Intelligent Gamers Wanted for Newspaper Interview

Even though the whole Manhunt murder fiasco is a farce, since it was the victim who had the copy of the game, the open letter by Roger Bennet ([url="http://www.elspa.com/index.asp"]director general of ELSPA[/url]) places some needed reality on Manhunt, and the whole video game violence issue...

quote:5th August 2004

Dear Mr Blunkett

COMPUTER & VIDEO GAMES

As the trade organisation representing the computer and video games industry, we have been very concerned recently about the misleading and disingenuous reporting about the effects of playing interactive games software. In particular, the tragic case of Stefan Pakeerah?s murder by Warren Le Blanc in Leicester, which was linked by some parts of the media and by Mr Keith Vaz MP, to a video game called ?Manhunt?, published quite legally by one of our members as a BBFC 18+ rated game. We will continue to uphold the legal right of this member and others to target their product at the burgeoning adult market for computer and video games in an honest and legal manner.

As you will know, despite many research projects into the effects of screen violence, some of which have been undertaken by eminent academics in their field, no link with violent behaviour has been found. Furthermore, I would like to reassure you that ELSPA members, that includes all the companies responsible for the distribution of computer and video games in UK, fully conform with both the letter and spirit of the law and the strict Codes of Practice our members must adopt on enrolment. ELSPA, on behalf of all its members and the members themselves, take its responsibilities extremely seriously in the context of these matters.

As a matter of fact, I feel sure you will already be aware that less that 1% of computer and video games published and distributed in UK attract an 18+ BBFC Rating and that in excess of 65% of all games are suitable for all ages.

It was unfortunate that Mr Vaz should speak out so irrationally against the companies concerned with the development and distribution of ?Manhunt? and indeed our industry in general. Had he taken time to check with the Leicestershire Constabulary, he would have been informed that they do not and have not ever linked this brutal crime with any video game.

The UK computer and video games industry has a large stake-holding in the global market worth $20 billion. Some of the most successful games in this valuable market are produced in UK, employing many thousands of people and it is very much in the vanguard of ?Creative Britain?. The economic and cultural value of the interactive entertainment software industry is well recognised by many Government Depts as a major contributor to the UK economy and increasingly a cultural factor, as illustrated by the international Games Festival in Edinburgh later this month. In addition, London will host the first European trade event, European Games Network (EGN), in September this year and London is also the location for an international conference, ?The Games Summit?, held annually in June. A major exhibition for consumers, entitled ?Game Stars Live? will take place concurrently with EGN at Excel, Docklands.

As a matter of interest, you may not be aware that our industry charity, Entertainment Software Charity (ESC), of which I am a Trustee, has funded specialist Schools status for eight schools across the country this year. In addition, we have also recently confirmed with the DfES that the games industry will fund the building of a new ?City Academy? in Paddington, London. I hope you will recognise this as another illustration of levels of responsibility we attach to the status of our industry.

I hope you will accept that we felt it necessary to put the record straight in respect to these tragic events and that are pleased to be in a position to be proud of our industry?s successful achievements and the standards of responsibility we have adopted.

Yours sincerely

Roger Bennett
Director General
Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association

Jamie Hancock

Hello all

Today I've been reading alot about violent games and games with explict content after my girlfriend and I found out that her **5 YEAR OLD** son has started playing Hitman (unsure which version) when he is with his father. This is on the back of him playing other games like Halo, Tour of Duty, Splinter Cell, etc. We realise that we cannot stop his father showing and letting him play these types of games despite our protestions, so we have been monitoring the situation, asking how he (the 5 yo) is feeling about the game, talking about situations that come up in those types of games and giving him what we hope is a "real world" perspective - trying to get him to notice the real world/virtual world difference....which I am glad to say he does seem to have started realising.

I am 34, I work in IT and I am a fairly avid gamer. I've played my fair share of games over the years : Doom, HalfLife, Quake, Halo...and I've loved playing them...but...I started playing when I was 13/14/15, when I had pretty much worked out "right" from "wrong". I challenge anyone anywhere that these games are not for any child under the age of 8-10 - there are concepts and images in those games that only serve to confuse and possibly scare the child. We noticed a definate change in my girlfriend's son's behaviour after we learned that he was playing these games - he could not go upstairs on his own, he started having nightmares involving "bad men", "blood" and "killing" (he seems to grown out of this now...or he has been de-sensitized...which is possibly worse).

