Ernest Adams, the co-founder of the International Game Developers' Association (IGDA), has written an elaborate editorial on why the end of republican dominance doesn't necessarily mean that games are safe from censorship. He stated:
"In fact, our most aggressive critics have not come from the right, but from the moderate left. Tom Lantos, our earliest Congressional critic, was a Democrat. Hillary Clinton is a Democrat. Tipper Gore, wife of Al Gore, who took on the music industry, is a Democrat. Joe Lieberman is a Democrat... sort of."
He's also not convinced that president elect Barack Obama will be a friend to the gaming industry, despite his use of the medium during his campaign. Adams said:
"If Obama agrees that the burden should be on the parents to keep inappropriate video games away from their kids, then he probably won't support efforts to censor us. However, I don't entirely trust him on this issue. Obama is a centrist who believes in bringing parties together and trying to find compromises that both can live with. That's great when we're talking about the tax code or immigration policy. It's not great when we're talking about the First Amendment. There's no such thing as 'a little bit pregnant,' and there's no such thing as 'a little bit of censorship.'"
While I believe Adams' view on Obama is jumping the gun a bit, he's absolutely correct about democrats and gaming. Even before Lieberman went insane, he was a huge pain in the butt to the gaming business. As Adams said, Tipper Gore has been a staunch critic of gaming for a long time. She also hated hair metal, so maybe she's just not any fun. I'll be sure to send her Warrant's Cherry Pie album, which has a very special track dedicated to her.
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