14 DAY TRIAL // Debate in the United Kingdom's Parliament has again touched the issue of the games industry. Detractors of the industry lost no opportunity to launch obviously false accusations of videogames. The newest of them is that they are "rape simulators".
The debate occurred because of a law referring to the accountability of the British Board of Film Classification, the entity that establishes whether a game can or cannot be sold in the UK and that also determines its rating. After recent scandals focusing on games like Manhunt, Julian Brazer, Conservative MP for Canterbury, and Labour MP Keith Vaz sponsored a bill that would make the BBFC responsible to Parliament and the public. While the exact effects of such a law are not yet clear, the parliamentary debate saw some interesting comments from the sponsors of the bill.
Labour MP Keith Vaz said, referring to an earlier statement by Julian Brazer, that "when people play these things, they can interact. They can shoot people; they can kill people. As the honorable Gentleman said, they can rape women". The MP also tried to connect videogames to a murder case, even though police declared that a Manhunt videogame present at the scene of the crime had no clear connection to the incident.
Conservative MP Edward Vaizey, likely better informed that the previous speakers, asked Brazer if he knew of "any videogame that has as its intention the carrying out of rape", because the BBFC and he were "unaware of any such game". The answer was a poorly designed attempt at misdirection that only proved that, when it comes to videogames, MP's are not very knowledgeable.
Debates such as the one presented above serve as a reminder that most of the information that's available about games, their connection to violence and sexuality, is arguably wrong but, nonetheless, it can be the basis of bills of law that can influence the distribution or the marketing of videogames.