In France, Gamer Runs for Mayor

December 8, 2007
A gamer is running for mayor.

David Hecq, president of the AFRS (Association Française de Revendeurs Spécialisés), a trade group representing independent game retailers in France, is hoping to become mayor of Anzin Saint-Aubin, a small town of 2,500 residents in Northern France. Hecq has no party affiliation.

Hecq is a gamer himself, writes about games and operates the Objectif Micro game site.

GP: This story originated in the GamePolitics Forums. Thanks to longtime GP reader Soldat Louis!

Comments

Submitted by Luigi (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 10:08.
Awesome. :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 10:38.
No party affiliation?

At least in France the "video games are teh debbul" thing hasn't catched on yet.

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 10:48.
@ Anonymous

Oh it happens there.

As for this guy, I hope he has all the success he needs and does a great job.

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary

Submitted by Steven Furtado (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 11:04.
Good luck David! If I was a French resident, I'd vote for you.

Submitted by Soldatlouis (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 12:06.
@Anonymous :

Of course it has catched on, as in any country. In 1992-1993, French mainstream media thought that video games caused epillepsy. In 1999, a watchdog organizaation already mentioned in GP (Familles de France, not to mention it) campaigned against violent games and forced big retailers to remove some of them from their stores. And the way games are portrayed by our mainstream media has been horrible for years.

This being said, we're actually luckier than German gamers. But that doesn't mean every one in France loves video games. If a politician stands up and asks for a total ban of "violent video games", as the GWG did in Germany, he'll be popular among many parents.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 12:33.
@ Soldatlouis,

I know the gamers aren't popular but it's far milder than in America, the luddites aren't popular either.

That being said, the luddites still are numerous. They haven't acted or BS'd for a while now, I wonder if our goddamned media have decided to focus on demonizing everybody instead of just us.

Plus, they always comment on the riots or lack thereof than on gamers. Perhaps they realize it's more important in some way.

Submitted by BlackIce, Dragunov Marksman (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 13:07.
Vive La.. No, I still can't bring myself to say it.

Submitted by Soldatlouis (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 13:26.
@BlackIce :

You don't have to. Just say "Vive Soldatlouis" instead :D :D

Submitted by BlackIce, Dragunov Marksman (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 15:18.
@Soldatlouis

Vive La Fidel.

Submitted by GoodRobotUs (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 16:31.
In communist Russia, Mayors run for you!

Sorry...

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 19:37.
Soldatlouis
how is Germany and France diffrent in rating games?
Germany merely protects childern from OTT content more often than not,adults can still get that content even in the UK you can not do this if tis black listed its contraband.

Submitted by Paulrus (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 22:24.
He reminds me of Gabriel Iglesias.

Submitted by Burn (not verified) on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 22:55.
Man, I hope he wins....

Submitted by matt lucky (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 00:13.
about time. people always say that gamers will age into office eventually and it can't happen soon enough.

Start the revolution in the states next!. form the Interactive media party. Make it one word though like the Democrats and Republicans... maybe intermediate party huh?

Submitted by wombat_overmind (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 05:15.
@GoodRobotUs

Die. >.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 05:28.
@ ZippyDSMlee,

In France the rating are basically the same as in England or the USA, we don't have the crazy ban happy german censors here.

And I hope we never get them. Now we pray for competent translators or, in m case, go buy english versions.

Submitted by Lavarock (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 05:53.
Wow, it didn't need to be said. You can see it. I can see this man telling me to stop humping his corpse, in French. Except I wouldn't understand it at all and I'd keep on ravishing his skull.

Submitted by Christian Astrup (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 07:59.
Vive la revolucion!

Apologies for maiming the language.

Submitted by BlackIce, Dragunov Marksman (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 09:03.
Can we just fill this with Marxist Propaganda? There isn't really much else to say.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 10:29.
Go on BlackIce, there isn't any reason not to.

Besides, it's fitting when talking about french politics.

Submitted by Master Fink (not verified) on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 19:24.
You're all nazis! As bad as Hitler!

Alright, Godwin's law is in effect. No one can comment. Man I love being evil.

Submitted by BlackIce, Dragunov Marksman (not verified) on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 11:54.
@MF

Thou shalt take thine laws of Godwin, and STUFF IT! Vive la Revolution! Vive la Fidel! Burn the sodding Stars and Strips! URAAAAA!!!!!

Submitted by BlackIce, Dragunov Marksman (not verified) on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 11:54.
That should be Stars and Stripes..

Submitted by Hackangel (not verified) on Wed, 12/12/2007 - 02:16.
So if the "games are evil" spreaded troughout Europe too, does that mean only Canada is safe?
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ZippyDSMlee: sigh...was playing anice game of empire at war and then boom crash...hope new oparts come soon ><05/22/2012 - 1:17pm
Andrew Eisen: I still say the particular word or phrase the MPAA uses to describe what it's fighting against is the least of its problems.05/22/2012 - 1:12pm
ZippyDSMlee: MPAA finally admits piracy is not the same as stealing, kinda http://tinyurl.com/chtcf8p05/22/2012 - 11:55am
ddrfr33k: @EZK Bwahahaha! @Michael: Yeah, several news sources have said that google DNS can bypass the TPB roadblocks.05/22/2012 - 11:38am
Michael Chandra: Weird, I can still visit piratebay. Wonder if Google DNS is related to that, or I simply have an exotic ISP?05/22/2012 - 9:03am
Lisa Pham: No harm done, E. Zachary Knight. :)05/22/2012 - 4:50am
Uncharted NES: BSA Claims Half of PC Users Are Pirates- http://slashdot.org/palm/17/12/05/22/0051216_1.shtml05/21/2012 - 11:18pm
E. Zachary Knight: Ah. Missed that. My mind just connected DDR3 with ddrfr33k and ran with it. Oh well.05/21/2012 - 10:12pm
Lisa Pham: He also mentioned the game "Shadows of the damned" which is on PS305/21/2012 - 8:08pm
E. Zachary Knight: ddrf33k, I think Zip is referring to computer hardware.05/21/2012 - 7:33pm
ddrfr33k: @Zip: Excellent game. It's a trip.05/21/2012 - 7:09pm
Lisa Pham: IanC - if you read/looked at the report (PDF and written) then you'd see where they failed and why. Some games have come close to passing and some have passed. The list of games evaluated. http://www.reclaimyourgame.com/content.php/18-RYG-Evaluations05/21/2012 - 5:49pm
Andrew Eisen: Maybe I'll luck out and the Wii version won't have this retail exclusive DLC nonsense.05/21/2012 - 5:12pm
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E. Zachary Knight: Yeah, that's how I feel about retail exclusive DLC too. ;)05/21/2012 - 3:37pm
RedMage: That's what I started to figure too. They seem to have trouble coming up with an effective scare tactic. At one point they referred to it as "online looting" which just sounds stupid.05/21/2012 - 3:34pm
E. Zachary Knight: Of all the sucky suckiness that ever sucked. Lego Batman 2 will suffer from sucky retailer exclusive DLC. Suck! http://tinyurl.com/ckq67vg05/21/2012 - 3:30pm
E. Zachary Knight: As for Dodd, I think it is mostly that he realizes that calling copyright infringement "theft" is bad for PR and that they need to change tactics. Just like how they went from using "piracy" to using "theft."05/21/2012 - 1:48pm
E. Zachary Knight: Ian, I think in this case, the rating is well deserved. To get a good rating, I would assume that a company would have to release the game with no DRM, or at least fully disclosed DRM.05/21/2012 - 1:46pm
IanC: Lisa - what do companies have to do to get a good rating from that site?05/21/2012 - 12:54pm
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