President Donald Trump sat in front of his laptop in a white bathrobe. He didn’t like computers much, and preferred to do almost everything the old way – write letters, sign in ink, make phone calls and close deals verbally. To him, computers were an unnecessary burden, a complex world that introduced many risks: cyber attacks, rogue Twitter accounts, so much of it messy and frankly dangerous.

But this time was different. Time had flown by and he’d already missed his morning intelligence briefing. He didn’t glance at his mobile phone or watch the news as he did every morning. This experience was captivating, nothing like he had seen before.

It was day 5 in the game and President Trump was playing as an immigration officer. The new and draconic regulations were piling up and with them some real dilemmas. His hands were sweaty. He saw seven entrants at the border that day and it caused him some stress. He was happy that he successfully detained a few bad “hombres,” but mostly, the decisions were not easy.

“How amazing it would be,” the president thought, “if we could create something like this for real immigration officers.” He decided he’d talk it over with Stephen Miller, his political advisor and resident tech wizard. He sighed and saved the game and quit out of Papers, Please. “It’s going to be a long day,” he thought.

Obviously, the above scene never happened. Fake news, admittedly. President Trump has, most likely, never played Papers, Please – or any modern-day video game for that matter. (This is no Frank Underwood who moved from first-person shooters to indie games and appointed a video game critic as his speechwriter.) Trump has probably also never tried a VR experience like Clouds over Sidra, which transports you into a refugee camp on the hills of Jordan, all in live action. It’s safe to assume that Games and VR are not of much interest to Trump, and that they are not a prominent part of his agenda.

Regardless of one’s politics, it’s not hard to imagine how a supportive view of technology, and especially of the power of video games as a medium could greatly benefit the US, and, indeed, the world. But fully harnessing the power of video-game technology requires we have a “Gamer in Chief” who can get behind the idea of using games to help achieve everything from facilitating the transition of kids’ education to become more engaging, playful, and interactive humans to supporting the future of professional development in order to create more, and better, jobs; to demonstrating what life as a refugee is really like.

Though it might sound odd, the role of Gamer in Chief is in no way an unrealistic one. President Obama, a bona fide geek, became one of the strongest supporters of digital media and the power of video games. As Brian Crecente summarized recently, the administration employed three consecutive advisors on video games policy during Obama’s tenure. These advisors brought interactive technology to the forefront of national policy. There was a game jam at the White House, bringing together leading game companies and educators, and even an esports exhibition tournament in partnership with Twitch and NRG, used to enroll young adults in health insurance.

Obama played games, experienced VR, and was a true believer in coding as a fundamental skill for students. As part of one of the projects I was involved with while at Games for Change, I had the pleasure of meeting his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, who shared with me that, even as a close family member, it was difficult to get a small slice of the president’s time. But Maya found an innovative solution when she discovered her brother, the president, was responsive, relaxed and happy to chat when playing Words with Friends. As games have become for millions of families (and could be for millions more) that became their new quality time together.

In Obama’s case it was the passion for innovation, and an understanding of the positive role technology can play in society, that fueled his embrace of games.

President Trump represents an older generation that wants to take America back to a simpler time in which things were clearer all around. “Computers have complicated our lives very greatly,” he said recently at a press conference, when asked about Russians hacking the election. In one of the election debates, he mentioned his 10-year-old son, who is “so good with these computers, it’s unbelievable”. But then he immediately added he was highly concerned about their security — or lack thereof. More than opportunities, it seems Trump is focused on the risks that technology represents.

Trump is a broadcast president. His closest aides attest to the fact that he is addicted to cable TV. And while he took Twitter to new heights of influence, the effects of his tweeting are often divisive, rather than inclusive, as the “Twitter President” masterfully uses the platform to speak directly to his strongest supporters, bypassing gatekeepers and news media. Seemingly, he likes it because it is short, decisive, and one-sided.

Time will tell whether this new administration will appreciate the positivity and change-generating power of of video games the way we appreciate them, including the ways they allow us to navigate complex systems, experience multiple perspectives introduce us to tough and meaningful choices, and even moral dilemmas.

The games we play in 2017 are very different than our old arcade games. Good and evil are not as clear cut anymore, and protagonists change in front of our eyes. Other games allow us to explore, build civilizations or destroy them. Game designers are often surprised by how people play their games, what they take away from them, and by the community dynamics they create around them. And a new generation of game makers is pushing these boundaries even further. The more diverse the industry talent is, the richer their creations are.

On the public front, Games for Change and others worked tirelessly to get games into art funding, playing on an equal level as films, dance or theatre. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) proudly introduced funding guidelines for video games, and a new avenue for creators to get support. We even began dreaming of the NPR or the PBS of games one day — an entity funded by the public, creating media for the public. Unfortunately, if you believe the reports coming from Washington DC., many of these agencies are now on the chopping block of the new administration and the GOP-controlled Congress. NEA and NEH could be compressed or eliminated. NPR and PBS privatized. This means back to square one: no funding for unconventional games, less alternatives for game creators who would like to express their independent voice. Being unsupportive is one thing, diminishing hard-fought progress is another.

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Many of you will shrug or roll your eyes. How could we fight for video games when so much else is at stake? But this isn’t the main fight — just one of the fights we have to consider. If we think that video games matter, and we give them such a dominant place in our lives, we should also care about their place in politics, governance and society at large. Those of you who share this view, please join me in a simple call to President Trump and the new administration: Press start, not reboot.

Asi Burak is CEO of Power Play, chairman of Games for Change, and co-author of Power Play: How Video Games Can Save the World (together with journalist Laura Parker).