British censor board bans Manhunt 2 in UK
Manhunt 2, a Rockstar Games creation, became the first video game to be banned in Britain in a decade after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) found it to be encouraging visceral killing.
David Cooke, director of the BBFC, said that the decision was taken after careful deliberation and was not one taken lightly. Cooke said that banning a game is an extreme step and BBFC first tries to see whether the game could be made acceptable by modifying it.
"Rejecting a work is a very serious action and one which we do not take lightly. Where possible we try to consider cuts or, in the case of games, modifications which remove the material which contravenes the board's published guidelines. In the case of Manhunt 2, this has not been possible", he said.
Cooke revealed that the game's predecessor, Manhunt, was considered to be "at the very top end of what the board judged to be acceptable at that category". However it soon got embroiled in a murder trial of a 14-year-old boy. Seventeen year old Warren LeBlanc was accused of killing Stefan Pakeerah in February 2004. Pakeerah's mother, Giselle, said that LeBlanc killed her son after being inspired by the game.
Cooke said that the game encouraged sadistic behavior, which could be very dangerous to the society. "There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."
"The game's unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying and the sheer lack of alternative pleasures on offer to the gamer, together with the different overall narrative context, contribute towards differentiating this submission from the original Manhunt game", he added.
Mrs Pakeerah, who along with Leicester MP Keith Vaz, campaigned hard for banning the game, said that she was delighted with the decision, adding that game makers should realize the effect of violent games on young minds. Rockstar Games now has six weeks to file an appeal to overturn the decision.
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