As those of you who live in British Columbia are probably aware, we are in the midst of a provincial election. My approach to elections tends to be thus: I scope out each of the candidates for my riding and then choose which one I feel would best represent my interests. I have preferences as far as political parties are concerned, but I prefer to focus on the candidates themselves. This year, I was still in the process of making up my mind when I received a phone call from the office of Carole James, the current MLA and candidate for the New Democratic Party in my riding. After the usual question (Can we count on your support?), the caller asked me this:
Caller: Do you have any questions that I can answer for you?
Me: Actually, yes. Can you tell me: What is Carole James’ and the NDP’s policy on financial incentives for the video game industry in BC?
Caller: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I’ll have to ask someone and get back to you. Is it okay if we call you back later?
Me: Sure!
I hadn’t thought much about that conversation until a couple of days later when Carole James herself called me to answer my question. I was pleasantly surprised that she took my question seriously enough to contact me directly and that she was relatively informed on the issue. Carole was aware of the troubles that the game development industry had been having in Vancouver and the need to offer incentives that would keep BC competitive, especially in comparison to Quebec and Ontario. She told me that her party had already made plans to do something for the BC film industry and would look into something similar for the video game industry. After chatting a bit more and making plans to talk more after the election, I wished her good luck and said goodbye.
I felt pretty pleased about our conversation and told some friends about it, game developers and otherwise. One of my friends is an ardent supporter of the Green Party and suggested that I contact them with the same question and give them a chance to state their position. I thought that it seemed only fair, so I sent an email to Jane Sterk, the leader of the Green Party and the candidate for my riding. This was the email message that I sent:
Good morning,
Cheers,
A few days later I received this response:
Chris,
We don’t have policies on incentives for video games.
Jane
Wow, that was terse. And I don’t think she was answering the question I asked. It almost sounds like she thinks that I’m asking for money to play video games. Maybe a handful of quarters for the arcade?
I’m pretty amazed at the difference in the response between the two candidates. One was polite, thoughtful, and engaging, the other was rude, brusque, and dismissive. I know that my concerns about the game industry may not be important to the majority of the electorate, but they are important to me, and they are important to others who make a living making games.
And you know what? Maybe the video game industry should be more important to BC as a whole. According to the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, Canada’s game industry ranks third in the world, has a direct economic impact of $1.7 billion on the Canadian economy, and was expected to grow by 17% last year. Traditionally, BC has been a big part of that, but growth has flattened out in our province compared to strong growth in Ontario and Quebec, due in a large part to better financial incentives in those provinces. There’s a lot at stake for the industry and consequently for British Columbia, not the least of which are thousands of well-paying jobs.
To Jane Sterk and the Green Party: if you are interested in supporting environmentally friendly industries, you could do worse than support the video game industry. These days many of the games developed exist only in digital form, requiring no packaging or shipping, and no physical media to junk up the landfills. And in a time when we’re looking to move away from a reliance on the oil and gas industry, supporting the video game industry may be just the thing British Columbia needs.
Ironic Iconic Studios 