According to Polygon, the Association of Video Game Manufacturers ( ESA ) received an invitation from the administration of the President of the United States to meet with Donald Trump, where they will discuss the problems of violence and the age rating of games. This is probably due to the recent incident in Florida.
Recall that in mid-February in a small town Pakklend former student Nicholas Cruz opened fire at school – 17 people were killed, 16 injured. Before that, he turned on the fire alarm to entice students from the classes. Cruz had previously studied at this school, but he was expelled for violating discipline. According to the media, he had problems with the psyche.
It is not yet known who will participate in the upcoming meeting and how video games are generally related to the recent shooting in Florida. However, Donald Trump partially laid the blame on modern pop culture and virtual entertainment. Many, of course, found themselves disagreeing with him.
Dear Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, what if we put a 25% tariff on video games? Gun violence would drop by 25%! Great idea!!
— Game Journalist (@GameJournoLit) March 2, 2018
This is not the first time that representatives of the gaming industry have discussed such issues with the administration of the White House. In 2013, for example, after the massacre at the Sandy Hook Primary School, a meeting was held with former Vice President Joe Biden and his commission to combat violence.
Updated: today the participants of the upcoming meeting with Donald Tramp became known, among whom it is worth noting the head of ESA Michael Gallagher, executive director of Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick and ZeniMax president Robert Altman. In addition, according to Kotaku, Robert Trump can also attend the meeting, since he is on the board of directors of ZeniMax.
Finally, here's the full list of attendees to today's White House video game meeting (via @jaketapper).
As if you needed more clues as to how sloppy this has been, they call ESRB boss Patricia Vance "Mr." pic.twitter.com/MCY6rGnPWa
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) March 8, 2018