Church of England forgives Sony for Resistance

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 24th 2007 at 12:45PM }

Resistance: Fall of Man drew some unusual attention when the Church of England criticized it for featuring the cathedral as one of the game's spotlight levels. The game was criticized for representing what the Church called "a virtual shoot-out in the cathedral's nave in which hundreds of soldiers are killed." The Dean of Manchester Cathedral, the Very Rev Rogers Govender said they were disgusted "at the virtual desecration of Manchester Cathedral."

In light of Resistance's failure to pick up a coveted BAFTA award, the Church has since come to forgive Sony for the game. "I think some important lessons have been learned. So we do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong. In an industry that is breaking new frontiers, it is important that long held traditions of film and television are maintained. These traditions include having courtesy, respecting the dignity of your subject, and admitting when mistakes have been made."

The Church also acknowledges that since the game's release (and controversy afterwards), the church has had more young people and tourists visit. Coincidence?

Tags: church-of-england, resistance

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Damian @ Oct 24th 2007 12:57PM

The whole aim of that part of the game, surely, was to get all the bad guys out of the place - yes?

Emrah @ Oct 24th 2007 1:22PM

Next month's news: Church of England lets youngsters play Resistance Fall of Man to attract them into churches.

comtar @ Oct 24th 2007 1:25PM

@1

The logic of this whole situation is about the same logic as VW refusing the Bug to be used as Bumblebee in the Transformers Movie...

They didn't want Bumblebee to be a VW Bug because they didn't want their car associated with war... in a fictional movie... as a good guy who fights evil... as a robot... who turns into a car that back in the day was ordered to be created by Hitler...

Then you got Resistance, while alot of people die outside the church, the primary battle that happens inside the church isn't against alien soldiers as it is against the alien parasite headcrab looking creatures that crawl against the walls. Again you are trying to rid the church of an evil infestation and somehow that's offense.

Seems nowadays, churches try to protect evil people nowadays then they do chasing them out.

KillarClown @ Oct 24th 2007 2:06PM

"These traditions include having courtesy, respecting the dignity of your subject, and admitting when mistakes have been made."

..other traditions include molestation, wars in the name of god and torture devices such as the Pear of Anguish

... oh wait wait wait they were talking about televions traditions, not their own.. my bad

DownwardMonkey @ Oct 24th 2007 2:35PM

@3 If you actually read the information you'd see that Manchester has a growing gun crime problem that the Church has been involved in. They wanted nothing to do with guns in real life or in fiction and this is why they had a problem with a fictional gun battle inside the Church.

It would seem many people need to stop throwing random crap at the Church of England (like post 4, I think you mean the catholic Church which has nothing to do with the Church of England) and take a quick read of the facts as to why they got upset about the game, they are not evil Christians trying to stop you playing any computer games ever.

Cory @ Oct 24th 2007 5:42PM

Its no different then Jack Thompson. Getting mad at the wrong people for the wrong reason. The church of England needs to just shut up and deal with their own real problems not fictional ones.

DownwardMonkey @ Oct 24th 2007 6:02PM

@6 HOW is this like Jack Thompson? It's THEIR Church, THEIR property, in THEIR city. They are not trying to stop you playing all violent games and not pushing a huge campaign to rid the world of computer games. Given the gun crime problems that the Church is dealing with and the fact that this is THEIR property can you please tell me why this should be any different than the R6 Vegas IP issues?

It's the same old story with us gamers, as soon as someone raises an issue with a game we just throw our rattles out of our prams and cry "teh manz is trying 2 take awayz our gamez!!!one!1", completely ignoring any back facts or story.

Again, can someone tell my why Vegas should be respected because of money and trademark in a 3D world but a Church in a city with a gun problem shouldn't?

JaseH @ Oct 25th 2007 2:02AM

"I think some important lessons have been learned. So we do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong. In an industry that is breaking new frontiers, it is important that long held traditions of film and television are maintained. These traditions include having courtesy, respecting the dignity of your subject, and admitting when mistakes have been made."

In other words...

"Sony gave us cash loads! & People are actually coming to our church now!!!"

______________________________________
JaseH.

Consolcwby @ Oct 24th 2007 10:14PM

How very Christian it is for the CoE to forgive this quickly... I'm surprised!

@DownwardMonkey: You do realise that the CoE is owned, operated, and run by the Brittish government? Right? So, by your argument, if the White House, House of Congress, or the Washington Monument was being used in a game in which some politicos disagreed with the content of, then the government has the right to refuse the game to use these structures? Even though they are paid and maintained using tax dollars? Even though they are PUBLIC buildings, not PRIVATE (in Vegas, the buildings you cite are privately owned)? Let me put it to you this way: The world you want to belong in, frightens me. It truly does.

Down with the Government! Liberty FTW!!!1!

DownwardMonkey @ Oct 24th 2007 10:47PM

@8 Wrong. British Cathedrals are privately owned by the Church of England and the Cathedral in question is not kept by taxation so your point is utterly invalid. The doors are kept open to the public because they want to, not because they have to.

The image of the Cathedral (which Sony confirmed IS the one in the game, not just one like it) is also protected by British law because of the rebuilding that had to be done after terrorist attacks which leads me back on to this following point again...

...As a gamer and a FPS fan I do not like the violence flag being waved by Jack Thompson and his followers but this has nothing to do with him, this is about a building that is privately owned and was used without permission. A building that is exposed not only to rising young person gun crime but also WW2 BOMBS and a TERRORIST attack some time ago.

I'm sure you don't like my world Consolcwby but in my world I try and see both sides of a problem and even as a long time gamer I can understand why they wouldn't want their building as a place for more violence (real or not) and at the very least Sony should have asked permission.