Is this about piloting drones with Playstation controllers?
No, it's about having representatives (Constance Steinkuehler, in 2011 was White House's first policy advisor for videogames, then followed by Mark DeLoura) for the medium who used to have to convince the White House after the Sandy Hook massacre that games "are not merely violent and misogynistic". Debating with Biden, Steinkuehler also has to convince the games industry leaders to be adult and offer solutions like Hollywood did rather than just deflect responsibility:
"I began by presenting research and facts. Then one of the VP's staffers stood up out of her chair, put her finger in my face and said: 'I don't care what the research says'. Then she launched into a tirade about her son's behaviour, essentially trying to advise on policy off a story about her 14-year-old."
Steinkuehler bristled ("I was like, game on,girl, game on"), since this response triggered memories of the typical irate parent who would show up at one of her public lectures and try to start an argument about what their child is or isn't doing because of videogames. "Their concerns are genuine and not to be dismissed," Steinkueler says, "but sometimes the parent can't even tell you what their child plays. Have you ever thought that just maybe you need to know about this stuff?"
The meeting devolved, as Steinkuehler puts it, into stereotypes and cliches about games that have no basis in fact. "So I started pushing back and said: 'I'm sorry, madam, but I don't care what your 14-year-old thins - I'm talking about research.' Someone else in the entoruage says: 'Well, we may not have found the relationship between games and violence yet, but we should keep funding research till we do.'" Steinkuehler was livid. "That's not how science works," she said. "You don't claim there's a relationship and study it till you find it."
The debate continued, and continued to escalate, until Biden, mindful of the members of the press who were waiting in the meeting room below ready to take pictures ahead of the summit, moved to end the conversation. Sensing that she had not yet won the argument, Steinkuehler looked at Biden and said: "My vice president, if you go into that room arguing that videogames cause gun violence, you will be on the wrong side of facts. Videogames are not a gun violence problem. But videogames do have a PR problem. The American people do not trust the game idnustry. I think that's where you can get some play: ask them to do some things that will be good for their image as well as good for the country from which they make $25 billion a year."
"I think that stuck with him," Steinkuehler says today, "because it moved the conversation away from sweeping statements and stereotypes, and back into the realm of negotiation."
Downstairs, after CNN and the others had taken their photographs and left, Biden stood to address the room, whose attendees included then-attorney general Eric Holder, former EA CEO John Riccitiello, and Michael Gallagher, chief of the Entertainment Software Association, which represents companies such as EA. He began by saying: "I am familiar enough with the research that I don't believe that videogames cause violence." Steinkuehler recalls hearing an audible sigh of relief from the other attendees. Biden continued, "But you do have a PR problem." It was Steinkuehler's turn to feel relieved.
The feeling was short-lived. After his introduction, Biden allowed each person seated at the table a few minutes to present their thoughts on Sandy Hook, and to propose a response. "For the remaining 2-and-a-half hours, nearly every CEO spoke solely about how videogames are an art form that is protected as free speech by the Supreme Court," Steinkuehler recalls. "They went on and on about how they have no responsibility in this situation whatsoever. Nobody offered any solutions - even those that I'd discussed [with individuals] beforehand. I was disgusted. In that moment, I felt like the industry and its leaders are incredibly immature. They didn't seem to understand that, if you want to remain a multibillion-dollar industry and avoid sanctions that force you to be responsible, you must self-regulate."
The point was made especially clear given what had happened the day before, when Biden had met with representatives from the film industry. Hollywood had also pleaded its innocence, but in stark contrast to the videogame industry had offered up several suggestions for how the movie industry might improve matters by, for example, helping to remove the stigma around those seeking help for mental health issues.
"Hollywood showed up and said, 'We're not part of the problem, but we can be part of the solution,'" Steinkuehler says. "See what what does? The conversation pivots away from the stupidity of whether or not you are to blame. It becomes about, 'What can we do to help the people who love your work, and thrive on our cultural output?' Of course, I don't believe videogames cause gun violence; I believe guns and poverty cause gun violence. But I also know you don't get to be this large an industry without playing adult at the table. You may not have made the mess, but you can help to clean it up."
...To now having convinced them that games are valuable and "significant and can be used for learning and behavioural change". DeLoura when he took over, hosted the White House's inaugural
game jam which had game devs and teachers spend 48 hours to help teach the most difficult school subjects. 23 games emerged from it.
btw it's written by Simon Parkin, so worth a read. One of the best gaming journalists.
