Doug Lowenstein, who was the voice of the video game industry for more than a dozen years, was given a lifetime achievement award at the game industry’s DICE Summit last night.
Lowenstein helped co-found the game industry’s trade group, the Interactive Digital Software Association, in 1994. At the time, the game industry was under attack from U.S. Senators such as Joe Lieberman, who wanted the government to censor the sale of violent video games to children. That struggle became Lowenstein’s cause celebre as the former journalist took up the mission of defending the video game industry’s First Amendment rights.
In 2003, the trade group renamed itself the Entertainment Software Association. During that time, Lowenstein became more than a mere lobbyist and became the front-and-center spokesman of the industry as it battled anti-violence foes such as Jack Thompson. The ESA continues to win every First Amendment case, but the legal challenges continue to this day. Lowenstein retired at the end of 2006. His award for lifetime achievement, presented by Insomniac Games’ Ted Price, came from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, the group of industry creative professionals which puts on the Dice Summit.
In his acceptance speech last night, Lowenstein challenged the game industry to keep producing great art as a way to combat misconceptions about how games are bad for everyone or a waste of time. He said that the goal of the industry group early on was to “get Joe Lieberman off our backs.” And he noted that his wife, pictured, always told him at the end of every hard day, “F*** them if they can’t take a joke.”
At the award event at the Dice Summit on Thursday evening, Lowenstein said the industry’s fight wasn’t over and that game publishers should continue to raise their own awareness about their political challenges. Here’s our brief video interview with Lowenstein, 58.
Doug Lowenstein gets lifetime achievement award from Dean Takahashi on Vimeo.