Blustering mop-headed London Mayor, Boris Johnson, has proclaimed his delight for the upcoming London Games Festival, which is soon to return to the capital for the third year running. His statements stand in stark contrast to a tirade he famously launched against video games in a Telegraph column less than two years ago.
In late December 2006, the eccentric politician unleashed a venomous attack on gaming, describing it as “a cause of ignorance and underachievement and poverty”. He urged parents to “garrotte the Game Boy and paralyse the PlayStation” and admit “the catastrophic effect” consoles are having on children’s literacy.
Today, however, Boris has sent out a press release stating: “I’m delighted that the London Games Festival is back in our city for its third year. It demonstrates the creativity and range of the gaming industry, which, as an important part of London’s creative sector, makes a vital contribution to the economy as a whole.”
It’s a dramatic turnaround, especially given the passion of his earlier attack. But then again, we’re very used to seeing politicians simply dismissing video games as an evil, corrupting influence on children that should be ignored when popular and stereotyped when vulnerable. Should we be whinging just because he’s had a change of heart, albeit a timely one?
I will say that his earlier statements annoyed me because I grew up with games and still love to read; but games I used to play contained a hell of a lot more text than they do now. And that’s not to say my experience has been the same as everyone else’s either.
Perhaps now he’s seen the potential for the video games industry to be more for children than turn them into “blinking lizards”, and recognises the London Games Festival as a means of exploring that. Or maybe he’s really just the buffoon the press so loves to caricature him as. What do you think?
via VideoGaming247
