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08-16-2007 |
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Michael Martinez © National Journal Group, Inc. A consumer advocacy group is prepared to give away free shirts to people willing to ask questions about videogames to Republican presidential candidates in a debate this fall. The Entertainment Consumers Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending the rights of videogame players, wants to make sure the Republican candidates who have agreed to participate in November's CNN/YouTube debate are asked where they stand on game-related issues. Earlier this month, it promised to send free shirts to all who record and upload to YouTube video questions about the topic. The tactic so far has inspired more than a dozen videos on efforts to restrict sales of violent videogames, an issue that has not received much attention from Republican or Democratic candidates. At least one of the questions is directly aimed at two GOP candidates who have been talking about videogame violence recently: Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. In July, Romney began running television advertisements in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that lament how violent videogames, television programs and movies have corrupted America's youth. He has advocated a plan to punish retailers that sell violent and sexually explicit games to minors. Brownback, meanwhile, has championed legislation against violent game sales. Romney has not yet committed to participating in November's debate. A Brownback spokesman said he has not received an invitation yet but plans to accept when he does. Association President Hal Halpin said that even though some people see videogame violence as a niche issue, it is important that candidates be asked about it because legislative efforts to restrict game sales have been a waste of taxpayer money. Last week, a federal court overturned such a law in California on constitutional grounds. "The legislators have known full well they're going to get overturned," he said. "They know all that in advance and they do it anyway." Halpin insisted the his group's efforts to generate questions for the debate, which it has promoted on its GamePolitics blog, are aimed at encouraging gamers to be more engaged in the democratic process. He said his only disappointment is that the group did not make such a push before the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate last month. But efforts by others to influence the debates have surfaced. The campaign of Democratic candidate Joseph Biden, for instance, invited people to repeatedly ask a scripted question about the Iraq war before the Democratic debate. CNN called attention to the effort in the introduction to the forum. Carol Darr, the director of George Washington University's Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, said it is perfectly natural for candidates and constituencies to want to game debates to their advantage. "There's always a contest for the limited attention candidates receive in a debate and the audience's capacity to watch it," she said. Because the Republican CNN/YouTube debate has been moved to November, Halpin noted that gamers have more time to demonstrate why their questions should be treated seriously. "Maybe it's also an opportunity for the candidates to answer the questions intelligently," he said. National Journal's Technology Daily PM |
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