Gamer Becomes Mayor of French Town

March 13, 2008 -

GamePolitics readers may recall our coverage of David Hecq, the gamer and game shop owner who was running for mayor in the French town of Anzin Saint-Aubin.

Well, he won!

Longtime GP reader Soldat Louis, who often provides us with game-related news from Europe, has posted a message in the GP/ECA Forums about Hecq's victory:

Last sunday march 9th, there were municipal elections in France. And Hecq's team "Pour Anzin-Saint-Aubin : une nouvelle équipe pour de nouvelles ambitions" (litterally, "For Anzin-Saint-Aubin : a new team for new ambitions") received 57.18% of votes, against 42.82% for the former mayor's team. Details are shown on Hecq's campaign blog (in French)

...David Hecq is also credited for the creation of games retail store Objectif Games, which became Ultima Games, a chain of stores located in many French towns.

Posted in

Comments

Submitted by Unrated (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 07:39.

In the big picture, everything matters, thats why its so BIG.

Submitted by KayleL (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 10:13.

congrats David Hecq. Good luck.

Submitted by JB (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 05:58.

Congrats!

Submitted by Vany (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 06:19.

Ah, if only Troy had a gaming mayor...

Submitted by Bob (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 06:23.

Its beginning. Out go the old generation who condemn games as kids stuff, and in come the new Generation 30/40yo gamers taking position. Soon we shall rule the world *insert evil laugh*

Submitted by JC (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 06:29.

Feliticiations! I forget my French....

Hopefully this guy doesn't let the power go to his head and do what a mayor is suppose to do.

Submitted by GregoriusH (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 06:31.

@JC

Creation of an 'Pwning Noobs' class at the local youth centers?

Submitted by JC (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 06:35.

@GregoriusH

I personally hope not. Or something silly like spending tax funds to make his own gaming rig...

Could be worse though. I say its better to look at this as a hope of a new start to phase out gamer ridicule. It's best that he focuses on the issues facing the city and manage the budget well. Basics first, then improve.

Submitted by DeusPayne (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 07:12.

If only france mattered in the big picture. :p

Submitted by Vany (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 07:20.

Well in the big picture, nothing really matters at all...

Submitted by LoopyChew (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 07:24.

Félicitations! Hop Hecq!

Submitted by Soldatlouis (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 09:05.

Thanks for the credit :)

To be fair, it's a very small town : 2500 inhabitants only. And as I've previously said, he is also a former municipal employee, involved in local politics, and in touch with internet and blogging, (contrary to his rival). So it helped a litte bit.

This being said, although he's fan on violent games such as "Silent Hill" and "Resident Evil" series, he has unorthodox opinions about game ratings and accessibility of violent games to kids (I mean, "unorthodox" to gamers and game industry).

Submitted by Ian Cooper (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 09:20.

If it wasn't for France, the US would probably still be a colony of the British Empire, so you Yanks shouldn't be too hard on the French. Oh, and don't be too hard on the British either - if it wasn't for their intervention in the French and Indian War, people in the US would be speaking French today. So those who like an independent and English speaking America should remember which countries stepped in to help.

Submitted by Bob (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 09:34.

And america gave us Halle Berry, so we're all about even.

Ramen to that !
As a brit though its a fist shaking, cursing moment that the first story I read about a gamer politician is bloomin French. Sigh.

Submitted by Kris O. (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 09:37.

I'm excrutiatingly pleased to see a modern-day adult in a public office. I'll be keeping my eye on him, to see how this position plays out. I'm hoping for the best, of course, but reality isn't so warm and fluffy.

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 10:22.

A congradulations is in order. And good luck in the term, would like to see him win another mayoral election once his terms up.

Submitted by Shih Tzu (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 11:31.

Cool!

Submitted by Saladin (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 11:42.

Congrats brutha!

Submitted by King of Fiji (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 11:42.

Huray now lets get a African American female gamer into the white house!

Submitted by Guiguibob80 (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 13:34.

In the big picture, everything matters in average as much as anything else... that's called symetry...

Submitted by Nic Schweitzer (not verified) on Thu, 03/13/2008 - 21:39.

All that matters is that we know through games what to avoid in life, & so by learning what is good & what it Spitzer one can make a great run in office. Good luck, don't pull a Spitzer... please? The industry has enough crap as it is!

