Slow news day?

[mrph]

Cathedral row over video war game - currently the top story on the BBC news site

Manchester cathedral appears relatively briefly, as part of a larger sequence set in Manchester. As for the "virtual shoot-out in the cathedral's nave in which hundreds of enemies are killed", it fails to mention that they're mostly a swarm of dog-sized alien animals...

Sony may well have messed up by featuring the cathedral without permission, but the reporting is also putting a "gun crime" spin on this that doesn't really fit the game itself.

Comments

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

"Does Sony have any legal duty to ask permission to use a likeness of the interior of the cathedral? Or has it entered into some form of contract with the CoE?"

I wouldn't have thought so - otherwise painters, film-makers and many other people would have to get permissions for everything they feature in a film/painting/game.

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

Church being pathetic as usual. As the chap from Sony pointed out, it's just a computer graphic rendering.

[emarkienna.livejournal.com]

I would've thought that any copyrights that might hold on building designs are long since expired...

Whilst it might be reasonable to air the Church's views - it being their Cathedral, after all - I'm more annoyed by "Mothers Against Violence" jumping on the bandwagon to push their fictional-violence-causes-violence agenda, and that the BBC promotes their point of view. Sure, interview the Church and Sony who are relevant to the story, but what's it got to do with them? If the BBC want to look at the violence/censorship debate, why does it only interview this random group, with no opposing point of view given?

[the-lady-lily.livejournal.com]

Coming at it from entirely the other side - considering what a cathedral is supposed to stand for, I am completely on their side in that I agree the building has been used inappropriately in a shoot-em-up, regardless of what is being shot at. It's a holy building, for crying out loud, and the same respect should apply to a mosque or a synagogue.

I agree that the gun crime angle has been over-stressed, but the Church has every right to be pissed off about being featured in this way. And again, if it were shooting around the external features of the cathedral, that would be something else again - it's the fact that they've gone inside that really makes me feel very uncomfortable indeed.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Fair points. I'm surprised this is only being raised now, though - the game's been out for a while (it was one of the PS3 launch games in the UK, and also in the USA iirc...).

I think my take on its role in the game, having played this bit, is that the cathedral's used in much the same way that churches are frequently used in spaghetti westerns - the good guys gather there and make a (possibly doomed) stand against the oncoming hordes.

Fiction's been contrasting the clergy (and holy places) with unholy horrors for at least a century, after all. Hammer Film Productions pretty much made an industry out of it. This is just one more case.

As that section of the game is set in the deserted ruins of 1951 Manchester, they used a real cathedral instead of a fictional one, which makes it a more sensitive subject, but...

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

"Coming at it from entirely the other side - considering what a cathedral is supposed to stand for, I am completely on their side in that I agree the building has been used inappropriately in a shoot-em-up, regardless of what is being shot at. It's a holy building, for crying out loud, and the same respect should apply to a mosque or a synagogue."

Why should it be given respect because it's "holy", whatever that means (It was built for the worship of fictitious supernatural beings?) It's a computer graphic rendering of a church. Whatever next? Will the church try to censor any film/book/game they don't like because it features a church?

There are wholly different reasopns why other religious buildings won't be used in such a way.

The CoE has always been the butt of jokes in the UK, and part of the "dressing" of the state - from Dick Emery through to most British films and TV shows since the war. The funny vicar character (More tea!) is a running theme in UK culture. No one takes them seriously, it's just that they haven't yet realised it!

[the-lady-lily.livejournal.com]

*sigh* This is the bit where I point out I am a practising member of the C of E, and that my reaction comes from that. That is why I feel the building should be regarded as holy, and why I feel similar buildings of other faiths should be accorded the same respect as I wish places in my faith to be.

I'd also point out that this isn't a made-up cathedral, it is a representation of a RL cathedral, which appears to be affecting a lot of the response. I feel it is understandable for clergy wishing their place of worship to be viewed as a safe space to be a bit chary about it being used, even virtually, as a spot for a shoot-out.

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

Would you feel the same if they replaced the graphics with a "bog standard" generic church? (Given that they all look roughly the same inside, everyone can complain then!)

Maybe the clergy should remember that it's only a game. I doubt anyone who plays it will somehow regard Manchester Cathedral as being unsafe because of this. Not that most of them will actually care or ever set foot inside Manchester cathedral.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

May I just point out that in the forthcoming film of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, there have been significant alterations to make the Magisterium never once be mentioned as being part of the Church. I can only wonder how they square this with the part about Dust and original sin and all that. This censoring has in fact already been done - though I'm not sure a film-making team here would do it.

[emarkienna.livejournal.com]

I think it's possible to believe that (a) perhaps they shouldn't have done it and it's reasonable for the Church to be annoyed, but also (b) that the game publishers have a right to do it, i.e., they shouldn't legally be prevented from doing so.

I don't believe there should be any legal restriction on the game, but if the Church are pissed off, that's their right too.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

*nod* I think that view makes a lot of sense.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

***I'm sorry, the Digital Rights for this building have not been Managed according to regulations***

[Master disc of game proceeds to melt in game designer's CD burner]