Senator presents bill to protect vintage arcade cabinets in Italy

Bill 2038 on the protection and promotion of vintage arcade cabinets was presented in Rome at the Sala Caduti di Nassiriya in Palazzo Madama, the seat of the Senate of the Republic, according to an account of the event. The presentation included remarks by Don Patrizio Coppola, founder of IUDAV, the Istituto Universitario di Animazione e Videogiochi, who is also known as Padre Joystick for his work in promoting video game culture.

In his remarks, Coppola said video games should be recognised for their educational, cultural and social value and that prejudices around them should be overcome. He said the institute offers an academic qualification recognised in Europe and that 90% of its students find work as programmers or in other professional roles in the video game industry, according to his account.

Coppola linked the bill's subject to the teaching of video game history, saying students at the institute begin with the introduction and history of the medium. He said preserving arcade cabinets means preserving the roots of an artistic and technological language, and that young people should know the history of video games.

He said he had argued before the Covid pandemic that video games could bring generations together, and that he initially met resistance, including in ecclesiastical settings. He said the pandemic changed perceptions by showing that digital tools and video game experiences could also connect people socially.

Coppola described an exercise with two groups of parents, 10 people familiar with video games and 10 with no familiarity with joysticks and consoles. In the less experienced group, parents were asked to have their children explain the game and to take part; he said that in seven cases out of 10, children accepted a later request to stop playing and do homework. In the group already used to playing, he said that in eight cases out of 10 children waited for their parents the next day to share another session. He presented the exercise as an example rather than a large-scale scientific study.

He also raised language and cultural learning through games, citing a nephew who improved his English by playing and his own contact with some Japanese expressions through video game products. He said video games shorten distances and bring different cultures together.

Coppola proposed that parishes be more open to video games and arcade cabinets, saying a historic cabinet in a parish space could bring young people together. He also referred to a project to turn some catechism content into video game experiences and said that, after initial resistance, he had been offered the possibility of presenting the first episode at a press conference.

The account places the bill's aims in conservation and in simplifying regulation, alongside the educational and social perspective Coppola set out. It gives no details of the bill's provisions, its parliamentary stage, or any response from senators or other parties.