Submitted by Andy_UK (not verified) on Fri, 03/14/2008 - 03:39.

Well done Sir!

Submitted by Altair (not verified) on Sat, 03/15/2008 - 23:14.

W00T! Oh yeah, and as a PSA, lets not use this article as an excuse to slam other countries! I can understand being dissapointed as the first gamer mayor not being English *looks at Bob*, because were just as dissapointed that he wasnt American. This is a huge victory for the gaming industry WORLD WIDE! Our voice is finally being heard more clearly! Allow me to be cheezy and say

GAMERS OF THE WORLD UNITE! =3

Shout box

Wonderkarp: dont fool yourself, Technogeek. Remember Mass Effect 3? How about the ferver against Phil Fish?10/19/2014 - 10:18am

MechaTama31: None of which is the fault or responsibility of the people who are not trolling, harassing, threatening, doxxing, etc. So why is their opinion hostage to the people who are?10/19/2014 - 10:06am

Technogeek: If the developer were male there wouldn't have been a "conversation" in the first place.10/19/2014 - 2:27am

Monte: trolls are just at their absolute worst when it comes to women and feminist. You could bet good money that if the developer were male the trolls would be silent and the conversation would actually focus on the journalism.10/18/2014 - 9:18pm

Monte: Papa: Not the first time we've had a journalism scandals before, but the harassment never got close to this level; the difference with this scandal is that feminists are involved. Without the feminist angle, their would be A LOT less harrassment10/18/2014 - 9:15pm

Papa Midnight: Monte: That's honestly rather short-sighted. As has been proven with other persons who have been targeted, if it wasn't Quinn, it would be someone else.10/18/2014 - 6:26pm

Avalongod: I think that's part of what gives an esoteric news story like this real life...it taps into a larger narrative about misogyny in society outside of games.10/18/2014 - 3:29pm

Avalongod: @Monte, well the trolls made death threats that came to police (and media attention). I think this is tapping into a larger issue outside of games about how women are treated in society (like all the "real rape" stuff during the last election)10/18/2014 - 3:28pm

Wonderkarp: Zippy : Havent tried the PS4 controller. might later.10/18/2014 - 2:37pm

Monte: Seirously, If Quinn was not involved and GG was instead about something like the Mordor Marketing contracts, the trolling would have never grown so vile and disgusting. There have been plenty of movements in the past that never sufferred from behavior..10/18/2014 - 1:57pm

Monte: We have seen scandel's before but the trolling has never been as vile as what we see with GG. Trolls usually have such a tiny voice you can barely notice them, but its like moths to a flame whenever femistist are involved.10/18/2014 - 1:53pm

ZippyDSMlee: Wonderkarp: You might be able to if you had a PS4 controller.10/18/2014 - 1:00pm

MaskedPixelante: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327940/ Night Dive starts charging for freeware.10/18/2014 - 12:21pm

Matthew Wilson: the sad thing is there are trolls on both sides of this. people need to stop acting like their side is so pure.10/18/2014 - 12:19pm

MechaTama31: So, only speak out on a scandal that hasn't attracted trolls? I wouldn't hold my breath...10/18/2014 - 10:49am

Monte: I feel like GG just needs to die. The movement is FAR to tainted by hatred and BS for it to be useful for any conversation. Let GG die, and then rally behind the NEXT gaming journalism scandal, and start the conversation fresh.10/18/2014 - 10:33am

quiknkold: and we dont have a Dovakin to call a cease fire10/17/2014 - 7:37pm

quiknkold: The whole thing is Futile. Both sides are so buried deep in their trenchs that there isnt a conversation. Its just Finger Pointing, Name Calling, Doxxing, Threats. there needs to be a serious conversation, and GG isnt it.10/17/2014 - 7:37pm

quiknkold: I thought it was a good article. Jeff is right. I feel like GamerGate did destroy its message. I am for Ethics in game journalism, but man. so much hate. and its on both sides. I've seen some awful stuff spewed on twitter. Its a big reason why I exited..10/17/2014 - 7:34pm

Matthew Wilson: while he focused on gg, he did call out both sides crap.10/17/2014 - 7:18pm

All shouts

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