The Wardman Wire

This is a straight update on the Manchester Cathedral - Sony dispute, with some reflections - rather than any heavy analysis.

I find it interesting that “silos in society” that normally exist more or less side by side are beginning a dialogue. One similarity I am detecting is that both gamers and the churches see themselves as marginalised, misunderstood and under threat. Other groups use similar rhetoric. One of the questions in this dispute is whether (and how) they threaten each other.

Interlude - Cartoon

An excellent cartoon from Dave Walker’s CartoonChurch website. I often feature Dave’s general and business cartoons on the Wardman Wire, but he also does cartoons aimed at churches.

A couple of comments that go with the cartoon:

Sorry that the cartoon is mildly mediocre. The man on the left is leaning a bit, but then some people do lean a bit.

Lots of bloggers who are self confessing not-Christians have posted too. I have read quite a few, and whilst most of the blogs themselves discuss the matter in a reasonable way the comments often showed the depth of hatred a lot of people have for the Church of England. It didn’t surprise me, but also it did, if you understand what I mean. I’m not posting any links in case a horde of grumpy gamers come after me and start shooting me with computerised guns.

Talking of aliens, I always think of Dave’s cartoon persona as the character “Nunc” from Adrian Plass’s book: An Alien at St Wilfrids (obscure reference - don’t worry if you don’t get it). Nunc is best described as “baffled but friendly”.

Press Releases from Manchester Cathedral

For those looking for something from Manchester Cathedral on the web, the press releases have actually appeared on the Diocese of Manchester website. They are probably there because the Cathedral will be using the Diocese’s Communications Officer for advice, and the DCO will have easier access to that website, rather than the Cathedral One.

One of these press releases (issued Wednesday afternoon) clarifies the Cathedral’s requests:

We have asked Sony to undertake 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 apologies 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.

I do not pretend to understand the hows, whys, whens, whichs, whos and wherefores of the machinations behind the updating of Cathedral Websites, but perhaps they should put the releases there too, as that is where people are mainly looking.

What do you think of the wider questions?

The legal side of this argument has perhaps been the easiest to understand. There are also interesting questions raised in the areas of culture, intellectual property in virtual worlds, what causes gun violence (or not) and some others.

In a few days I will be posting a couple of different essays from different views attempting to tease out these different aspects. So far:

• I will be writing from my point of view of a technologist who knows the Church of England very well. Also, during the last three years I have done photographic surveys of some 35 English cathedrals. I was also on the periphery of a previous
• Mattei Bittanti will be writing from the point of view of an academic researcher into videogames -

If there is anybody else out there interested in grappling with the wider questions - I am offering you a platform. I’d be particularly interested to hear from:

• a gamer
• a legal specialist
• somebody “on the ground” at Manchester Cathedral or in the local community.

If you are interested, please get in touch via the contact page or comment below.

Blogger Links

I have come across some more interesting articles, which are now becoming a little less analytical and a little more reflective:

Mattei Bittanti

The best new article is by Matteo Bittanti, who is an academic researcher into video games, and introduces a number of new points that have not been mentioned widely. He writes from a perspective informed by Italian culture, with it’s major influence by the Vatican - an interesting contrast to British Culture:

I would like to add my own set of queries:

1) Can a videogame be more sacrilegious or blasphemous than a H&M billboard featuring Madonna on another famous cathedral, the Duomo of Milan?

2) Is Resistance: Fall of Man really “undermining” the Cathedral’s significance as The Very Reverend Rogers Govender argues, or is it rather increasing its visibility on the cultural map? The Da Vinci Code - another Sony’s owned property condemned by the Vatican as “offensive”- has had the effect of raising awareness around Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” and the annexed Church, Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, by a factor of 10.

3) How do we make sense of the notion of “sacred” in simulated spaces? Can a Church in a videogame environment be as “holy” as its tangible counterpart?

and later

So, the question is: Are videogames intrinsically trivializing religious architecture? And, as a corollary, are videogames secular by default? Will “sacred” spaces become “taboo” material in violent games after the latest Sony’s faux pas? Does that mean that we will not be able to play Mega Church Networked Special Edition?

Ars Technica

The prominent design blog Ars Technica on the controversy. More reportage than analysis, but they mention a precedent which involve the Sikh religion:

This isn’t the first time the religious community has dealt with violent use of their imagery and places of worship. In 2002 the Sikh Coalition began a petition against the Eidos title Hitman 2 based on the use of holy temples in the game. The petition lays out their feelings clearly, “The Harmander Sahib is a holy Sikh place of worship that serves as a religious and a political center for the Sikhs worldwide. The Harmander Sahib is held in reverence, just as the Vatican by Catholics… such a graphical portrayal of violence within the sacred grounds of any religious place—whether a Gurdwara, a Temple, a Church or a Mosque, is completely unacceptable.”

Eidos responded to the petition less than a month later by removing the offending content from the website, making a new version of the game on existing platforms without the offending content, and removing the level from the GameCube port. The developer also offered a formal apology to the Sikh community and stressed that no offense was intended.

This response is - in essence - what Manchester Cathedral are requesting from Sony.

Other links (mainly via CartoonChurch).

