Breaking: British MP Sensible About Video Games

The BBC reports that MP Tom Watson has begun a Facebook group in response to politicians’ comments about the civilian scene in Modern Warfare 2. Kieth Vaz, one of the UK’s most vocal anti video-game politicians, is quoted as being “shocked” by the scene in Modern Warfare 2, in a brilliant case of missing the point completely and blatant ignorance of the context. Contrastingly Watson asks gamers in the UK “Are you sick of UK newspapers and (my fellow) politicians beating up on gaming? So am I. The truth is, UK gamers need their own pressure group. I want to help you start one up.”

I think this is great for gamers in the UK. For too long the anti-gaming protesters have been a vocal minority, and we need someone in a position to argue with them to represent our stance. Watson is also quoted by the BBC to have a good understanding of the industry: “Everything that comes out of Parliament in relation to video games is relentlessly negative. There are thousands of people employed in this industry, there are 26 million people playing games. We should have a much more balanced view of the industry, indeed we should be supporting them through difficult times.”

Although Watson is “repulsed” by the content in question in Modern Warfare 2, he points out that “similar material is in both books and films, and he believes that as long as there is a classification system which is well policed, there is not really an issue here.” This is an admirable stance, which promotes freedom of expression in the media, something which as Internet users, we should protect as much as possible. I’m still a little in shock that we seem to have a sensible politician, but I’m sure he’ll be fired by the Prime Minister soon because his views don’t support government policy. Then everything will be okay again!