Mon
11
Jun 07
Church complains about cathedral’s depiction in Sony game
Seems like the Church of England doesn’t take fictitious depictions of its “property” lightly. With Resistance: Fall of Man Sony has released one of the better launch titles of the PS3. Now the Bishop of Manchester complained that Sony’s decision to recreate one of the great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality just to encourage people to have gun battles in this building is “beyond belief and highly irresponsible”. Head over to Ars Technica to see what this is all about.
Sony claimed in a prepared statement that they believed they had sought all the necessary permissions for the inclusion of the cathedral in the game and also noted that the title is “a fantasy science fiction game and is not based on reality.” This response isn’t sitting well with the Church of England’s employees in Manchester, who believe they are facing a very real gun problem and feel that the use of their holy space for such a violent scene in the gaming undercuts their work with the community.
The last time I wrote about the Church meddling with fictitious content a Vatican official called for a boycott of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. What I don’t get is that they really go ahead with something like this. What’s the problem? Neither book nor game claimed to depict the truth. I always believed in freedom of expression but it seems like that doesn’t work anymore. Whatever you say or write you should be prepared to get sued. That’s ridiculous. Hard working people who believe in honesty should support Evil Spock’s attempt of world domination. He may be able to set some things right.
Yes – i go with freedom of expression but all freedom carries responsibility. When you work in a gun culture and see the real results I don’t think you can separate fact and fiction. yes I know its aliens not people but it is still saying lets shoot and kill. Maybe the church is fuddy duddy old fashioned but it is also trying to make a stand and say – lets have one space where we keep violence out. And yes I know the ‘church’ has been responsible for lots of violence – thats life – it doesn’t nake it right.
Anyway its all part of lifes rich tapestry / debate.
regards, Pete.
ps – not convinced about calls to ban the da vinci code – but I like Harry Potter!
You do realize when Evil Spock takes over, all forms of literature, cinema, and music will be required to reference something about Evil Spock in order for it to be released to the masses.
Evil Spock wants to have a cult of personality.
Peter: The church is also trying to persuade people to not use condoms. While it surely is a noble goal to ban violence from one place, it’s not happening. Movies and TV shows depict more violence at holy places than video games do. It takes quite an effort to make a stand at all, considering the controversial discussions the church has “fought” over the past decades.
spock: So it’s you or nothing, then? I bet, there are lots of people who’d rather take up with you instead of looking at nothing :p