Blazing the expertise
I recently had the pleasure of speaking in a panel discussion on National radio regarding the R18+ rating for video games. As a game developer, I have close to 20 years experience within the medium (3 of which is professional), and stay updated with the global tidings of the industry I work in.
As with every panel discussion, there are parties for and against a fact. One interesting phenomenon is the power at which ignorant or unresearched statements can have on the general public, and how hard they can be to correct once distributed.
Case in point: “Rape games”. Common sense repulses the mere concept of it, and yet, even though it’s a morally (and thus, one can easily expect economically) bankrupt concept, people believe, because of either a)the perceived expertise of the people discussing it or b) the large amount of people talking about it.
(n.b. – There are no rape games within the mainstream gaming populace – the thought repulses us too)
What’s to be taken away here is that it doesn’t matter what you say, as long as you say it first and with conviction.
It is for this reason you make the first presentations of the day. You’re blazing a trail that’s hard to cover.
