Manchester Cathedral returns fire on Sony

(Update 15/6: Sony have responded by offering to demonstrate game to Manchester clergy. See end for details.) Since we broke this story in The Times on Friday night, never mind Manchester Cathedral, the world has become a battlefield for Sony. (Update: Tony Blair has now joined in the row.) 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. 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. Sony chiefs in the UK have been discussing the affair all morning, and are to have a definitive meeting at 3pm today, Monday. Read on for the letter the Dean and Chapter have sent. See also our latest update compiled by Joanna Sugden. Also below I've done a round-up of what the blogs are saying. Two of the best are Bryan Appelyard and an interesting techie one on The Guardian for the comments in particular. Matt Wardman has the best analysis I've seen so far of the legal implications, and has excelled on the background and links with his second post. Meanwhile, Pigeon Campaigns UK have written in protest to all English cathedrals about the shooting with a real gun of a real live pigeon in full view of diners in the refectory of Norwich cathedral. Hilarious, except I guess for the pigeon. See end of this post for details.

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)' (Dean pictured above)

On the blogs, Transfigurations is one of the few religious bloggers to weigh in. Nearly all the rest are gaming blogs. pspsps links to the controversy over animal cruelty in another PS3 game. The Story of Hamid-o wonders why Manchester cathedral clergy haven't jumped at the chance 'to have a beautiful, albeit half-destroyed, view of the city propagated.' Truthdig has picked up on the story. GamePolitics is running a poll on the controversy. Avi Green on Gaming Briefs understands why it is insulting to sensationalise gun crime in such a context. Not so Jono Bacon, who finds the Church's request for compensatory cash 'astonishing'. Sanctus1 takes the cathedral's side.

See also Kotaku, Absolute Blog, Game Addicts, Life Particles, Next Generation, Talking in Circles and PopGadget. And there are many, many more.

Meanwhile, in another cathedral, they have apparently been shooting real live guns, with the blessing of the clergy no less. At Norwich, a pigeon has been shot dead in the refectory, in full view of diners. Pigeon Campaigns UK have just written to us in outrage with a copy of a letter they've sent to Church of England cathedrals. This is what they say.

'Dear Sir/Madam,

'As you are so keen to promote your Cathedral and raise a 'substantial donation' from Sony, we would formally request that you confirm in writing whether you shoot pigeons (or any other wildlife) at your Cathedral please?

'Unfortunately as we saw only last week, Norwich Cathedral was recently caught shooting pigeons; you can therefore understand our concerns.  This made the headlines in the Norwich Evening News on Saturday.

'In the Very Reverend Rogers Govender's words: "We are shocked to see a place of learning, prayer and heritage being presented to the youth market as a location where guns can be fired."  If that is the case, members of the public need to be assured that guns are not being fired at Manchester Cathedral.

'We look forward to hearing from you by return.

'Sincerely

'John Davison
Pigeon Campaigns UK'

"Campaigning for the compassionate treatment of all avian wildlife in the UK"

Update: Sony have written at last to Manchester Cathedral. And thanks to Dave Walker for the cartoon.

Dear Dean Govender,

Thank you for your email of 11 June 2007.

Please understand that Resistance: Fall of Man is a work of science fiction.

It is fantasy entertainment set against a backdrop of an alternative reality of 1950’s Britain. History has been rewritten and the Second World War has not happened but a race of alien creatures has attacked the earth and the human race is engaged in a struggle to defend itself from this alien invader.

Early in the time line of the story, Manchester Cathedral is utilised as a field hospital to tend to the human casualties of the war. When the story line reaches chapter 8, the Cathedral is empty and abandoned, no longer used as a place of worship and the sequences that take place inside are to defend the building from the aliens.
We do not accept that there is any connection between contemporary issues of 21st century Manchester and a work of science fiction in which a fictitious 1950’s Britain is under attack by aliens. We believe a comprehensive viewing of the work will make its content and context clear.

Accordingly we would be pleased to demonstrate it to you at a mutually convenient time.

It was not our intention to cause offence by using a representation of Manchester Cathedral in chapter 8 of the work. If we have done so we sincerely apologise.

In conclusion we note that you are consulting lawyers. We confirm that it is our policy to seek all necessary permissions for our products and services, and we believe with this particular work we have done so.

Yours sincerely,

Dr David A Reeves

President

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Manchester have responded:

Today at 4.30pm (15 June) the Cathedral received a letter from Sony Computer Entertainment. In response to the letter the Dean and Chapter have made the following remarks-

We acknowledge the admission by Sony that the building in the game is Manchester Cathedral. We thank Sony for the apology they have made.

However, we do not move from the position that we are against violence and especially the gun violence seen in this portrayal of the Cathedral.

We are pleased that Sony wish to come and meet with us in Manchester as today we offered them such an invitation.

In the meeting with Sony we will discuss our outstanding demands, how this game came to be produced and where the images of the Cathedral came from.

Comments

[Leo Lewis]

It's the crass and knee-jerk use of the word "ultraviolent" that makes this outcry about Resistance: Fall of Man so very silly.
I assume that, inside Manchester Cathedral itself, a casual visitor should be able to get hold of a copy of the Bible, a work that makes the alleged "ultraviolence" in Sony's game seem almost childishly tame.
The Bible - whose teachings are supposed to engender so many wonderful qualities in the faithful - describes, among other God-endorsed activites:

Murder, rape, gang-rape, plunder, genocide, racism, biological warfare, slavery, mass murder, infanticide, matricide, patricide, human sacrifice, cannibalism, torture, decapitation, forced starvation, cruelty to animals, mass circumcision of the dead and self-mutilation.

