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ESA "Commends" Trump Administration (over the new STEM education initiative)

bigkrev

Member
http://www.theesa.com/article/enter...t-president-trumps-stem-education-initiative/

Entertainment Software Association's Statement on President Trump's STEM Education Initiative

WASHINGTON – September 25, 2017 – Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents the US video game industry, issued the following statement in response to the introduction of President Trump's initiative on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), including coding education.

”ESA commends the Trump Administration on its bold leadership in computer science education. The White House's new STEM initiative will help grow the diverse and high-skilled workforce that drives the $30.4 billion US video game industry. By expanding opportunities for America's youth interested in the creative tech sector, we can generate thousands of new American jobs and achieve new levels of innovation, invention, and economic success. We look forward to working with the Administration and industry partners."

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) offers a wide range of services to interactive entertainment software publishers, including conducting business and consumer research; providing legal and policy analysis and advocacy on First Amendment, intellectual property, and technology/e-commerce issues; managing a global content protection program; owning and operating E3; and representing video game industry interests in federal and state government relations. For more information, visit or follow us on Twitter at @theESA or @ESAGovAffairs.

Pretty poor timing!
 
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jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
I thought I would never see the day something positive came from this administration.

It has to be some monkey paw shit to it, has to be...
Did they commend Obama as well when his administrative started this initiative, the one that Trump is trying to make his own?
This too.
 

weekev

Banned
Can't blame them for praising good news. Sounds like something worthwhile. TBH I'm not fussed who started it or who finishes it people should be grateful that Trump hasn't bulldozed it since it came from the Obama administration.
 

Theonik

Member
With Trump this praise is necessary to ensure the initiative stays. The administration is desperate for good news.
 
Looks like they are happy to have more underpaid future game devs in the making.
At least in programming the pay is great but the real isuues stems from crunch. 50 to 90k for relatively low positions isn't bad. Publishers/Management are almost always the ones to blame for crunch too.


That said fuck the orange because I'm sure that shithead had nothing to do with this initiative and ESA pr team is dumb ass hell too.
 

Smeags

Member
Broken clock is right twice a day. He's still a shitheel but I don't begrudge the ESA for their statement.

Indeed. We can have this view that because Trump is _____, then everything he does is also _______. (Insert "good" or "evil" based on where you fall politically).

Trump is a giant doofus, but that doesn't mean his administration is only capable of malicious action. In a sea of L's, I'll take this W.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Did they commend Obama as well when his administrative started this initiative, the one that Trump is trying to make his own?

Yes: http://www.theesa.com/article/video-game-competitions-expand-stem-learning-united-states/

Video Game Competitions to Expand STEM Learning in the United States

Organizations Support President Obama's Call to Promote STEM Education

November 23, 2009 – WASHINGTON, DC – Supporting President Obama's call for a renewed focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), Microsoft Corporation, and the MacArthur Foundation today announced a suite of multi-faceted efforts to engage and motivate students in STEM learning. The organizations will work to harness the excitement surrounding computer and video games through a series of STEM-related video game design competitions.

”Computer and video games are one of the most effective ways to reach America's children and encourage them to stay interested in vital STEM principles. We are honored to have President Obama recognize the unique ability of games to act as a catalyst in generating new areas of growth in education," said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. ”Our industry's lifeblood is the energy and innovation of new, emerging developers. To create the next generation's epic titles and incredibly immersive storylines, we need America's youth to have strategic and analytic thinking skills along with complex problem solving abilities. It is my hope that it will produce games that will have a lasting impact on the STEM skills our nation's students so desperately need."

”There is no better way to engage and motivate youth then to reach them with familiar imagery and activities they deeply enjoy," said Dean Garfield, president and CEO of ITI. ”The information technology industries are the flagships of high tech innovation in the creative economy and a real-world manifestation of the importance of a quality STEM education program. The talents kids learn playing education video games today—such as problem-solving, strategic-thinking, and flexibility—are the very types of talents these soon-to-be adults are going to need to be successful in the 21st Century."
 

UberTag

Member
Do they archive press releases?
We should be able to find a similar phrased commendation for Obama's initiative in this space.

<looks one post above>

See, nothing to worry about here.
 

Gestault

Member
Do they archive press releases?
We should be able to find a similar phrased commendation for Obama's initiative in this space.

See above. I do feel better knowing there's a similar release. I hadn't seen it at the time, so I had mixed feelings seeing the current statement originally.
 
Did they commend Obama as well when his administrative started this initiative, the one that Trump is trying to make his own?
Yes

"Computer and video games are one of the most effective ways to reach America's children and encourage them to stay interested in vital STEM principles," said ESA president Michael Gallagher. "We are honored to have President Obama recognize the unique ability of games to act as a catalyst in generating new areas of growth in education."
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news...Respond_To_Obamas_Call_For_STEM_Education.php

They're probably just happy he didn't cancel it out of rage and ignorance.
 

lush

Member
As this administration puts out a budget cutting federal education spending by billions of dollars and your Secretary of Education that literally purchased the job is doing everything in her power to route money away from public schools to private schools via vouchers.

Lol, people in here talking about a W.
 

LordRaptor

Member
TBH I'm not fussed who started it or who finishes it people should be grateful that Trump hasn't bulldozed it since it came from the Obama administration.

