There maybe some things that we could do with the help of certain politicians to perhaps cement the law even further and protect the industry a little more to naivety and negative attention.

The BBFC has done a fine job with the certification system but is a little antiquated in the eyes of gamers because it was originally created for film.  Gaming, as a new media, does not always fit in the confines of this system and as a result has been addressed with ELSPA taking over the system soon with the backing from the Byron Report.

One thing I have noticed is that the laws pertaining to the certification system does have holes in it.  As far as I am aware there is no law to stop a parent or persons over 18 from purchasing a game or film and this can prove costly when it comes to point of sale in the retail environment and protecting a system where a parent or adult can freely argue the right to purchase the game without anything to stop them.

I have worked in games retail and I have to say that from a retailers point of view they uphold the law solidly.  I have worked for a large corporate chain and we had to sign off on alcohol, cigarette laws and also certification laws.  DVD’s were played every 3 months for all staff outlining the laws and these were personally signed off by each member of staff to say they understood the laws and were aware of the penalties that were faced if they broke them.  There are also refusal books so that every time a game  or film is refused the details were logged for reference.

Although alcohol and cigarette laws have a by proxy law attached to them, certification laws do not.  This means that it is illegal for any adult to buy on behalf of any minor alcohol and ciggies and will be prosecuted for it.  This law seems to work pretty well and cements the refusal rights of any employee at the point of sale if they feel that a law is perhaps being broken.

This makes perfect sense to the certification laws and cannot understand why it is not included at present.  From all the debate that has gone on we know that most of the problems are down to the naivety of parents who will go and by a game on the say so of the child.  I mentioned in an article before that the Sun reported on a teenager that killed his gran.  The article in question was quick to mention he was playing GTA IV but failed to mention until the last paragraph that he was paranoid schizophrenic.  Having a by proxy law would certainly help these sorts of reports as it would be illegal to have him play it in the first place and put the blame more towards the parent who illegally bought it for him.

An example of he power the parent has at the moment would be when I was working for this large chain.  We all know that we have figures to maintain and profits to keep up.  I and many other staff also feel that we have morals to uphold too but are put on the back foot because the right the adult has.  She tried to buy a copy of GTA Liberty City Stories for the PS2 for her 10 year old son.  The box was clearly marked 18 and I explained that it is not recommended for a child of this age.  The woman did not appear to understand what this meant so I explained the law and also what content could be expected.  She said that sex and violence was all around and children were exposed to this sort of thing all the time.  I was pretty shocked at this so I said that she thought it was alright for her son to hear, fuck, shit etc, etc and she had a go at me for swearing!!!!  It was alright, it appears, for her son to hear this language in a game but not from me!!  On that basis I refused to sell her the game, even though she was legally entitled to buy it.  The crazy thing is that I was reported for my conduct even though I was protecting the child.

Anyway, a by proxy law attached to the current certification would be a welcome direction I feel to take.  This not only puts the law further in the minds of parents but it will also protect staff at point of sale to stop the sale of games and films without any repurcussion from their employers if someone was to complain.

As you are now aware a group called Gamer’s Voice is now going from strength to strength with over 14,000 members.  Started by Labour MP, Tom Watson, last week it has gathered pace at a massive rate and is now also backed by Minister for the creative industries, Sion Simon and also the Shadow minister for the arts, Ed Vaizey.  As a member of the group I hope that our voice is heard and that talks may be able to start to try and get a law like this passed.

One can only hope but with something like this and similar thoughts in place the future may well burn bright for the gaming industry after all.

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1. Facebook group gains support

Speaking after the Culture, Media and Sports Questions session, Watson, MP for West Bromwich East, told GamesIndustry.biz: “I’ve thought about [creating a group] for a while, but I was so incensed by yet another Daily Mail article that I just pinged it up there to gauge reaction. And frankly, 400 people in what, four hours, I’ve been slightly taken aback by it.” The group had over 750 members at the time of writing.

“There is a legitimate debate about how you handle difficult content. What we’ve really got to do is educate these young MPs to realise the scale of the industry and the cultural significance of the industry, because they’ve just had three years of Keith battering on about the industry, about the content.”

If you want to show your support then please join the group here and air your views.  MG can say that we are behind this 100%

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1. Modern Warfare 2 comes under media fire
2. Government take stand against foolish Vaz

Keith Vaz spoke out about the violent videogame Modern Warfare 2 falling into the hands of innocent children since it contains such violence that even the publisher has had to put in game warnings in.

The response to our now best friend was “The clearest recommendation of the Byron Review is that content suitable for adults should be labelled as such and sold as such, that it should be an offence to sell such content to children,”

“That’s the case under current law, it will be the case with the law when it changes under the Digital Economy Bill. This game the honourable gentleman refers to is a certificate 18 game, it should not be sold to children and the government’s job is to make sure that adults, clearly labelled, can get what adults should be able to, and that children are not in danger of being subjected to adult content. ”

Tom Watson, who is labour even went on to say that he had seen the scene himself and felt that it was no worse than what has been seen on film or read in books before of a similar rating.  Mr Watson even went so far as to tell Vaz to stop collaberating with the Daily Mail to create a moral panic over the use of videogames and to instead support the gaming industry in what it is achieving.

