An Open Letter to PAX ’07 Attendees
My name is Andrew S. Bub and I run a site called GamerDad.com and GameSanityblog.com. The purpose of GamerDad is to go beyond the ESRB ratings and help parents. The purpose of GameSanityblog is to comment on games more intelligently than most – and to reflect the political advocacy work I do.
Mostly what I do as GamerDad is explain gaming to mainstream parents – PTAs – newspapers, etc., because I’ve spent 10 years reviewing games for places like PCGamer, GameSpy, CNet, etc., and the last five years contributing to places like USAToday, CNN, Family Fun, etc., and my entire life playing video games.
This means I have one foot in the game space and one in the “duh, what are games?” space.
All of that is to explain why I was kind of scared to bring my “Gaming with Children” lecture/seminar to PAX.
Robert Khoo can tell you that I was a bit scared to bring this speech to PAX given that it’s normally aimed at your moms. I was worried that nobody would show up. Double the apprehension when Hal Halpin bailed on the Politics Panel I shared with him and to help out, I offered to do another hour by myself in front of you. This became the “Politics & Game Sanity” speech.
So yeah. 10 years in the biz and I was scared of PAX. It’s true and I was dead wrong. You guys made me feel more than welcome….
You guys are great. I’ve spent the past two days telling my contacts at the ESA, telling the ESRB, and telling Hal Halpin that THIS is the show that represents gamers. This is the show they CANNOT IGNORE. And you are the audience that these monolithic organizations NEED to reach. PAX is gaming, the future, and I want to thank you personally for a terrific show.
And I need not have worried about attendance – both my shows were filled to capacity.
Thanks PAX, for making a GamerDad feel welcome and young again. And reminding me why we need to push the agenda, shut the politicians up, and explain to moms and dads that gamers and games are nothing to be ashamed or afraid of.
Yours,
Andrew & Linda Bub
August 29th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Thanks for your efforts, Andrew. I attended your Politics & Game Sanity presentation and was impressed with the clarity and logic of your thoughts on gaming and the fact that you are a voice of reason for gamers.
August 30th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Thank you Andrew for letting me speak to my insecurities and my mental illness.
And thank you for not judging me.
GamerDad is an awesome thing, and I signed up for the ECA at PAX.
So, yeah, thanks for understanding, and I am feeling very much better now.
Gavin
August 30th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I remember you Gavin! Great to see you hear and keep up with it. I’m glad PAX made you feel like you’re a part of something! I’m hoping to make GameSanityBlog into what GamerDad is, only for non-parents. So, stick around!
Thanks to you too Kevin! Keep watching here for more along those lines. I’ll have the speeches YouTubed soon.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Cool, Andrew.
Thanks so much, you really made my day. That day.
September 5th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Hey GamerDad!
Are videos of your PAX seminar available? It sounds like it was something I should be ashamed to miss! If not, I completely understand. You’re a professional speaker after all. In which case, any chance you do many public lectures, or have one planned for the Chicago area?
Thanks for fighting a necessary fight! Be sure to check out the book Killing Monsters by Gerard Jones if you haven’t already. It was the first book I ever read that relieved my fears about children and the illusion of violence.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Hey Dan,
Andrew/GamerDad/Bub/He Who Must Be Obeyed is offline for a bit, so until he can answer you in person I’ll just say that if we can get our hands on video we’ll try and make it available.
Thanks for stopping by!
September 7th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Thanks for the great talk on politics. The comment that any parent is a homophobe who doesn’t want gay themes in their kid’s game…that was unnecessary.