I am a huge fan of Resistance: Fall of Man, but next to this cavalcade of atrocities, I feel a little short-changed. As ultraviolence goes, Sony's game perhaps suffers from a scarcity of the sort of godly fun described in Isaiah 49:26: "And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine

And all you get to do in Sony's game is blow the heads some invading aliens...

Players of Resistance:Fall of Man, are also restricted to a fairly limited arsenal with which to destroy the (entirely fictional) host of aliens. Biblical murderers had at their disposal an infintely more impressive array of destructive tools that include (as a tiny sample) the jawbone of an ass, God-sent leprosy, God-sent plague, hell-fire, stoning, crucifixion, a tent-peg through the skull, cattle-prods, God-induced testicular cancer, trampling by horses, wood-saws and axes.

Given how much of this abominable horror described in the Bible is either performed directly by God or with his blessing, I wonder precisely what example does this litany of ultraviolence - freely available to any drop-in visitor to Manchester Cathedral, teach the "communities" who have supposedly been so upset by Sony's game?

[Chris Gillibrand]

In response to A John Allen, who I understand not to be THE John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, I would prefer to bring joy rather than sadness to any debate. I happily reply to John Allen, whosoever they should be.

Sadly, I have been living on the continent far too long, indeed in the belly of the beast in Brussels, and therefore have no intention of taking the slightest notice of Godwin’s Law that dogmatically states that you have lost an argument when you make a comparison to some aspect of Nazism. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, yet within European society, there is a creeping totalitarianism which has, on occasion, to be compared to National Socialism. There is the famous case of a German journalist who exposed corruption in the European institutions, but it was his office that was raided by the Belgian police. When justified, there is indeed is an imperative to make such comparisons. However, for instance, accusing Israel of being a Nazi state is rhetorical and offensive nonsense.

The phrase “by all accounts” was meant to express, as I think it does in Manchester where I come from, a certain scepticism about the authenticity of the quote. “By all accounts, the country is doing well” implies something different, especially with Mr Blair at the helm.

The important thing to note is the ambivalent relationship between King Henry and the Saint of Canterbury. What is common between the Canterbury murder, the virtual desecration of Manchester Cathedral and erotic service in Cologne is that nobody quite knows when the border is crossed between fantasy and a real desire to make fantasy a reality, least of all those most closely involved.

And come to think of it, no individual at the time could put their finger on the precise date that Germany fell into the Nazi trap.

The historical importance of the Sony's use of the imagery is that a bridge in the direction of that border has been crossed for the first time.

Sententiousness is from the Latin sententia, opinion and sententiosus, full of meaning. If you are accusing me of both, I would like to be found guilty.

[Matt Wardman]

>Is there any limit to the hypocrisy within the Church of England? The only reason the Cathedral has kicked up a fuss about this is because the Sony Corp. hasn't yet paid them anything.

The Cathedral and community statements make it crystal clear that this is not the case.

Do you think that Sony should be allowed to get away with ignoring the law (if this is what they have done)?

>Lincoln and Winchester Cathedrals were more than happy to take money from Sony Pictures for the filming of the Da Vinci Code.

And why shouldn't they?

>And which Sony product does more damage to Christianity? Dan Brown's book or this silly computer game?

My perception of this is that Dan Brown provided a large opportunity to clarify his misunderstandings.

[Peter Bridgman]

Is there any limit to the hypocrisy within the Church of England? The only reason the Cathedral has kicked up a fuss about this is because the Sony Corp. hasn't yet paid them anything.

Lincoln and Winchester Cathedrals were more than happy to take money from Sony Pictures for the filming of the Da Vinci Code.

And which Sony product does more damage to Christianity? Dan Brown's book or this silly computer game?

[Chris Gillibrand]

I refer to Pope Julius III not Pope Julius II. Oh, that The Times had been in existence during either Pontificate!

[Karen B.]

Thanks for covering this story Ruth. I was quite surprised to see this story make the coverage of my local TV station here in West Africa (a Muslim area).

I'd seen it earlier on the Anglican blogs, but it was a real shock when a few hours later I then saw the story on the news here. You are right that it has become something of global interest.

[John Allen]

Chris Gillibrand - you're hilarious! Not content with providing a new proof for Godwin's Law on Saturday's thread ("Poland should have been glad of the publicity that Hitler gave it" etc. Yawn..) you now start on Becket.

"By all accounts"... when the quote is famously fictional. "All too often", when your most proximate example is eight centuries old. Don't you think you might be exaggerating the historical importance of Insomniac's decision to use Manchester as the CG home of an alien invasion?

Sententiousness alone doesn't convince anyone!

[Alan Marsh]

Pope Julius II did not have any property in England for him to "concede" to the Anglicans. It remained in the hands of the English Church, to which it belonged, whose bishops voted almost unanimously to pledge their allegiance to the King.

[Chris Gillibrand]

PS
I should add that Sony have tainted for ever memories of my youth, as my school used to hold the annual Christmas service in Manchester Cathedral. And how mamy others can say the same.

Luke 2:14
Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.

But Sony cares not for these things.

[Chris Gillibrand]

GamePolitics.com poll is now down to 92.9 percent. I just voted! Only another 42.9 percent to go.

Doubtless the game makers will use libertarian arguments to defend their work, but liberty is neither an end nor a virtue in herself.

Since Pope Julius III conceded the Anglicans the property that they aquired illictly during the reformation, they have every right to defend it even from virtual attack. Hopefully, however, it is a salutary lesson on how grotesque is the idea of murder in the Cathedral of clerics or other persons.

By all accounts, King Henry was fantasizing about the killing of St Thomas Becket when he asked the question, "will noone rid me of this turbulent priest". All too often such virtual ideas become dreadful realities.

[Bryan Appleyard]

Thanks, Ruth.

[goodfornowt]

GamePolitics is currently showing 93% support for the depiction of Manchester Cathedral in the game. Is this postmodern irony?