blog

Last week, I told you all about the beginnings of a movement in India to start censoring and banning violent video games. The brouhaha started when the mother of a 10-year old read in the newspaper that the game he has been playing, Manhunt 2, had been banned in the United Kingdom. Nevermind that the boy's grandfather had purchased the game for him, and nevermind that the child had been playing the game for at least a few days before mom discovered that it would warp his mind for the rest of time. But since the mother was politically connected, this story became less of a "mom gets angry" thing than "mom calls up her friends in Parliament" thing.

Today on Televisionpoint (an site that reports on Indian broadcasting),  the story gets a little more fleshed out, with the addition of a few names and details. 

The original source article made mention to the key players by letter-designation. The grandfather was "S", the mother was "Mommy S" and the boy was "Z".

Turns out that "Mommy S" is, in fact, former Bollywood film star Sharmila Tagore, and she used her influence as a well-known former actress to convince the film ratings board to consider her proposal.

The face of Indian censorship.

Televisionpoint goes on to say that the adoption of the censorship bill is all but assured passage:

Censor Board chief and former film star Sharmila Tagore had recently submitted a proposal to the ministry seeking powers to ask video games manufacturers to delete objectionable portions in the games. If required, the board should also be able to ban a particular video game…

As in most places where this debate has reared its ugly head, the firestorm of opinions has started in full force. Siddharth Hegde, an Indian game developer, is against the move, as he sees that not only are there potential loopholes, but he feels that such a move could be potentially damaging to India's burgeoning game developing industry. Hegde told Televisionpoint:

Children are very clever and discover hidden plugs. Besides, they can access the games on the Internet easily... India is just getting started and it does not bode well to have such restrictions. In Germany, there was a similar law and gaming professionals just packed off to other destinations.

A psychologist, Dr. Vikram Prabhu, believes that this type of legistlation is useless:

In this mobile world everything is easily accessible. If a certain DVD is not within reach, they can get the same on the net. They can access them on their mobile phones. The need of the hour is for parents to be more involved and spend more time with the kids. They need to supervise what they see on TV and games.

Once again, we are hit with the idea that it is the parents who must get involved with their childrens' lives. Government has never been a suitable substitute for good parenting, and there is no reason to believe that now is the time when it could be.

The model family? 

Stay tuned gang, this is just starting to heat up.

Source 

Share this article: