Why you should submit videos for the YouTube Republican debate

by Ross Miller { Aug 7th 2007 at 8:30AM }

The Entertainment Consumers Association's (ECA) is encouraging people to add videos with a contest to get you, dear reader, to submit video questions "pertaining to game consumer rights" for the upcoming CNN / YouTube Republican debate set to air on September 17. . We think it's a great idea.

But don't do it for the free t-shirt from the ECA; we want our readers to think about this and be intelligent in the questions.

Formulate your thoughts. Read up on the issues, check out recent legislation and the Video Game Voters Network. (While you're at it, definitely sift through the GamePolitics archives.) See how other entertainment industries are regulated (e.g. the MPAA) and how you feel that compares to ours. Do you feel Manhunt 2's ban was just? How do feel about current candidates, such as Mitt Romney, who are already laying out their stances on video games in commercials? If you don't like it, challenge him, but be smart in your retort.

Perhaps most importantly, remember your audience: a group of politicians with likely very little knowledge or first-hand experience with video games. Educate them with your question. Maybe even think about asking them generic questions such as how much they have played video games or if they feel the format is ever capable of being art? But if you do, be sure to talk about why it's important they answer what appears on the surface a fairly menial question.

Don't forget about issues peripheral -- but still important -- to the industry, such as net neutrality.

This is a young industry, and external decisions (such as legislation) can greatly influence the direction it takes. If you feel like it should be protected, tell the government just as much. You may not -- scratch that, you probably won't -- receive the answer you want, but without asking, you'd never have the chance to know in the first place. And our politicians should know what's important to us and should be pressed on issues that matter, because if we don't talk to them, who will?

Sure, you may not like it, but read up on opposing viewpoints contrary to your own. It might help refine your own opinion or enlighten you.

Videos should abide by the YouTube debate rules. Here are video questions from the Democrats debate so you can get ideas as to what you feel works and what you feel doesn't. And, dude, dress up a bit. We don't need to see your gamer fashion juxtaposed with suit-clad candidates.

We only wish the ECA had started this contest with the Democrats debate, given Hillary Clinton's prominent stance on game legislation. We can only hope they continue to run contests with every upcoming debate.

Those who do submit a video question should email the link to

along with your name, address and phone number for a free t-shirt. Also, let us know in the comments below; we'll be highlighting the best ones we see.

Tags: debate, politics, presidentialdebate, republican

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Nightvortez @ Aug 7th 2007 9:05AM

You guys do realize the only people attending the Sep 17th Republican debate are Ron Paul and John McCain? I doubt they would even go through with the debate since McCain seems to be backing off too.

Non-the-less, if they run it I'll watch it just for Ron Paul.

Lucky @ Aug 7th 2007 9:09AM

I live in Canada so yah....
=D

But I would ask something along the lines of.

"Are you going to protect the right of a parent, to rasie there child, and choice what they feel best for a child? Espacaly retaining to the censorship of video games, and allowing parents to choice what ESRB rateing is best for there child."

P.s. I sujest any one sending in a video, to wear something nice. This is national televistion, if your wearing a suit and tie they will probly want to take you question more.

>.>

Andrew Yoon @ Aug 7th 2007 9:12AM

I personally thought the YouTube debates aren't as effective as CNN would have people believe. However, any attempt to include the general populace in politics is a good thing-- and gamers, especially, need to start looking at the issues and start voicing their opinions. There's no reason for our medium to be so ill-treated.

Daniel C @ Aug 7th 2007 9:48AM

Did you do this for the Democrat debate? While both parties have jumped on the "video games are bad" bandwagon, Democrats like Hillary Clinton has been leading the charge.

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 7th 2007 9:51AM

It's in the article that the Democrats also have their own. However ECA is giving free T-shirts to submit to the Republicans at the moment. So submit to them first to get a shirt and then when they switch to Democrats submit to them and get a free shirt.

faceless coward @ Aug 7th 2007 1:00PM

Uh, hvnlysoldr, the CNN-YouTube Democratic debate has already come and gone.

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 7th 2007 4:22PM

So even more reason why GamePolitics can't give out more shirts for the Dems' youtube debate.

Alex K @ Aug 7th 2007 9:36AM

i'm sorry, but i love videogames, and videogame legislation is about the least important issue to america right now.

i'm 19 and i couldn't care less if they prevent dip**** 15 year olds from buying GTA even if it is unconstitutional.

Bmurph @ Aug 7th 2007 10:42AM

Well said. Video games should be the last thing on peoples' minds this election.

