ELSPA unveils new policy plans

ELSPA has published its manifesto for 2007, revealing plans to focus on modernising the organisation, working more closely with members and representing the industry in the political arena.

"We need to make sure that we're ready to fight the political and public opinion battles that we face, and that we were perfectly prepared to deal with the new forms of theft that are coming forward," director general Paul Jackson told GamesIndustry.biz.

"And we need to engage more clearly and effectively with our members. The industry has grown rapidly, and we need to make sure we're meeting and talking with everybody - so it's not just the board and I who are deciding what ELSPA does."

Along with overhauling ELSPA's structure and expenditure, Jackson plans to put more resources into serving the organisation's membership - with the ultimate goal being to position the UK as "the world's cultural capital for games".

ELSPA plans to work closely with the Government in five key policy areas, including promoting education for new industry entrants, highlighting the economic importance of the UK games industry and taking a stronger stance on piracy.

The organisation also seeks to promote the public's understanding of the educational and social benefits of gaming, and to demonstrate the importance of games as a part of digital and creative culture.

ELSPA's anti-piracy unit will now put more of its resources into combatting online and digital theft, and will lobby for stronger laws - plus additional powers for Trading Standards, the police and Customs.

However, the unit itself is being downsized - the Evesham office is to close and the office manager will be made redundant, along with three of ELSPA's six physical investigators. In addition, software forensics will be outsourced to a third party.

"Our aim is to a lot more in-depth investigative anti-piracy work, as opposed to the anti-piracy work we've been doing in the past. And that needs a different type of anti-piracy unit, which is what we've been constructing," Jackson explained.

"Yes, the team is smaller, but it will be much more closely targeted on the big pirating organisations which we need to concentrate on and take down. So there will be as many resources put into anti-piracy as before, but it won't necessarily be in investigators."

According to Jackson, ELSPA's restructuring plans and shift in focus will ensure that the organisation offers more effective support for the games industry than ever before.

"We needed to realign ourselves so that we have the right resources to do the job in front of us," he said.

"I want to ensure that the industry is fully engaged in all those areas that a mature entertainment industry is engaged... And I want to make sure that ELSPA itself is very professionally organised and ready to help support the industry in all of those things. "

A full interview with Jackson about ELSPA's new policies will be published on GamesIndustry.biz soon.