanted to be able to vote in the primaries for that party.

When it comes to the younger generation, not just the "Millenium Kids" but also my own generation: Generation X, I think one of the big issues is that almost all of the politicians who manage to make it far enough to appear on polls are Baby Boomers or close to it. It's hard to take elections seriously when there is no money behind the cantidates that you might want to support, and in the end you wind up with a choice of cantidates where you don't empathize with either one.

Most politicians DO believe in something if you learn about them, all of them start out as young crusaders who get into politics to change the system, and really believe in one or two issues that they wind up not compromising on. Everything else winds up being for sale. A lot of the issues important to the younger generations are ones that are totally for sale, and we realize it, and as a result it's hard to take any of these guys seriously.

Above and beyond that, the nation is so heavily deadlocked, especially on the big issues, that nothing gets done anyway. Few people are naive enough to think that any election is going to result in any kind of change that is likely to be noticible to them. The US system is designed to avoid sudden, radical change, which has it's pros and cons, but ultimatly means people become far less invested in the process.

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with people not voting, I vote myself, I just understand why a lot of the younger generation doesn't bother. Whether a member of the (relative) youth is right wing, or left wing, or somewhere in between, they have a hard time getting invested in the system.

Now, this might change somewhat when we start to see more politicians from Generation X make brief apperances, followed by a big time influx of Generation Y politicians. Your going to see the youth of today get more invested in what is being said then, in their voice, but in the end little is still going to change and I doubt we're ever going to see close to a 100% voter turnout unless something really special happens.
 

SimuLord

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Aug 20, 2008
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Not G. Ivingname said:
Why do I have to live on the west coast? You East coasters get to choose video game developers, I get to vote on which flaming torch I get to be screwed by.
And how. Here in Nevada my choice for Senator is an incompetent fool of a man or Ahmadinejad with tits and a cross.
 

DTWolfwood

Better than Vash!
Oct 20, 2009
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"So long as the industry continues to accurately disclose and label game content, parents can decide what's appropriate for their kids and what's not. It's a parent's job, not a developer's, to monitor this. Parents who don't take an active interest or any responsibility for what their kids are playing don't have any grounds to complain."

I like this guy.
 

RvLeshrac

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Oct 2, 2008
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I'd like to point out that Mike Dudgeon, VP of Hi-Rez (the guys what made Global Agenda, and are on the hook for the next Tribes game), was recently elected to Georgia's legislature for the 2011 session.