So I should apologise for not writing more, but I have an excuse, and it’s a good one. You see I bought an Xbox360 and I been playing on it rather too much. Gamers will already be nodding their heads and gamer widows (those who have lost their loves to the neon embrace of a computer game) will be rolling their eyes. But its not what you think, at least not entirely what you think.

The gaming industry is about to turn a corner, to grow up a little. So my vegetation (i.e. my sitting and playing games) is in fact research. So it could have gone better if I’d planned it. Which I didn’t because I’ve been pretending to be a spy for a long time now.

Manhunt 2, you may remember, was banned by the BBFC (British board of film certification) the entertainment regulatory body responsible for film, DVD and digital media (games). They felt that the game had no merit whatsoever and in fact displayed only “casual sadism”. I can’t say I disagree with them, Rockstar are famous for games that wallow in haemoglobin soaked savagery in the same way that David Attenborough is for critter voyeurism. The Manhunt games are the worst/best (depending on your point of view) of these with players being set up in a kill or be killed scenario without having to tax themselves with tough concepts like plot dialogue or a point.

I would not recommend them to my friends, but then that doesn’t have a nationwide effect (yet). Nor am I a government body (ditto). When I say something shouldn’t be played because of my personal value judgment I am not censoring intellectual property.

This is exactly what the BBFC did, which is a complete contravention of free speech in our society. If the game had supported racist sentiments or Paedophilic transgressions then the BBFC would be justified in banning the game, otherwise it oversteps itself. Worse the ban has added a certain amount of prestige to the publishers and generated free publicity for the game itself. If the BBFC didn’t want anyone to play the game it would appear that they have gone about it in the worst possible fashion.
 
That being said the BBFC is not really the heart of the problem with the games industry in this country, merely at the centre of this debacle. It has now forced a serious evaluation of the licensing of games in general. For that I suppose I am applauding its intent if not its means.

You see it not illegal to sell games age restricted games to an underage individual, merely frowned upon. This needs to change. More games must be reviewed, as only a small percentage of them are, only those that have scenes of realistic violence or sexual scenes. Finally there needs to be greater education of the consumer, so that the age ratings are as respected as they need to be. I don’t for a second buy into the hysteria that surrounds games (as it has every new form of entertainment) or believe that playing them leads one inexorably down a slope to deviancy and murder, but having watched my flatmate slip into the delusion that she is a middle ages assassin (if she tries to backstab me once more, I swear…), it is impossible to say that they have no effect whatsoever.  
Games are a big industry, larger in many ways than film, one that is growing. They are increasingly pervasive. It is time that they start to be regulated in a mature fashion that is also free from the danger of hysterical censorship. And this is exactly what is occurring. In the wake of the Manhunt fiasco, we now see the industry itself as well as the government working towards the goal of regulating games properly. This can only be a good thing because it means that the industry is growing up and being accepted.

I believe that this will have two major effects. The first being that games will receive the appropriate attention from more mainline sources. In the same way that literature, film and art are esteemed, so too will the best games. This will affect a rise in the number and, though not industry wide, the quality of the work being put out.
 
The second thing, and by far the most important to me, is that no one will be able to tell me that it sad for a 23 year old to be playing games. It may even become acceptable, heady days indeed. So if you don’t mind I’m going to go and save the human race from total destruction, again.