Although, I think it would fall under a broader important issue of civil liberties.

faceless coward @ Aug 7th 2007 12:59PM

I disagree. If there's one thing we should have learned from the Bush presidency, it's that complete disregard for the Constitution and American principles is a very dangerous thing.

SGT Monty @ Aug 7th 2007 1:12PM

This is a non-sensical debate. Did any of you actually see the Democratic Youtube debate? It was a complete sham. Every candidate knew what questions they were gonna be asked well ahead of time and they mostly ignored the actual question and went straight back to their talking points.

Video game legislation is the least of my worries in the elections next year. All legislation thus far has been smacked down and I'm not worried about it going far in the future.

And even if they did make M rated games unavailable to children. No skin off my back. Obviously parents are too busy to do their own damn jobs so I guess the government will just have to do it for them.

Besides, the real threat to video games is not Mitt, its Hillary Clinton.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Hillary+Clinton+video+game+legislation&btnG=Google+Search

Crono @ Aug 7th 2007 1:38PM

Not to mention that all the questions asked were loaded in the democrats favor. There were no difficult questions. Thats what sucks about any televised debate, candidates will chicken out of them if they find out there are going to be difficult questions.

See-->any fox news moderated debate. Nobody shows because they know the questions are going to be hard. The democrats have all but boycotted the network because it doesn't give them a free pass.

mr nimblewick @ Aug 7th 2007 2:18PM

Democrats back out of fox news debates because of the way fox news slants everything they say to be bad. I wouldn't put it past the O'Reily network to ask questions such as, "Barack, you're wrong on just about every issue. Why is that?"

Every time I flip past that channel they are having a special called, "Are Democrats ruining America?"

Crono @ Aug 7th 2007 3:08PM

You know, there's more to fox news than bill o'reilly and Sean Hannity.

Its funny, because those two shows are the opinion columnist shows, not the strait news and political correspondents.

Not to mention you've all been brainwashed so bad by CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, PBS, and MSNBC that a leftward slant is actually fair and balanced that when fair and balanced hits you in the face it comes across as rightward leaning.

Reality has a right wing slant.

Crono @ Aug 7th 2007 3:18PM

Did you know there are entire courses in journalism devoted to putting spin on news without looking like you're putting spin on news?

All major news sources are biased. Most are left biased. Fox just so happens to be the only one thats Right biased.

"Democrats back out of fox news debates because of the way fox news slants everything they say to be bad."

Did you see the CNN Youtube democratic debate. All of the questions picked were ones that made it look like all the republicans were bad. How is this any different? Its not, you're just a democratic fanboy that can't see that all politicians are screwed up, even your precious Hilary and Obama.

bender @ Aug 7th 2007 9:51AM

The CNN Youtube debates are a complete joke. I mean the Democratic debate proved that a lot of people don't take the 2008 elections that seriously. I'm not watching this one due to the fact that it will most likely be another debacle.

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 7th 2007 9:51AM

I would ask the most important question in video game culture. Pirates or Ninjas?

hegemonyhog @ Aug 7th 2007 9:59AM

No offense, but there are far more important questions to ask than anything relating to videogame legislation, almost all of which gets deemed unconstitutional.

I'd like to ask Mitt Romney why he thinks that moderate Islamic reform groups are the same thing as al-Qaeda, or Rudy Giuliani why he's running to be the leader of a party whose base pretty much views him as the spawn of Satan, or Fred Thompson why being a Hollywood star gives him more credibility as a presidential candidate than, say, George Clooney, who's more attractive and a better actor to boot.

Roger Rees @ Aug 7th 2007 1:56PM

re Thomspon, he was also a US Senator. Clooney wasn't. That gives him a little more credibility.

TheCash @ Aug 8th 2007 3:00AM

" or ask Rudy Giuliani why he's running to be the leader of a party whose base pretty much views him as the spawn of Satan"

Uh... not so much. I'm guessing you didn't happen to see Rudy's latest poll numbers before forming your post. He's obviously doing something right. You might want to consider getting your info and talking points from somewhere other then the dailykos. Just a thought.

hegemonyhog @ Aug 8th 2007 8:48AM

TheCash - he's a pro-choice, pro-gay Republican who's managing a sterling sub-30% performance among Republican primary voters nationwide.

You might want to get your political viewpoints somewhere other than your ass.

And Thompson was an unremarkable Senator whose major accomplishment was ducking out of politics after September 11th. He's a lazy, underwhelming campaigner whose major accomplishment (besides leaking information to Nixon during Watergate) is delivering the phrase "Stack 'em, pack 'em and rack 'em" from Die Hard 2.