The Complex Christ | Signs of Emergence: Manchester Cathedral vs.Sony

All strength to them battling against Sony. It’s not entertainment. It’s very poor taste. So do the right thing Sony. And soon.

rejesus blog » Blog Archive » Jesus and Virtual Desecration . The Rejesus website is an initiative by some larger UK denominations to present their message online:

The older I get (35 currently), the less TV I watch and the more meditation I do I find my tolerance to any sort of violentertainment diminishes and I can’t help thinking of the real community working at the Cathedral, no doubt with an agenda of peace and reconciliation in a city with violence problems.

Personally I do feel that Cathedrals are relevant to the story and spirituality of Jesus. They can be universal thin places for visitors. I do get concerned when bricks and mortar seem more important than people and poverty but that is to make a subject that is all shades of gray into black and white.

Break out the heavy weapons, it’s the Dean & Chapter of Manchester Cathedral : A thoughtful and balanced article from a trainee Church of England priest and gamer. I mentioned this in a previous article:

I seem to remember Jesus being quite stringent on murder and hate and even pointing out that those who think the thoughts are as guilty as those who commit the act. Might have interesting application in this context of the ‘virtual’. I seem also to remember that Jesus created a fair bit of carnage in the temple himself when he turned over the tables of money lenders.

Sanctus1 Blog: Cathedral treads the path of most Resistance,

Sony didn’t ask permission and the church is threatening to sue.

But shouldn’t the cathedral get ‘with it’, and isn’t it sending the wrong message to non-believers by being so outraged? I’m sure they wouldn’t object if BBC Cardiff asked to film Doctor Who there, and that’s often about the annihilation of billions. They should put up a blue plaque in honour of the PS3 game.

Then again, isn’t it about time we the church spoke out against a culture that allows big business to promote values of violence and, in the case of much of the rest of pop culture, misogyny, crass materialism and racial stereotyping. Guns are bad. Good on the cathedral on tapping into the new Banksy mentality of people wanting flowers not bombs.

also More on the Cathedral and Sony…

The computer images that are inside of the cathedral are without a doubt Manchester Cathedral, and i think that this is a good opportunity to promote debate on violence within computer games.

Running around the city centre randomly shooting people on a computer game is horific, because the cathedral is used doesn’t make it any more horific but gives legitimate grounds to be critical of the myth of redemptive violence.

Tech Digest: Does the Church of England have any rights over a virtual Manchester Cathedral? (By Andy Merrett, who is a Christian)

his kind of issue is only likely to escalate as virtual reality becomes ever more popular, and more realistic. Let’s draw it away from religion for a moment (or perhaps not) - would Apple be happy if Microsoft launched an Xbox game depicting people running round their Cupertino HQ shooting aliens, people, or (heaven forbid) Macs and iPhones?

How about what happens in worlds like Weblo and Second Life? Does anyone in the real world have the right to say what can happen with their virtual property?

There’ll come a time when no-one will be able to keep track, anyway. Virtual property is instantly duplicable. There could be a hundred Manchester Cathedrals lurking in cyberspace and video games, with just as many virtual things going on in them.

Grumpy Gamer - Manchester Cathedral vs. Sony

Personally I’m rather sad at Manchester Cathedral’s attitude here as a Mancunian, Christian and of course - gamer. Surely rather than condemning the game it would have been an excellent opportunity to discuss Manchester Cathedral on the world stage, using the church’s inclusion in this science fiction game as a contact point with the young - who sadly are less interested in spiritual matters these days.

Instead the quotes I see in the papers give the impression of a church not being very well informed about this game or the culture surrounding it - and in effect will only serve to further alienate a young adult audience from the established church. I also wonder at the church’s attitude in general - no criticism of seeing Manchester in ruins, just the Cathedral itself, as though it is separate from the city and the community. Perhaps these days this is the case, but it is sad to see this attitude.

Gun-fight gaming and Manchester Cathedral « Spirituality of Play. “This blog is to explore what a Christian response is to the idea that our Western World is moving away from a work ethic towards a play ethic.”

There is a liberal side of me that wants to excuse this on the grounds that I can certainly imagine what a great game scenario a cathedral would make and that, in other art forms, a fight in a cathedral could be acceptable (eg alternate history fiction) but there is something about gaming that changes this situation.

This isn’t an RPG, it’s a shoot’em up, the only value of the Cathedral in this circumstance is the majesty of the place and and possibly a bit of old vestigial sacriledge. The characters only develop in relation to their skills, life force etc not their personalities so it’s purely an arena for carnage and a “level” to get through by engaging in as much killing as possible.

So it exploits a place of peace, without permission, in an extreme and offensive way. Can’t really support that I’m afraid.

There is a counter argument that this is entertainment, that the Church has not waded into the fray as regards violence in other games, develops games of its own that are violent. All of these are true, but perhaps this is a wake-up call for the Church not only in regards to its attitude to violence that does not directly impinge on its interests but also in how it should respond to play in general.

As to whether the Church should have asked for compensation? No, the original request that the game be removed from the shelves was more appropriate - but it highlights a really important point. We need to know what our stance is on violence in these games in order to even have our views considered - we can’t expect people who know so little about the Church that they think churches are government buildings to consider spirituality in their play. We need robust spirituality of play ourselves.