Presidents and Video Games: What You Need to Know for Election ‘08

Lately, every other topic of discussion in the US seems to be the presidential election. Voters are constantly hearing about Obama and McCain’s take on Iraq, leadership, abortions and gay marriage. And these are important issues, but there’s one issue that we don’t hear as much about (and one that hits a lot of us much closer to home): video games.

So, for those of us who like games such as Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat, who should we vote for? The subject of violence in video games has been a controversial one for years, but with the rise of gamer culture (and the fact that the younger generation can now vote), it has become even more heated. Some politicians, such as Hilary Clinton, favor federal legislation that would either censor or restrict video games.

In fact, most of the presidential candidates for this election favored some sort of restriction of video games, whether it was enforcing ratings requirements or introducing federal restrictions. But with only two candidates left, we (as video game lovers) need to make an informed decision.

So here’s where your candidates stand.

Obama: Feels that video games should have parental controls that allow parents to set restrictions on what their kids play (although features on consoles allow for parents to set parental controls, Sen. Obama must be unaware of this fact). Obama also believes that the ratings on video games should have stricter standards, but favors allowing the ESRB and the gaming industry to make this change themselves. Although, Obama has said that “if the industry fails to act, my administration would.”

Basically, Senator Obama favors letting the parents control what their kids play, but relies on the industry to keep the parents informed on how and what is appropriate. In addition, Obama would like to spend government money on a study that watches the effects of video games on young children.

McCain: Although Obama (and Romney, Clinton and Edwards) were all open about their stance on video games, McCain has been a bit more elusive. He has stated that he believes it is the parents’ job to regulate what their children play, but McCain is also very concerned about child pornography, both on the Internet and in video games. He’s kept rather quiet on whether or not his administration would step in to enforce ratings or censor certain video games, but his support of parental decisions seems to imply that he favors less federal regulation and more familial responsibility.

Also note that McCain has released a Facebook game called “Pork Invaders” that is a metaphor for pork barrel spending. So it does seem that he’s trying to relate to the younger generation.

So, there you have it. Although neither candidate fully supports the industry and familial responsibility, we should be thankful in the end that it has come down to these two. It could have been so much worse (*cough* Clinton really favored federal regulation- we could’ve been saying good-bye to the GTA series).

But now the question is, as it has been, who to vote for on November 4th? Either way, we could be seeing a change in the video game industry take place over the course of the next four years.