---
title: "Members of Congress Are Gonna Play “Rocket League” on Twitch"
description: "It sounds like a joke, but members of Congress and their staff are getting together Wednesday to play the video game \"Rocket League.\""
date: "2019-07-08"
modified: "2019-07-08"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/members-congress-play-rocket-league-twitch"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "congress"
  - "gaming"
  - "government"
  - "the digest"
---

# Members of Congress Are Gonna Play “Rocket League” on Twitch

![It sounds like a joke, but members of Congress and their staff are getting together Wednesday to play the video game "Rocket League."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/members-of-congress-are-gonna-play-rocket-league-on-twitch.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Psyonix/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Gamer Representatives

It sounds like a joke, but members of Congress and their staff are getting together Wednesday to play the video game "Rocket League" — and, as the icing on the cake, they'll be [streaming the event live on Twitch](<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.twitch.tv_govgames&d=DwMFAg&c=L93KkjKsAC98uTvC4KvQDdTDRzAeWDDRmG6S3YXllH0&r=YUsGsYqTmMw7PXtEQbBpHCsiBa0MJmgskgJmz7TUWZg&m=sPp0BGKalkepRnZsEwHEiOTE0n6ajVH0-Y8IGnXXFFE&s=QBYh1xQNGx-VC47Utp6GicqUKzDY9IJEvbZGcwgem4s&e=>).

"Members of Congress and their staff will play the video game 'Rocket League,' which will be streamed on the online platform Twitch, and answer questions as they compete in the tournament," reads a press release sent out by the communications director of Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL.)

## Future Forum

The Future Forum, a group of 50 members of the House of Representatives who focus on technology and other issues affecting young people, will host the event. If you're not one of those young people, we should probably mention that "Rocket League" is a soccer-like game in which players control small, rocket-propelled cars.

Here's our over-under: it's good that elected officials are working to familiarize themselves with gaming culture — but they probably won't really get the culture, or its *unique* challenges, until they start diving deep into the chat on a PewDiePie stream.

**More on gaming:** *[Machine Learning Is Giving Retro Games Cutting-Edge Graphics](<https://futurism.com/machine-learning-making-retro-games-new>)*

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)