Manhunt 2 : culture stops here

A despairing sigh emitted when I saw this BBC subheader: “British censors have won the right to fight the UK release of video game Manhunt 2 in the High Court.” It is a slippery slope from here to a landslide of more ‘parental’ controls as the limits in gaming technology rapidly recede. While I find this game and their ilk of little value, I am far more repulsed by the idea of nanny governments chipping away personal freedom. While the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an “independent, non-government” body, if this case goes in their favour, it will set a legal precedent enforced by the government that will likely spark a backlash from the industry and the consumer. No one was hurt in the making of this game and if there is indeed a link to violent behaviour then it is the job of parents and guardians (and if the former fail, educators) to protect minors from harmful habits. The government has no place in determining what art the public may imbibe. Games like these are going to get more extreme and cheaper to produce and are hence going to proliferate like Kalashnikovs in a Somalian bazaar and there won’t be much that can be done to stop them short of extremely oppressive culture controls that would make North Korea look like Sweden. Net neutrality efforts will likely be in vain if the ban stays and Manhunt 2 is permanently pulled from the shelves.