Things have been busy for presidential candidates campaigning to get voters to cast ballots in 2020.
A surprising talk happened with presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden when he labeled a group (mostly someone) a descriptive word.
In an interview with the New York Times back in Jan. 19, Biden said he had multiple meetings with Silicon Valley executives, including some from the videogame industry.
In the same Times interview with Charlie Warzel, Biden mentions a surprising stance where he calls one of the executives a “little creep” saying: “And at one point, one of the little creeps sitting around that table, who was a multi- — close to a billionaire — who told me he was an artist because he was able to come up with games to teach you how to kill people.”
This brought a big question, who was Biden referring to as a ‘little creep’? Activision CEO Bobby Kotick? Electronic Arts (EA) CEO Andrew Wilson or any executive?
It’s up for discussion.
Many people were shocked by this statement. The comment seemed out of left field.
Then again this isn’t something new — it falls in line with what Biden has said in the past on his stance on video games.
Back in 2013, during a live broadcast through Google Hangout, Biden was skeptical of some of the information regarding a possible link between video games and aggression.“One of the things that the president and I believe very strongly, is let the facts work, especially in regards to the entertainment industry,” Biden said during the broadcast, according to VG247, a video game news site.
The idea behind his “little creep” quote is that he views videogames executives as predators or as an influence that can affect kids or teens to commit acts of mass murders.
Now I say this for those who don’t understand, if you were in his shoes and saw what the landscape is now, you would understand why he sees this as a danger to communities.
Biden’s words propel discussions on this topic.
I don’t blame him for his view given that one of his top priorities is to protect people but still the quote doesn’t make it clear where he was overreacting.
It’s worth noting this comes during a time in which the gaming industry is facing scrutiny for the practices, such as predatory monetization mechanics, and questions over how it is viewed.
Biden’s quote presents a striking stance in how he views the industry now but time will tell how things will play out for both sides.