With games like Hitman and Manhunt, I can understand the violence as a vechicle to moving the story along but does it HAVE to be so graphic? We have enough real-life war and human atrocities pumped to us thru the news. Everyone talks about "how realistic" this game is or that game is but have they ever killed a person? Would they actually know what it is actually like to kill someone? Everything I've ever seen about a person killing another human being is that in 99% of the cases, the person who done the killing is mentally wreaked. I believe this feeling is not something you can approximate or imagine, its something that has to be "experienced" (for want of a better term).

I have no answers to this issue. I think the Government should have a rating system inline with the rest of the media/arts. Laws should be made enforcing those ratings for the retail stores, but in addition, game companies, who MUST realise the type of game they are developing, should provide information on the type of content that is in their game so the PARENTS know exactly what they are buying for their child, or they know what situations their child is going to encounter while playing....and the PARENTS should read that information! In the end, people will always be able to get their hands on a game - it is really down to parents to be aware of what they are doing (having the computer in a public room in the house, play all games in the family room) and to have the communication with the kids so they can talk about what they are doing in the game.

hmmm....I seem to have wandered a bit...but I have vented :)

Moi

Actually the industry does have it's own VOLUNTARY ratings system which almost every publisher/developer endorses and supports. Of course, the Australian government doesn't support it whatsoever, it receives no coverage or advertising (except in American magazines) and it is considered to be a farce. It's called the ESRB (Electronic Software Ratings Board). More often than not their ratings are SPOT ON and, for your future referece, there should be two stickers on any box stating the games classification under the ESRB. One on the front of the box stating the rating of the game (general/teen/mature etc) and on the back of the box it will have a larger sticker/image stating the type of content in the game (aggressive play etc).

What pisses me off to the Nth degree is the OFLC sticking their crapped-up useless ratings on top of the ESRB ratings on the boxes so that the more useful, well-informed rating system is made totally redundant.

And - theoddie - parenting is a seriously complex and difficult issue, and I'm definitely NOT an expert. For one thing it sounds like you and your gf are doing exactly right thing by educating the child about the nature of games and now they are both similar and different from reality. However, why does the child want to play those particular types of games? Surely if he was getting nightmares about it he would stop playing...I would be surprised if it was solely the games' effect that was causing behavioural changes. Being 5 years old he is probably just settling into school - I remember all sorts of fun and scary times from that period in my life. Secondly his mother and father are (at least) separated (a KNOWN cause of behavioural and psychological change in a child, computer games are yet to be proven to have that effect).

Now I wouldn't rule out that games could be having an effect on the boy's behaviour...in fact I would probably nominate it as a (minor) factor in his change of behaviour. I'm personally quite bothered by the level of violence in games these days not because of what effect I think it can have, but because it is holding games back from being taken more seriously as an entertainment medium. I agree with you that the depiction of violence in games is crap because it has no realistic consequence.

If you ever are concerned about your child's desensitisation to violence or the way he is coping with everything I recommend a visit to www.cyh.com.au and organise a discussion with a professional child psychologist.

I have seen the ESRB rating on game packages but didnt know exactly what it was all about.

Step-parenting is an even more murky issue but we are both trying to keep my gf's son on the straight and narrow. I dont really know how enthusiastic he *really* is about playing them - we get the feeling that he's doing cos its something he nd his dad do together. Anyway, we'll keep an eye on him. Thanks for that website reference btw.

I love PC games, and I've played them ever since the "Pong Tennis" console and Atari console days. I've watched the whole thing develop over the last 25ish years and society definately has not been keeping up with it...like with most things computer-related

I seriously cannot express how terribly irresponsible it is to let a 5 year old play or even watch someone else playing a graphicly violent game such as Hitman.

I'm trying to keep my post rate down here, but you can check out www.esrb.org as well, it's a shame they aren't promoted further in australia.