Open Letter to Senator Clinton

Seth directed me towards this excellent op-ed piece about Senator Douchebag's "investigations" into Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which is shaping up to have some fairly profound and unforseen consequences for my industry. The FTC investigation is the most troubling.

Money quote from the op-ed piece:

Of all the games that kids play, which ones require the most mental exertion? Parents can play this at home: Try a few rounds of Monopoly or Go Fish with your kids, and see who wins. I suspect most families will find that it's a relatively even match. Then sit down and try to play "Halo 2" with the kids. You'll be lucky if you survive 10 minutes....

Consider this one fascinating trend among teenagers: They're spending less time watching professional sports and more time simulating those sports on Xbox or PlayStation. Now, which activity challenges the mind more — sitting around rooting for the Packers, or managing an entire football franchise through a season of "Madden 2005": calling plays, setting lineups, trading players and negotiating contracts? Which challenges the mind more — zoning out to the lives of fictional characters on a televised soap opera, or actively managing the lives of dozens of virtual characters in a game such as "The Sims"?

Once again, I see good things being ruined by the stupidity of a few. Someone's always got to piss in the soup, it seems.