Video video games assault the Congress of Deputies | Culture | EUROtoday

This Monday within the Congress of Deputies you may nearly hear Mario Bros leaping. The Clara Campoamor room of the Congress hosted a day on the world of video video games, the alternatives and challenges that the sector faces in Spain. Organized by the Spanish Video Game Association (Aevi), with the participation of actors from the sector, schooling specialists and a variety of parliamentarians. This is the primary initiative of this sort to happen in Spain and a political increase to an business that in 2023 had a turnover of greater than 2.3 billion euros in Spain and that already has 20 million gamers.

The occasion, introduced by the favored content material creator Cristina López Pérez, Cristininiconsisted of three completely different talks (on financial impression, contribution of video video games to society and the position of public administrations), however the identical query floated over all of them: find out how to maximize the constructive impression that video video games can have? The first of the spherical tables (by which representatives of enormous corporations, equivalent to Sony or EA, participated) elaborated on the financial impression of probably the most highly effective cultural business, which globally recorded greater than 190,000 million euros in income throughout 2023. Alberto González Lorca, president of Aevi, identified the benefits {that a} nation like Spain can need to compete within the international market (“Legal security, quality of life, a lot of educational offer and a lot of creativity”), however demanded “fiscal incentives at the level of other European countries around us.” Something that the assorted associations and firms within the sector have been demanding for a few years.

The second discuss was concerning the social impression of video games, from research that certify “cognitive rehabilitation, emotional support and medical detectors” that many video games can present, within the phrases of psychologist and researcher Elena Morán; to the big assist “they can contribute to inclusivity,” as Lourdes González Perea, from ONCE, mentioned; passing by their use as instruments in school rooms, which Miguel Ángel Salcedo, an skilled in schooling and expertise, defended. All of them broke down the transformative capabilities of video video games, however advocated for accountability of their use. “If we talk about child players, parents must have control tools, and we must teach them to use them,” mentioned trainer and disseminator Laura Cuesta.

At the third, extra political desk, there have been political representatives (Carmen Páez, Undersecretary of Culture; Mario Cortés, from the PP; Marc Lamuà, from the PSC), and completely different formulation had been contrasted to extract the attainable financial and social advantages that video games can convey. to Spain. José María Moreno, basic secretary of Aevi, confirmed the sector’s concern about Spanish over-regulation: “We are concerned about the draft law for the protection of minors,” he defined, which in accordance with him “can distance us from competitiveness with other countries in our environment.” .

The Secretary of State for Culture, Jordi Martí Grau, who closed the occasion, highlighted the “indisputable cultural value” of video video games. “People are a legacy: the movies we have seen, the books we have read… and what we have played,” he mentioned, earlier than highlighting that the accountability “of an industry that can intervene in the lives of 20 million people in Spain” is enormous. Martí Grau elaborated on the enormous economic dimension of a sector to which the Government “must give support” (he pointed out the 23 million euros that are given each year in direct aid), and stressed the value that video games can have at the time to educate. “It is also a focus on which to put an extra magnifying glass,” he said: “It cannot be that there are children’s games that hide unethical monetization systems.” And taking the gauntlet dropped by Mario Cortés on an economic proposal, he opened up to tax deductions for the industry, along a similar line to what already exists in the film industry. “I think it is an interesting proposal that we can study. So that it can be seen that two supposed irreconcilable enemies [PP y PSOE] “We can reach agreements.” It is a good metaphor: the video game as a meeting place, which is ultimately one of its vocations. All that’s left is for all the parties to take control and play a game together.