14 DAY TRIAL // The Church of England is, apparently, interested in the implementation of tighter regulation for the videogaming market. The organization believes that the fabric of society is threatened by the content adults and children can have access to in games like Modern Warfare 2, God of War III or Resistance.
Tom Benyon, who is a former member of Parliament, said that “A bubbling sewer of gratuitously violent games are washing all around us. Byron relied on the proposition that parents have a liability or are interested in controlling what their children do. We think, sadly, that that is optimistic and a prize hope,” adding that “I know that the Devil is said to have all the best tunes. Without any question of doubt he has the monopoly of violent and [adult content loaded] videogames.”
The Archbishop of York also directly addressed the topic of videogames and chose to pair it with the fight against apartheid. He stated that “On this great day of celebrating 20 years since Mandela came out of prison, can we help our young people to come out of the prison of these awful, awful videogames.” The church has a bitter experience with videogames as the Manchester Cathedral was featured without express permission in the Resistance: Fall of Man videogame. Sony, the publisher of the game, issued an apology but did not take the title off the shelves of stores, as the Church wanted.
The Church of England, as any other religious organization in the world, can certainly have a word in the discussions around videogaming and the themes it approaches but calling for tough restrictions is not the best idea. The Church could instead work directly with those youngsters whom it sees as being affected and offer counseling and guidance while also publicly talking about those videogames that feature too much unsavory content.