This pretty much.
Could have easily been educational reform that evolution is just one of many equally valid theories, that the earth is only ~ 6,000 years old and dinosaur fossils are just there to fuck with people for not believing hard enough
 

Lime

Member
Maybe it's a problem that the industry association doesn't care what goes on around them, no matter who is president. That even when a neo-fascist is in office, they still continue on as business as usual, because what matters to them is $$$
 

Beartruck

Member
I thought I would never see the day something positive came from this administration.

It has to be some monkey paw shit to it, has to be...

This too.

The monkey paw part is that Devos is planning to gut public education outside of this program.
 

lush

Member
We had a thread "commending" trump on this move as well.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1438377

It's ok to admit when our fuck-up of a president does something better than awful.
200 million in funding that was already there and allocated vs the potential cut of billions of dollars from federal education spending on top of the attempt to funnel even more money away from public education to the rich via vouchers.

This is worthless PR garbage and if anything maintains the status quo that Obama facilitated and which didn't even receive support for from Congress.

People just desperate to commend this garbage ass administration per usual. The bar is so incredibly low for the GOP.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
200 million in funding that was already there and allocated vs the potential cut of billions of dollars from federal education spending on top of the attempt to funnel even more money away from public education to the rich via vouchers.

This is worthless PR garbage and if anything maintains the status quo that Obama facilitated and didn't receive support for from Congress.

People just desperate to commend this garbage ass administration per usual. The bar is so incredibly low for the GOP.

it’s scary how easy kids fall for this kind of dumb PR fluff
 

borges

Banned
I do understand that Trump is Hitler in most american eyes (and maybe you are more than right to think so), but this looks like good news? Why to blame ESA on this?
 

Venfayth

Member
200 million in funding that was already there and allocated vs the potential cut of billions of dollars from federal education spending on top of the attempt to funnel even more money away from public education to the rich via vouchers.

This is worthless PR garbage and if anything maintains the status quo that Obama facilitated and which didn't even receive support for from Congress.

People just desperate to commend this garbage ass administration per usual. The bar is so incredibly low for the GOP.

it’s scary how easy kids fall for this kind of dumb PR fluff

Trump is garbage, almost everything he does is obscene, but the administration could have done worse in this situation. Is that agreeable to you? I don't know how to make it more clear that I despise the man and the GOP and yet am capable of recognizing when they didn't make something worse than it already was. Clearly it's not even a drop in the bucket compared to the negative storm he wrought on our country, I just don't want to give in to the cathartic urge to condemn everything he and his administration does thoughtlessly. They give us plenty of actual reasons to hate them.
 
I do understand that Trump is Hitler in most american eyes (and maybe you are more than right to think so), but this looks like good news? Why to blame ESA on this?

Just timing right now. He's going to try to find anything to make him look better while he's shitting all over Puerto Rico and whining about the NFL.
 

borges

Banned
Just timing right now. He's going to try to find anything to make him look better while he's shitting all over Puerto Rico and whining about the NFL.

Sure. Still good news, theres no need to say something is bad when its good. I mean, theres so many thats wrong that lying about sth that is actually great makes a favor only to Trump.
 

JonnyB

Banned
Very glad to see this. We need more emphasis of education of computer systems and programming.

Creation of more jobs and opportunity, especially in such a well paying field, is just what we need in this country.
 
I hope the Trump Administration continues to support and advance STEM to the fullest extent possible. As long as the Trump Administration continues to push this forward thinking approach to science and technology, future career fields and tech innovation will have an incredibly bright future.

giphy.gif
 

jacobeid

Banned
200 million in funding that was already there and allocated vs the potential cut of billions of dollars from federal education spending on top of the attempt to funnel even more money away from public education to the rich via vouchers.

This is worthless PR garbage and if anything maintains the status quo that Obama facilitated and which didn't even receive support for from Congress.

People just desperate to commend this garbage ass administration per usual. The bar is so incredibly low for the GOP.

Ding ding ding ding ding ding. Meanwhile the arts, R.I.P.
 

nightfly

Member
The White House’s new STEM initiative will help grow the diverse and high-skilled workforce that drives the $30.4 billion US video game industry.
I thought the video game industry was worth significantly more than that?
 

Lime

Member
Klepek on what this isn't surprising and how the industry works: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/art...-praised-trump-and-no-one-should-be-surprised

It doesn't matter if Republicans or Democrats are in power. In the end, it's about money and the status quo.

This does not, however, mean the ESA is apolitical—it just plays both sides, knowing full well both the current Republican and Democratic ruling class are, campaign-targeted populist rhetoric aside, largely backing of and reliant on maintaining the status quo, a decades-long philosophy of corporations Having Your Best Interest In Mind. The ESA's centrism.biz, economic-focused response to Trump's xenophobic travel ban made no appeal to the moral questions raised by the singling out of a single group of people. No, it was money.

It's why we shouldn't be surprised when the industry's "compromise" to voice actors striking for better compensation, safer work environments, and participation in the financial success of projects (aka residuals) results in little more than the bare minimum of improvements. Unsurprisingly, the companies had little interest in offering residuals, and absent real bargaining power, the kind that would only come if an entire industry realized the only way to actually bend massive corporations is through unionization, breadcrumbs are acceptable.

The ESA, like most consolidations of corporate power, isn't your friend. They want you to cheer for trailers at their glitzy events. They want you to buy games the companies they represent sell. They want laws protecting the same companies. In the end, it's about money.
 
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