Richard "Dr. Gonzo" Lewis takes a look at the Gamer's Voice campaign started by MP Tom Watson.

This article is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

I think politically I’m as jaded as any other twenty-something and perhaps a lot more than the average Cadred reader. I grew up in the back-end of Thatcher’s Britain in a Colliery town brought to its knees.

Even though too young to understand the wider reaching implications of it all I believed that things couldn’t get any worse.>Of course, I was wrong. After being fed a load of gibberish about “Back to Basics” by sleazy Conservatives, I was then told that “things could only get better” by New Labour. As John Lydon famously said “ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

Now I would say that our humble site is no place for politics and maybe it is a better thing for it, even if it does continually colour my work, at times much to people’s distaste and confusion. But that is the reality of it all… Whether you are politically aware, politically active, politically savvy or completed disinterested, politics affects you in more ways than you would ever care to be consciously aware of. As gamers we are a minority group and as with all those that can sport such a trite label the current political landscape significantly impacts on our day-to-day and the things we take for granted.

Violent movies were also demonised by the moral right

We have already seen earlier in the year how one school shooting, with nothing but the most tenuous of links to computer games, has brought about political and ideological clashes in Germany. The generations that can’t understand the validity of gaming as a recreational pursuit, entertainment, and something that can be life enhancing will tell you how the games taint the consciousness of a youth supposedly incapable of handling them responsibly. That sentiment is echoed by hypocritical governments who state they want to ban virtual violence, but will openly push a pro-war agenda that leads to the loss of life of the same disenfranchised generation that they deem irresponsible. On the other side of the argument you have those who either are too lethargic to mobalise, having got all too acquainted with protests being stomped out and changing nothing except their arrest record, or those that feel strongly but can’t articulate their opinions and don’t have avenues or channels to do so.

It is, with all such political battles, a fundamentally loaded game. Trying to battle against such overwhelming odds is like trying to beat the casino. You need knowledge, capital and ultimately a lot of luck to come out better off. How else can you beat politicians, a hysterical media, and a generation that while ultimately rank and file is more respected because of the demographic they represent in voter turnout terms as opposed to the validity of their opinion?

Gaming is just the latest in a long line of cultural developments to be blamed for societal problems it couldn’t possibly cause. In the eighties people were keen to blame video nasties and violence in films. There was a huge clamp down on the horror genre, the lurid posters you used to see in your local video shop were torn down and several films – that have since been reclassified and released – were banned from distribution. The media played a huge part in the hysteria, spreading disinformation through sloppy journalism – “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was labeled a “snuff” movie in some papers simply because of a caption at that start saying it was based on a true story, clearly showing that the writers were trying to utilize a parlance they were not familiar with and hadn’t even took the trouble to watch the film itself.

But it didn’t stop there. The moral right began to attack the mainstream and when in 1987 one Michael Robert Ryan took two semi-automatic rifles and murdered sixteen people, including his mother, wounded fifteen and then turned the gun on himself, they had their opportunity to really push the agenda. Suddenly it was reported that the shooter had been obsessed with the film “Rambo: First Blood” and they drew as many parallels as they could between the film and the massacre. It lead to a huge debate about what on-screen violence was permissible and the Hungerford shooting was often used as an example of the serious consequences. It was simply taken as read that the film had provided the inspiration for the killing. Groups called for the film to be banned, others for a drastic revision of censorship laws. Reports from friends and family that Ryan probably hadn’t even seen the movie were largely ignored and overlooked. Does any of this sound familiar?

So enough of the history lesson. It’s simply gaming’s turn to be apportioned the blame and while the media dwells on such sensationalist nonsense as that importance of “That” scene in Modern Warfare 2 (would you have had the option to skip it if it was a film?) it is of course reducing the amount of column inches dedicated to perhaps more awkward concerns for a government facing a possible election early next year.

