Ready? Fight!!

Wow. So I just spent two minutes of my life watching the Video Game Voter's trailer, and can't help but feel like they've just tried to draft me into fighting for Middle Earth or the X-Men or something. They make fighting government video game legislation seem like the most epic struggle EVER: the ad features the announcer with the gravelly voice, music reminiscent of Carmina Burana O Fortuna, and frightening clipart of politicians. What's really sad is I think I've seen better Army recruitment commercials.

I had heard rumblings of anti-legislation sentiments around the Internet for a while, but seeing something like this surface--I've never seen my beloved videogame community so propagandistic (even if it is intentional, as I just found out from the VGVN states in the video's description). I've noticed most gamers on the Web are calm, collected, but always willing to dish out a few pointed, well-phrased insults. This is an over-the-top outcry from the gaming community that I haven't seen or heard before, and am not too sure that I like it. Most people who commented on the video at YouTube and Kotaku express the similar feelings about the ad. Even if they were parodying dramatic movie teaser advertising, I think they need to scale back the drama a bit if they want people to take them seriously. Because if the gamers don't take their own cause seriously, I doubt the "evil, corrupt" politicians pictured below won't either.

I guess this is what happens when you don't like your congressman

The VGVN should reassess how they're going to advertise this movement against government legislation and start from scratch. (The black-backgrounded template for the VGVN website isn't that welcoming either). It's incredibly important that if you're going to try to reach and rally the masses of gamers, you have to approach them in the right way. If you approach with an open mind and state your ideas logically and reasonably, they'll listen. I hate grouping gamers into one giant mass, but that's generally how it works (unless you run into rabid fanboys, in which case you can expect to be flamed). And if you try to pull an over-dramatic stunt like this, they'll just look at you funny and wonder why you thought it would be a good idea. Maybe poke you a couple of times and then be on their way.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want government intervention with videogames. I think the current system ESRB system we have is solid, but it does have a few flaws here and there (like differentiating between Mature and Adults Only). People can decide what's good for them and what's not. Parents can decide for their kids what's good for them and what's not. So let's put a little faith back in humanity and move on with the uninhibited progression of technology.