What do you think of this news?
Manhunt 2, a video game that puts players in control of a psychopath who sneaks up on people and bludgeons them to death, has been banned in Britain. This is the British Board of Film Classification’s first game ban in 10 years; the ban makes it illegal to sell the game within the country’s borders. The BBFC condemned the game, describing it as “distinguishable from recent high-end videogames by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone?which constantly encourages visceral killing.” -> Read more
This is one of those situations where freedom of expression clashes with social responsibility and good taste. I honestly don’t know what i would have done (having not seen the game itself) had i been on the deciding committee.
My fiance works in the video game industry, and one of the major factors in deciding on which job to take recently was whether he felt he could allow his daughter to see the game in action. He opted for the more family-friendly company.
In essence the game is hunting down and killing humans as opposed to fictional creatures like monsters. I have no interest in games because they all seem to be based on hunting and killing. Although there’s got to be a market out there for games that build rather than destroy, my friend’s sons tell me building wouldn’t be “fun” and “nuking” is.
But are they banning Grand Theft Auto from being sold and purchased also?
I’m not saying that GTA bears the same premise of hunting down and killing people in its gameplay like that of Manhunt 2, but anyone who has ever played the game knows how easy it is to kill people. Like for example, planting yourself on top of a building and gunning down pedestrians with a sniper rifle… or throwing down Molotov cocktails on people and cars… or bombs that you can detonate with a remote… or firing a rocket launcher on a passing ambulance… need I go on?
Thanks for the belated comment. It revealed to me that I had forgotten to close comments on this old post so, I’ll do that now.