What do you say to the following potential criticism/objection:

I don’t belong to a Book Consumers Association or a Filmgoers Association, or even a Sashimi Eaters Association, although I do all those things.

The very notion of an “Entertainment Consumers Association” might be absurdist and isolationist. It ghettoizes videogames in the broader media ecology, and it reinforces the (bad) impression that gamers are a demographic group, rather than encouraging the (good) impression that videogames are a medium of expression that can touch everyone’s lives in different ways.

Someone under such an opinion — even a supporter of videogames — might argue that supporting the ECA actually damages, rather than improves videogames’ place in contemporary culture, by reinforcing the isolationism just mentioned.

@Ian Bogost - Not at all, it’s a fair question. The short answer is that none of the other activities that you mentioned are being threatened on so broad and deep a way. No one is trying to redefine you as a person by the fact that you enjoy sushi, nor saying that certain types of sushi are too vulgar. (I happen to be a fan, but am sticking with your example BTW.) I’ve heard the argument that people joining groups, by the very act enables isolationism, but I reject it based purely on it being too narrow and easy a perspective. The reality is that groups of like-minded people can and should stick together when faced with adversity and when underrepresented, but especially when their rights are being threatened. Not doing so for the past decade or more has certainly not been effective.

I’d also point to the success of parallel membership organizations, without whom life as we know it would be incontrovertibly altered. Imagine where the elderly would be today without the AARP for instance. In the years before the baby boomers were potential members, previous groups were thoroughly underrepresented and as a result were taken advantage of. In subsequent years, they have managed to turn the stereotype of being retired from a bad thing to a definition that no longer defines one’s age. There are tens of millions of proud car-carrying members of AARP for crying out loud! I wouldn’t have thought it possible, and yet by coming together they have taken ownership of who they, as a group, are and how they are perceived. I see no difference for the challenges that face gamers and we are simply uniting for that cause.

It is a good and valuable question though, as there are always people that say, “I don’t need to do any work, it’ll be done by others for me.” That too is an attitude that is socially acceptable for some reason that escapes me. Here, we are presenting an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and help shape destiny. To stand idly by and do nothing empowers others to do something which you likely will disagree and empowers the masses to decide how you are defined and create perception.

-Hal.

You stayed on message well :). I think it's a false analogy to compare videogame players as a group to retirees/senior citizens. The issues related to ill treatment of a person just for being a certain age are far different from the issues related to a medium or a hobby.

Here's my follow up though: if the ECA is a consumer organization, why not protect gamers from the game companies? Games are $60 now. Game publishers take advertising now but still don't subsidize retail. Most games and consoles are effectively price-fixed. What about those issues? In the past you have compared the ECA to AAA, but yet your marketing and answers here are completely related to political lobbying. AAA provides services and negotiation between travelers and travel service providers. Where's the similarity?

What about internet-connected games data mining user actions? What about buggy software? What about all of the terrible malfunctions in hardware and the lack of representation against large companies like Microsoft and Sony? The ECA should have a downloads policy, a EULA policy, a used games rights policy, a privacy policy, a region encoding policy.

Aren't those the real issues for videogame consumers?