The Wardman Wire

It seems that Sony have been in meetings all day about the questions raised over the “Resistance: Fall of Man” dispute. Ruth Gledhill writes:

I understand there have been hundreds of protests direct to Sony HQ in Japan, a place where temple desecration, and the implied insult to ancestors, is a calumny of the highest order.

I missed that possibility in my previous article. I would not be surprised. There is a ritualistic side to Japanese life.

Does anyone know if Sony have a shoot-em-up game set in a Japanese religious setting?

A source tells me that already, shareholders are planning to punish the company by dumping stock. There is no sign of this yet on the markets though, where the latest is the Sony share price is actually up.

Stock dumping would surprise me.

Sony chiefs in the UK have been discussing the affair all morning, and are to have a definitive meeting at 3pm today, Monday.

A Sony crisis meeting would not surprise me.

Interview on Radio 4 Sunday Programme

The interview below was carried on the Sunday programme on Sunday 10th on Radio 4. It is 4 minutes long, and is between Roger Bolton and the Dean of Manchester, the Very Revd Rogers Govender (photo below).

This explains the Cathedral’s perspective quite well. BBC copyright acknowledged.

Effective PR

I will say that this looks like rather careful and potentially effective PR on behalf of Manchester Cathedral. Parts of the letter below are very similar to Ruth Gledhill’s blog post late on Friday 8th June.

Also to break the story on a Friday night to go in the weekend papers and the Sunday Programme on Radio 4 on Sunday morning looks like the best possible timing for the Cathedral and the worst possible timing for a commercial business such as Sony.

Having said that much - that us what PR is for - and Sony can hardly complain about quietly effective PR as they have a history of - shall we say -”innovative PR” for Playstation (in this case involving a headless goat).

Manchester Cathedral to Sony Letter

I reproduce the letter from Manchester Cathedral below. Hat tip to Ruth Gledhill (also for the update above), who has unrivalled sources across the Church of England:

To Sony:

‘We, the Dean and Canons of Manchester Cathedral understand that the interior of our building has been used, it would appear, without our permission, in the PS3 game ‘Resistance: Fall of Man’.

‘During the game players are asked to assume the role of an army sergeant and win a battle in the Cathedral. We have seen screenshots of the game in play showing the interior of the Cathedral with the player’s gun ready to fight; soldiers can be seen elsewhere in the nave taking aim. The video footage of the Cathedral battle on ‘YouTube’ has shocked and dismayed us beyond words and can only be described as virtual desecration.

‘We are shocked to see a place of worship, prayer, learning and heritage being presented to the youth of today as a location where guns can be fired.

‘We were sickened to discover that millions of people who play the game have a choice of weaponry to use within the Cathedral including the Rossmore 236 close-quarter combat shotgun, the L23 Fareye sniper rifle and the XR-005 Hailstorm chaingun.

‘Every year we invite hundreds of teenagers to come and see the Cathedral so that they might appreciate an alternative to the violence that they experience in their daily lives; it is a shame to have a game like this undermining such important work. It is well know that Manchester has serious gun-crime problems, as can be testified by the sad shooting of three youths in the past 72 hours, and, for many young people, these games offer a different sort of reality. Seeing guns in Manchester Cathedral is not the sort of connection we want them or anyone to make.

‘For a global manufacturer to re-create the interior of any religious building such as a mosque, synagogue, or, in this case, a cathedral with photo-realistic quality, and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and, in our view, highly irresponsible.

‘We therefore demand the following:

‘1. Sony immediately withdraw the game and furthermore, that Sony do not re-issue it without modifying the section of the game to remove the cathedral interior.

‘2. Sony apologise unreservedly for using the interior of the building without permission.

‘Given that no permission was sought, and the inappropriate nature of the game, we would also ask Sony to make a substantial donation allowing our Education Department to work more effectively with those aged between 18-30, and other agencies with whom we work, in resisting the culture of gun crime and other forms of violence in our society.

‘We are currently seeking the advice of our lawyers in this matter and reserve our legal position in relation to the same however, as it is our fervent desire to find a mutually satisfactory conclusion to this matter, we ask Sony to email or write to us to arrange a meeting in the next few days so that the issues we have raised can be discussed.

‘The Very Revd Rogers Govender (on behalf of the Dean and Canons)’

My Comments

I posted this on the MediaWatchWatch website this morning, in response to a comment by Andy L:

Andy L>I do not believe that there is any sufficiently modern item featured in the recreation of the church that the CofE has a leg to stand on copyright wise

Matt W>

* I’m inclined to agree with you copyright wise - sense implies they would only rebuild the walls in the game.
* Access is a different matter, however - which depends on whether they (Sony or it’s agent - sorry forgot the name) took footage and a million legal nuances that noone will want to visit.
* If they did take footage without permission when it was needed, I’d suggest the outcome will be an apology + a reasonable (10s or hundreds of K not millions) donation to a gun crime project in Manchester. That would Sony a relatively cheap exit and some good PR, and not establish a precedent of free access to cathedrals for commercial filming.

OTOH, as you say, Manchester Cathedral (note: not the CofE) may be out too far on a limb.

For the moment, I’m not willing to call it any more precisely than that.

However…

I will make (again) the following points:

• This is Manchester Cathedral in dispute with Sony, not “The Church of England” or “Christianity“. It is a very precisely drawn dispute. For any news reporters reading this - please get that right for once.
• The Bishop of Manchester is not a spokesman for the Church of England, unless he is speaking on behalf of the House of Bishops. In this, he is a spokesman for the Bishop of Manchester only. Even the hughly nimble Church of England cannot hold a Bishops’ Conference at 2 days notice!
• IF Sony - or their agents - DID shoot scenes inside without permission, then they do very probably have a liability.
• If all the work in Manchester was done by the game producers, then Sony still have a potential liability as publisher.

I note in passing that the BBC now have four stories on this, including three from today.

1. Cathedral to demand Sony apology
2. Talks over cathedral gun game row
3. Fantasy meets reality in Church row
4. Cathedral row over video war game

I see that they appear to have run out of different photos of Manchester Cathedral, and have recycled the one from the first story.

Whither the Christian Bloggers?

Lots of comment around from Gamer Bloggers - where are all the Christian and Anglican bloggers who are willing to express a view? If you have one - whether a Christian or Gamer blogger - then comment here, and I’ll think about linking to you.

• Wannabepriest has posted a thoughtful article.