/ 16 June 2007

Don’t get angry over murder in the cathedral

Another week, another public-relations cluster bomb for Sony. The company has been accused of "desecration" by the Church of England thanks to the appearance of Manchester Cathedral in the PlayStation 3 shooter <i>Resistance: Fall of Man</i>, and is facing possible legal action.

Another week, another public-relations cluster bomb for Sony. The company has been accused of “desecration” by the Church of England thanks to the appearance of Manchester Cathedral in the PlayStation 3 shooter Resistance: Fall of Man, and is facing possible legal action.

It’s unlikely that the church will succeed — according to lawyer Alex Chapman, a partner at Campbell Hooper, “section 62 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act states that it is not an infringement of copyright to represent a public building in an artistic context. There may be a problem if there is some implication that the church endorses Sony or something defamatory in the representation — such as the church sanctioning the violence or if there were pole dancers or gambling depicted.”

Having played the game, I can confirm that at no point do the alien invaders gyrate provocatively in the pulpit. Meanwhile, Sony Computer Entertainment’s head of PR, David Wilson, said: “The lines of communication are now open with the church”, but wouldn’t elaborate on an earlier statement that all necessary permissions were sought during the production of the game.

One thing’s for sure, the video-game industry has drifted back into the media spotlight — and for the wrong reasons.

I can understand the dean of Manchester cathedral’s reservations about the depiction of guns in a holy building. However, the Very Reverend Rogers Govender lost me when he expressed concerns about the “different sorts of reality” offered by video games — the youth of Manchester must indeed be in severe need of help if they are unable to tell the difference between real life and an alternative 1950s in which space monsters have conquered the planet.

Critics must surely know that Resistance is hardly alone in its juxtaposition of earthly violence with grand religious architecture. From Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame to Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation of Don’t Look Now and Richard Donner’s The Omen, writers and filmmakers have used these looming gothic edifices to great effect.

As video games begin to explore themes more akin to movies and literature, social commentators are going to have to re-evaluate their responses to the medium. These sorts of conflicts will become more common as developers seek to exploit the capabilities of next-gen hardware by anchoring games in real-world settings.

For years, the video-game industry has wanted to slip in beside Hollywood as a true cultural force. But there are prices to pay, financially, legally and morally. We are only just beginning to figure out what they are. — Guardian Unlimited Â