WiNG @ Aug 7th 2007 9:58AM

-A Question for Mr. Romney: "You once said that you couldn't imagine anything worse than polygamy. Now that the PS3 has been on the market for some time, do you stand by that position?"

-A Question for Mr. Gulianni: "Infamous game movie creator Uwe Boll's 'Postal' trailer features the 9-11 attack on the WTC. How do you feel about a portrayal of this event which does not glorify you?"

-A Question for Mr. Thompson: "LOL Law and Order the game sucked amirite?"

Jerk Face @ Aug 7th 2007 12:47PM

Alright that was really, really funny. I can't believe no one else thought so! Plus for you!

polly @ Aug 7th 2007 10:03AM

Tired of prepared non-committal responses from candidates about issues you don't even care about? Well through the magic of YouTube, now you can get prepared non-committal responses to YOUR questions! Join this media circus event and have something that tells your friends on myspace, "Hey man, I'm like...all political and stuff!"

WiNG @ Aug 7th 2007 10:19AM

lol @ the truth

You know, I spent a lot of time in Guild Wars trying to figure out the best dodge skills to use.

It was a waste of time, I should have practiced watching politicians answer pointed questions.

gunstarzero @ Aug 7th 2007 11:08AM

There is only one candidate who thinks its parent's responsibility to regulate videogame purchases and NOT the government. Ron Paul. He also won't regulate the internet at all and lets the states decide on most other issues.

faceless coward @ Aug 7th 2007 1:05PM

The part about not regulating the Internet is actually a bit scary. I think we absolutely should have net neutrality laws unless he can reverse government-sanctioned communications monopolies.

License to ill @ Aug 7th 2007 1:58PM

See-->any fox news moderated debate. Nobody shows because they know the questions are going to be hard. The democrats have all but boycotted the network because it doesn't give them a free pass.

Or they know its nothing but a Republican propaganda machine, Fox News is a joke...

License to ill @ Aug 7th 2007 2:11PM

"Fox News is a joke."

Let me add the words, too me, to the above...

SGT Monty @ Aug 7th 2007 6:15PM

Fox News = Republican

CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNBC = Democrat

So why do you hate on Fox because they're the ONE news channel that has conservative values opposed to everyone else's liberal "values"?

Sounds like you're crying because not everyone agrees with you.

samfish @ Aug 7th 2007 6:46PM

Because for every one example you can find of any of those networks being "liberal biased" I can likely find you 10 of them showing right-wing bias.

The "liberal media" is an utter fabrication and the Big Lie concept's greatest victory, since so many people unthinkingly buy into it.

These YouTube debates are a joke. The Democratic one was laughable and the Repuglicans are all chickening out of this one.

SGT Monty @ Aug 7th 2007 10:54PM

Well I've given you 5 news networks and 1 to counter it. What are your other 49? The liberal media is a fact and you can see it everyday on TV on how they gush and go gaga over Democrats even though they've done absolutely NOTHING since taking over the Senate.

Meanwhile, the YouTube debates are sickening. I watched the Democratic one out of curiosity and was left feeling that something more productive could've been done with that time.

Knowing that it was a complete sham, why would any self-respecting politician subject themselves to questions from a snowman?

hegemonyhog @ Aug 8th 2007 8:59AM

Liberal media bias is a fabricated out for conservatives who lose on the merits. The media is liberal when they report that the war in Iraq isn't going well, but they...well, they're still liberal when they have a Sunday morning panel consisting of two Republican senators, a writer for the Weekly Standard and David Broder.

Even Fox can't get a consistent shake, because conservatives can't decide what lie to tell. Is it balanced, or is it conservative? Half say one, half say the other.

And to a previous commenter who asks why people always bring up O'Reilly and Hannity as indicators of Fox's bias rightward - well, they're the top-rated shows on the network. If you want, we can bring in Neal Cavuto, John Gibson, Brit Hume, Fox & Friends, etc., but then the case starts to look really bad for your side.

The media overall has a center-right bias, and an overwhelming bias towards an elite "conventional wisdom" that's largely constructed of made-up conversations with cab drivers and patronizingly out-of-touch guesses at what "the American people" care about.

Miles @ Aug 7th 2007 5:28PM

While people are saying, " We have more important things to worry about than videogames !" , I hope you realize this website is about video games. If Joystiq and other game sites don't talk about this subject, who is?

We all know we have terrorism, the economy and AIDS to worry about, but this is where its expected to talk about game legislation. And art in general. I just can't wait until all the politicians who haven't played games, finally die or retire so only gamers are left.