A few questions from an ECA hopeful

[Dogstew]

Alright so...I've recently been having bit of a discussion with Dennis through e-mails about some recent developments in the gaming political scene. I recently asked him a few questions about the ECA and he referred me to this forum so I could ask the ECA directly.

I've been considering joining the ECA as I'm very passionate about games as not just entertainment but also as an art form, a form of expression and as something we have the right to enjoy. I'm always trying to keep up with and knowledgeable about the current situation that we, as gamers, are facing.

I would like to know more information about what the ECA, and we as regular members, can do? Are we just signing up to show support, or are their opportunities for us to become more politically active? I also wonder what sort of job opportunities may be available to me, or us as members. I'm attending college at the moment and I would love to be able to use my education as a tool to help back our rights as gamers.

It would be greatly appreciated to receive some more information regarding the ECA and what else they do. I have visited the website and researched a bit, but I found some of the information either a bit vague, or making it seem as if all we're really doing is supporting the organization and we, as members, get some nice perks. Don't get me wrong..I love the perks, but I'd like to do more.

I've been considering talking to the guys who own a local gaming center as they are fairly close friends of mine and I would like to see them support the ECA. I'm fairly sure they would, but I know neither of them would be happy with just being members and not doing much else.

[Hal Halpin]

First, I'm really excited that we can use this part of the forum for this.

So, to answer your questions: absolutely! We're building out several ways for you get more involved if you like. Thomas Valentino, our Chapter Relations Manager, has been working with ECA members who are interested in forming regional and college chapters. We envision the chapters as not only a method of getting like-minded members together, but also as a forum for discussion of topically important issues, working with our Government Affairs department on advocacy issues, and Public Relations folks on generating local and regional press. We have a really broad mission statement that includes re-defining how gamers are perceived, reversing the negative stereotypes and casting us in a positive light. All of those goals are best served by getting our members involved.

On the education and job front, we're going to integrate another one of our properties, GameJobs.com - which is the leading job board serving the business - into the back-end. There, we intend to expand the services to include resume writing help, free resume posting, job boards, forums, and feature articles on commonly-asked questions pertaining to jobs in the business.

And finally our connection with the academic community is really important to us generally, and me personally. The student chapters will be just the beginning of many new and exciting things that include a new portal which will highlight scholarship information, undergrad and graduate degree and program offerings, feature articles about selecting the right institution and coursework, and financial aid and tuition assistance information.

If I missed any of your questions or didn't answer them fully, please let me know. And thanks for the offer to recruit your friends at the LAN center. We're finding our relationship with many of them growing quickly (we offer discounts to ECA members at many LAN centers now actually) and that they get what we're about and what we're trying to build.

[kurisu7885]

I have a quick question as well

Can we get involved in local efforts even if we haven't been able top join as of yet? As in events or chapters?

[Hal Halpin]

Unfortunately, there'll be very little in the way of active participation one would be able to have/do without being a member. Joining or starting a chapter is similar in many respects to starting a fraternity/sorority chapter or creating a franchisee business. We also have a lot of affinity benefits that aid members in getting together or attending events (i.e. discounts on admission to trade and consumer shows). But all of those are activated by one's membership in the org.

Non-members do receive a lot of ride-along value; simply being a gamer in the U.S., one benefits from the very existence of the the association via the advocacy we do as an example.

[Dogstew]

Thanks a bunch for your reply Hal.

I plan on signing up next month during my Christmas break here at school. That'll be the same time I talk to the guys at Fort Frag gaming center. They also run a pc store as well. I'm pretty sure, but not positive, that they would be willing to support the ECA.

You gave me plenty of info and more of an incentive to join. Honestly I've become so passionate about some of these issues that I, personally, would love to find some sort of job regarding this industry. Do you have any suggestions as to what sort of education to go for? Public relations, political science etc. If possible I would like to consider the potential of even getting a job with the ECA a few years down the road. Do you have any suggestions as to the best way to go about this route?

[Hal Halpin]

We appreciate the kind words and the support.

We envision lots of ways that members can get more involved with the ECA going forward, on a part/full-time basis or outside contractor. At present, we're still ramping up operations and membership, so our staff growth rate necessitates taking it slowly so that we're investing our resources appropriately.

That said, if you have the skill sets that we need, we'd much rather hire on a member who is passionate and "gets it" than an outsider. A recent example is Brett, who now heads-up our Digital Advocacy efforts.

In the interim, I'd highly recommend that you upload your resume (it's free) to GameJobs.com, which will be integrated into the back-end of our site in 2008. The site will email you when a match is posted.

There are a lot of ways in which you can get involved though and any entity that gets someone who is knowledgeable, articulate and eager to get engaged, would be happy to talk with you, I'm sure.

[Dogstew]

Thanks kindly for being very helpful and informative.