The entire knock down is here in the full transcript:-

Keith Vaz, Labour, Leicester East (in response to an answer from Sion Simon on the Byron Review – “What steps have been taken to implement the review on Safer Children in a digital world?”)

“Is the Minister aware that at midnight tonight a new and violent videogame called Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is to be released. It contains such scenes of brutality that even the manufacturers have put in warnings within the game telling people how they can skip particular scenes.

“Given the recommendations of the Byron Review, specifically paragraphs 32 and 33, what steps is the government proposing to take in order to ensure these violent games do not fall into the hands of children and young people. It’s not about censorship, it’s about protecting our children.”

Sion Simon, Culture, Media and Sport Minister

The clearest recommendation of the Byron Review is that content suitable for adults should be labelled as such and sold as such, that it should be an offense to sell such content to children. That’s the case under current law, it will be the case with the law when it changes under the Digital Economy Bill. This game the hon. gentleman refers to is a certificate 18 game, it should not be sold to children and the government’s job is to make sure that adults, clearly labelled, can get what adults should be able to, and that children are not in danger of being subjected to adult content.

Tom Watson, Labour, West Bromwich East

“I’ve seen the content in this videogame, it is unpleasant, though no worse than in many films and books, it is an 18-plus game and carries the BBFC 18-plus rating as well.

“Does the Minister agree that it would be better for this House to support the many thousands of games designers and coders and the many millions of games users, rather than collaborating with the Daily Mail to create moral panic over the use of videogames?”

Sion Simon, Culture, Media and Sport Minister

“I was in Dundee last week visiting the videogames industry. I can certainly agree with him that videogames is an industry, a very large, very important industry in which we have a national competitive advantage in this country, which it’s important that all members of this House, and the government, continue to support.

So, a new found respect is coming to the Government from our side now.  Just a witch hunt against Keith Vaz and any tabloid trashy newspaper that  wants to keep reporting on such stupidity.  Gaming industry about 10 – Vaz and his purile minions 0.

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1. Modern Warfare 2 comes under media fire

Today, we can safely write that these two facts appear to be the case yet again.  The game in question is, of course, Modern Warfare 2 and the scene is the now infamous airport scene where you play the game from the terrorists point of view and execute innocent men, women and children.  This scene has already blown up a storm in Australia as a protest lobby speaks out to get the game banned due to the scene being reminiscent of the Mumbai massacre.

I have played the game and the scene today and although can testify that it leaves you feeling a bit un-nerved I can also say that the scene fits well with the bleak storyline and that many worse things have appeared in film and also books.  Activision naturally responded and have also put into place a checkpoint system that twice asks players if they want to skip some scenes due to it being offensive.

These screens cannot be turned off and are asked for twice.  The game also comes with an 18 certificate due to its violent content so we have to ask ourselves why these people need to trouble themselves with a story that just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.  The media, sometimes can be its own worst enemy and a case in point would be an article I read in the Sun a couple of weeks back on the way up to a Codemasters preview.  The headline was that a teenager stabbed his grandmother to death in a violent streak that in the second paragraph read that he had been playing GTA IV!  Fair enough I thought but a videogame is not enough to warrant this kind of action on its own.  The last paragraph read that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia!!  You could imagine my disgust at such poor reporting where a videogame held a better headline of the reason for the violence rather than the real cause which was he was that he had mental health problems and this was only brought up at the end in one small sentence.

So with that article I and many others would doubt the credibility of any argument that a paper had to make.  The next was the comment from Keith Vaz himself, self proclaimed messiah to the nanny state type of Government that we all hate.  “I am absolutely shocked by the level of violence in this game and am particularly concerned about how realistic the game itself looks,” he said, vowing to raise his concerns in Parliament today.  Well that’s all well and good but as the game is rated 18 and rightly so, this means that Keith Vaz is now condemning the very rating system that is run and legislated by the Government.  If that is the case then it just goes to show how much Parliament and also Government get wrong in this country!

I would have thought that the Government have done a lot worse than put a scene into a game that has credence to it being there in the first place.  I would have also thought that Mr Vaz may want to take a step back from this sort of thing as he is part of the well oiled machine that has helped create worldwide attrocities in real life and not some piece of narrative from a videogame.  These guys do it for real and get away with it.  Perhaps the Daily Mail should write about that and a few more things of importance than to get stuck into a game that has tried to protect its customers in every way, shape and form.

I think we all agree that the gaming industry is quite young in terms of media convention but it cannot be forgotten and also needs to be understood a lot better.  Film has over 100 years to play to its audience and has firm form in place that guides a viewer.  It is embedded into us and the way we perceive things but that doesn’t stop film from being controversial too which never gets the publicity that games do now.  The scenes in Modern Warfare 2 can be harrowing but I felt worse and more perplexed with Black Hawk Down and the private bleeding out in front of his comrades. Is this written about? No! When will the general media wake up to the industry we have loved for more than 30 years now.

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