[MUD-Dev] Movies bigger than games? (was Re: Digital Property Law)

[Eli Stevens]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard A. Bartle" <richard at mud.co.uk>
To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2001 3:50 AM
Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Movies bigger than games? (was Re: Digital Property
Law)


> [I apologise in advance to non-Brits about what follows, as it's not
> going to make a lot of sense to you!]

Heh heh.  You are right.  :)

> At a conference at the department of trade and industry last week,
> the minister for e-commerce delivered a keynote speech to the
> assembled software developers where it was mooted that because of
> the similarities between the computer games development industry and
> the film industry, we ought to get the same tax breaks that the film
> industry gets. Yay! At the end she asked for questions, and after 3
> or 4 there was "time for one more".

> I was the only person to put up my hand.

> "This may seem facetious", I began, "but it does have a serious
> underlying point. If the games development industry is more
> important to Britain than the film and other creative industries,
> how long do we have to wait until someone in this room gets an
> OBE?".

What's an OBE?  My first guess is that it has something to do with
being knighted (I know some singers have been knighted, and actors
like Sean Connery), but that's just a guess.  In any case, the story
did make sense with that assumption (however wrong it may be :).

> There was much laughter, but the minister at least appreciated why
> I'd asked, and invited me to email her afterwards. I just got her
> reply this morning. I don't suppose it'll make a lot of difference,
> but you never know. Maybe something for Jez San or Peter Molyneaux
> would show the government's heart to be in the right place.

> I also asked why Tim Berners-Lee hadn't been knighted, to which she
> didn't know the answer. If he gets a gong come June, you heard it
> here first!

Thanks,
Eli

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