Tom Watson MP was the founder of Gamer's Voice

How refreshing then it was to hear about the Labour MP Tom Watson who has been dedicating some of his time towards making politicians and the media take gaming seriously, rather than overlook it or use it as a scapegoat for societal problems. It started with the creation of a facebook group called “Gamer’s Voice” that was designed to mobilise people interested in gaming and make them aware of the political issues surrounding their pursuit. The ethos behind it was a simple one – he had hoped it would become “the equivalent in gaming of what the Football Supporters' Association is in football", giving "a platform to ordinary people who are going out there and just love playing games." It wasn’t something he expected to receive an overwhelming amount of attention, but as of writing it has in excess of 16,000 members and is growing daily.

As it grew and more people became interested in the issues, Watson unveiled further plans to legitimize gaming and called for the creation of a UK Games Council, which he proposed to run alongside the UK Film Council, so parliament could “ignore the games industry” as he put it. He has already been in contact with ELSPA and TIGA to start discussing structure and the practicalities of such an organization. If such a body were to be formed it would be a huge step forward to legitimizing the industry in the minds of many that don’t understand what gaming, and of course e-sports, is really all about. It would finally be recognized alongside film, literature and the arts within Britain.

Recently the MP gave a lengthy interview at gamesindustry.biz, which I would urge anyone interested in these developments to read, and he showed that it wasn’t just an issue he was pushing in a bid to earn popularity and attract new voters. He was keen to underline he industry was vitally important in both cultural and economic terms, a fact underlined by the fact that it remained one of the few growth industries in the middle of a global recession. He was a seemingly lone voice calling for tax breaks for gaming developers, a proposal the government seems set to reject. Most importantly he was one of the few people with a resonating voice calling for some sense of perspective.

As he himself said in the course of the gamesindutry.biz interview:

“Well, in political terms it's already had a big impact. There're a lot of MPs who've already talked to me about how they can go about talking to gamers, what the issues are, because of course they only read the papers as well, and if the only things you read in the papers is that games are bad and they're turning our children into monsters then it's going to cloud their view.

I think we've already started to recalibrate that debate and it's just a question of being reasonable, engaging with people when they come out with these ridiculous comments, and trying to get a balanced view about what games really are.”

Realistically what does it all mean? Well, naturally I remain cynical, but it undeniable the importance of having an MP champion the issues and be willing to tackle his peers erroneous preconceptions of what gaming is about. You have two groups of people that realistically have to interact to get anything done, but don’t know that much about each other, so we adopt the default stance of suspicion. Then you have Tom Watson and the Gamer’s Voice movement in the middle of that. It isn’t an enviable standpoint, but with each passing day we come closer to becoming recognised as not only something that isn’t going anywhere, but is also with each passing day becoming more and more interwoven with the fabric of society at large.

Modern Warfare 2 was singled out after the controversial "Airport Scene" was publicised

We’ve had the cowboys and the fly-by-night merchants who have promised to bring us out of the shadows… Did anyone ever really approve of organizations like UKeSA proclaiming to be the official e-sports governing body? This is different, this would be an industry wide, government approved council concerning all matters relating to gaming and it might not be so far away, with talk of the matter being pressed post-election if both parties are willing to support the idea. Watson hasn’t even made it a Labour specific promise – he wants it to come to fruition regardless of who wins, a surefire sign that he is as genuine as politicians get.

For me I see the wider ranging implications. While initially the “big issues” might well be heated debate about gaming classifications, regulation of content, providing opportunities for people that want to revitalize the gaming industry and develop their skills, eventually of course we will come down to the matter of e-sports. There has already been talk of trying to get a “cyber-olympics” set-up as part of London 2012 and who is to say that matters relating to the e-sports industry couldn’t be dealt with through these channels. No more toothless organizations promising much but delivering little, no more people struggling to get their head around legal and business matters without a place to support them… Perhaps more importantly wouldn’t it be great to see genuine consequences for liars and thieves?

Maybe that is a distant dream, an optimistic extrapolation of a possible future from something with humble beginnings. Yet all of these things are a step in the right direction and if more people get behind the few trying to do something positive for gaming and un-anchor themselves from their apathy, who is to say where we could all be in a few years time. Personally I’m sick and tired of people beating up on gaming and peddling a bunch of over-used and grotesquely inaccurate stereotypes. We don’t have many of those willing to go on the record as “one of us” when they’re supposed to be “one of them” – let’s offer support to those that do.


Tom Watson is Labour's MP for West Bromwich East