If you hadn’t heard, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan wrote a lengthy Facebook post yesterday on what he thought about the Singaporean government’s attitude toward gaming.
In the post, he referred to their attitude as “schizophrenic” and called the government not to be a “Jon Snow”. He cited the censorship of two games – Mass Effect and Counter Strike, as a telling sign on the government’s willingness to “arbitrarily ban” video games.
Most interesting was a prediction in his Facebook post. Based on what he read from the article, Mr Tan believed that the government would be doing something soon for Pokemon GO in particular.
Naturally, many news media outlets reported on the vocal CEO’s comments. Some even went so far as to quote his comments as being disparaging to the Singaporean government. This prompted him to write another Facebook post to clarify his position:
“I’m generally happy with how the Singapore govt runs things – I think they’ve done a great job in general actually – but that doesn’t mean I’m going to suck it up when they suggest inane things like monitoring or censoring games.”
That should be the same for everyone else. Just because someone speaks out against something doesn’t mean they are unhappy or ungrateful for everything. It simply means that there’s a place that can be changed to improve the whole situation.
Currently, knee-jerk comments on current events often gain so much momentum that it becomes public opinion – and that’s just sad.
Why are anti-government sentiments still being thrown into the mix of complex, well-formed arguments about trying to manage and possibly regulate a fledgling industry in Singapore? Development-wise, Singapore is no powerhouse in gaming, and our consumer market isn’t exactly huge.
My conversations with the guys from game developers Witching Hour Studios and Sparkjumpers often share the same concern areas: not enough talent, not enough support. It’s unfortunate that Singapore’s gaming industry has yet to bloom, given that it is currently flourishing in other countries.
Like what Mr. Tan is suggesting, consumers are responsible for their choices. Instead of simply shifting responsibility to the government, people should start talking and start taking ownership of what they will, and are, consuming.
Feature Image Credit: Tvpowerplay
