ECA Announces PlaySmart Partnership, GamePolitics Acquisition

The new Entertainment Consumers Association game advocacy organization, which Gamasutra has an in-depth interview with today, has announced that it has both acquired the GamePolitics.com website, and is partnering with NCsoft on the PlaySmart Information Program. The GamePolitics website is the brainchild of Dennis McCauley, a longtime video game journalist and columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Since its creation in March 2005, GamePolitics has evolved into a major source politically-oriented news and opinions about video games, the video game business and the way in which games relate to modern society. McCauley will continue his involvement with GamePolitics as the ECA’s official political editor. PlaySmart is a new public service program initiated by NCsoft, a leading developer and publisher of online games. Launched in September, PlaySmart was created to advance online gaming and security by providing gamers a comprehensive set of common-sense guidelines drawn from industry standards. The ECA chose to partner with NCsoft on this program as it compliments the ECAs growing portfolio of valuable services and content. The two organizations will work together to unveil a PlaySmart web page dedicated to a full list of safety and security tips as well as assemble a panel of experts to help create, review and update the PlaySmart guidelines as needed. The PlaySmart tips card will be distributed at all events, conferences and venues the ECA has partnerships with, and also will be placed in all of NCsoft’s retail game packs starting with the upcoming Guild Wars Nightfall. According to its founder Hal Halpin, the mission of the ECA is "to give gaming consumers a voice and ensure that state and local politicians hear their concerns and appreciate their demographic power." The organization is designed to be an advocate for the interactive entertainment consumers who represent nearly fifty percent of the population, whose average age is 33, and spends $10 billion annually on gaming, yet are continually overlooked by politicians and the mainstream press. More information on the ECA, including membership details, can be found at the official ECA site, and in today's in-depth interview with the ECA's Halpin.