Do we need a NVGA?

With the 2008 presidential elections approaching, I’ve been thinking politically, and several important gaming related thoughts have come to mind. They began a few weeks ago, with an column I read in the May 2007 copy of American Rifleman. It was about the goals and accomplishments of the NRA. I began to wonder about how political power can change perceptions and attitudes, especially among lawmakers.

All opinions aside, the NRA is an exceptionally successful organization. They are a non-partisan association that has a good deal of power as a lobbying group and as a means of connecting and informing people who care about NRA related issues. There are two things which I think contribute to its success. The first is rather simple, but true: Money. The NRA gets a good deal of money from the millions of members it has. The second is the intense focus of the organization on the whole. It focuses on nothing but gun related issues. Party association and opinions on any other issue are not taken into account when they decide who gets their support.

Now, before you think I’ve gone off on a tangent, consider how this could be related to our favorite hobby. Gun owners sure love their guns, but gamers sure love their games, too. There are tons of companies producing games, and billions invested in this market. In addition to this, many avid gamers are outraged each time Quake or Halo is blamed by Jack Thompson and his ilk for violent acts. So why don’t we take a leaf out of the NRA’s book? If it works for gun rights, can’t it work for game rights?

Think about how much most gamers spend. I know I pay 15 bucks a month for WoW, a couple grand every couple years for a new computer… and this doesn’t even include consoles. Buying a new Wii, or a 360? This is serious cash. What if you took the 2 dollars you saved each month by paying for WoW on 3 or 6 months installments and sent it to the gamer version of the NRA, which I’ll call the National Video Game Association, the NVGA. This suddenly becomes serious money when you start asking it of every gamer. Now, I know, some folks wouldn’t pony up, but Microsoft has a substantial amount of money that they wouldn’t mind shelling out to protect their markets, and I read recently that Blizzard is purchasing a small country with the profits from WoW, just for kicks.

Hey now, there are already gamer organizations, you might say. Oh really? I didn’t know that, and that is just the problem. If we, as gamers, want new and innovative games from companies unafraid of GTA fearing do-gooders and ambulance chasing lawyers, then we need to give some protection to the industry. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to get into the position where it is gamers, and gaming companies, who have the power in Congress.

So I think it is about time we got ourselves a NVGA and funded it with both our hard earned dollars and our votes. Most gamers are old enough to vote, and most have (at least some, come on guys!) spendable income. Politicians tend to make sure that they aren’t on the wrong side of the NRA by claiming to be hunters, or waving their concealed carry permit around. I say it is time we made politicians quick to say they’ve got a 70 pally on Dark Iron, or that they’ve owned many of their constituents on Halo.