After writing the first spotlight on Run to Vote, I started digging in to find other examples of athletic-based election-time activism. It's a great and simple matchup-- sports are good for you, and so is participating in democratic processes. I ended up finding something that struck my interest a little more, not because it's a better idea, but because it raises interesting issues concerning both athleticism and activism as they transform to fit into the twenty-first century.
Microsoft is setting up a system that will allow users of their X-box live online video game service to register as voters in between games of Halo. The effort is being organized by the folks behind Rock the Vote, an organization that has been trying to mobilize young voters for over a decade. In a BBC News story on the project, Rock the Vote Executive Director Heather Smith said "To realise our goal of registering two million young Americans by this fall, we need to go where young Americans are. There's no doubt in our minds that many are on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live." Rock the Vote has a good track record-in 1992, they registered 35,000 new voters, most likely helping to create the 20% increase in young voter turnout for the presidential election that year. But aside from mobilizing voters, what effects will such a campaign have? In my eyes, it encourages users to live even more of their lives in front of television screens, limiting their own contact with the material, real-life world.
In his article about the rise of professional video gaming, Dan Treadway writes "Studies have shown that video games can help enhance players' analytical skills and make them more perceptive.", which I believe. The puzzle-solving and twitch-reaction elements of many games definitely provide some brain-exercise, but the brain is just one of the few hundred organs and muscles in your body that need regular exercise to ensure that they work properly. Playing some video games can be good for you. Voting is good for all of us. But Rock the Vote would do a great public service if they added a message to be displayed after users register to vote. It could say something to the effect of "Remember to stop playing video games and go outside once in while!"
