New York, NY, March 8, 2018.....The Anti-Defamation League today reacted to the White House meeting with members of Congress, top executives from the gaming industry, and various parent groups to discuss violence in video games.
“Based on what we know about the meeting, the conversation failed to include any discussion of how video games and emerging technologies can be used to actively fight bias and hate. The violence we’ve seen across the country comes in part from a lack of awareness of the impact of hate — and indifference to its manifestations and growth,” Daniel Kelley, assistant director of the Center for Technology and Society at the Anti-Defamation League, said of the meeting President Trump hosted at the White House today.
“We should have a national conversation not just about the negative impact of video games, but also how we can best promote games to fight hate and prejudice. At ADL, we support the use of games and emerging technology such as VR/AR/XR to fight hate, bias and discrimination. This is why we are starting to work with the games community to tap into this potential.”
Background
ADL’s Center for Technology and Society hosted a 24-hour hackathon, or game jam, last October that included developers from around the world who developed games to fight hate and bias. Later this month, the Center is continuing this work by partnering with the International Game Developers Association to convene members of the game community at one of the biggest game conferences of the year to promote the development of games to address bias and discrimination and to discuss how ADL can meaningfully help with issues of hate, inequality, and harassment in games and the game community.