Here We Go Again...
19 Jun 2007 22:46![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
patentdragonSo, "Manhunt 2" has become the first video game in ten years to get banned by the British Board of Film Censorship Classification.
Oh joy. Civilisation is saved.
I.
Don't.
FUCKING.
Think.
The last game to be "banned" was Carmageddon. I played it. A lot. A demo was preinstalled on my first ever PC. Not for one second have I ever felt inclined to drive a car through a crowd of people. I've actually felt more nervous of attempting to learn to drive after playing it, for fear of doing anyone else any harm. As far as "realism" is concerned, that game couldn't have been further from it - you try driving a car into a wall at 300 mph, and see how far you get after that. Sorry, there's no "BACKSPACE for instant repairs" in real life...
And let's not forget that it was Stefan Pakeerah who had the copy of "Manhunt", not his killer Warren Le Blanc. Hello: 18 Certificate game - so why did 14 year old Pakeerah have the game? Is that why Pakeerah's mother is so vocal against violent games - to salve her conscience, to distract us from the truth...?
This just in... And here's another one - a game that "features" i.e. contains somewhere a CCTV image of the abduction of toddler James Bulger is to be removed from sale after protests from the boy's family.
The game went on sale in 2003. Bit freaking late, by the look of it...
Watch it sell out on Amazon, and appear at ten times the price on eBay. Total good achieved = zero.
Meanwhile... Our prisons are full to bursting. Not exactly helping to solve that genuine, real-life problem, are we? But of course, owning an illegal video game is a far more serious offence than burglary, drug dealing or fraud...
...isn't it...?
Oh joy. Civilisation is saved.
I.
Don't.
FUCKING.
Think.
The last game to be "banned" was Carmageddon. I played it. A lot. A demo was preinstalled on my first ever PC. Not for one second have I ever felt inclined to drive a car through a crowd of people. I've actually felt more nervous of attempting to learn to drive after playing it, for fear of doing anyone else any harm. As far as "realism" is concerned, that game couldn't have been further from it - you try driving a car into a wall at 300 mph, and see how far you get after that. Sorry, there's no "BACKSPACE for instant repairs" in real life...
And let's not forget that it was Stefan Pakeerah who had the copy of "Manhunt", not his killer Warren Le Blanc. Hello: 18 Certificate game - so why did 14 year old Pakeerah have the game? Is that why Pakeerah's mother is so vocal against violent games - to salve her conscience, to distract us from the truth...?
This just in... And here's another one - a game that "features" i.e. contains somewhere a CCTV image of the abduction of toddler James Bulger is to be removed from sale after protests from the boy's family.
The game went on sale in 2003. Bit freaking late, by the look of it...
Watch it sell out on Amazon, and appear at ten times the price on eBay. Total good achieved = zero.
Meanwhile... Our prisons are full to bursting. Not exactly helping to solve that genuine, real-life problem, are we? But of course, owning an illegal video game is a far more serious offence than burglary, drug dealing or fraud...
...isn't it...?
