King of the Mountains

I’ve been watching with interest the debate as to how video games should be classified. At present, there is a voluntary code that most games manufacturers follow. Calls have been made for the BBFC to be given the job of applying age ratings to games.

None of the commentators have mentioned the obvious problem, in their haste to wring their hands about "evil video games corrupting our youth". The problem, as with many things, is witless parents.

Games are already clearly marked. A game marked "18" contains content that is not suitable for those under 18. It’s the same as films. You wouldn’t, for example, buy an eight year old a copy of Reservoir Dogs. But when a parent caves in and buys Grand Theft Auto that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Just because it’s a game, doesn’t mean it’s aimed at or intended for children. It’s the same problem faced by writers of graphic novels. That may sound a pretentious term, but the only alternative is "comic" and they’re not writing comedy. We don’t have the terms bande dessine or manga to describe pictoral works that aren’t the Beano.

As for the claims that video games make people violent, I would suggest that anyone who cannot differentiate real life from pixels has bigger problems. I’ve played GTA, for example, and not once have I felt the urge to run real people over at random or steal cars.

I agree with the voluntary age ratings but feel that an education campaign would be a far better use of time and money than adding to the BBFC’s workload. Make it clear that not all games are for children, and that age ratings are for content, not difficulty. Have shop staff remind the purchaser of games with an age rating that it isn’t suitable for people under that age. 

I watched the news reports of the Quantas 747 with a hole in it as they were coming in. What’s amusing is the media reaction. We’ve had the usual stuff about "terror at 30000 feet" and "passengers feared for their lives".

Problem is, we also have video footage. It doesn’t really back those headlines up. 

We can see passengers wearing oxygen masks and remaining calm while the flight attendants keep smiling. Nobody is running around screaming, and there’s a noticable shortage of stuff flying around or huge holes. The only thing most apparently noticed was a bang, followed by an emergency descent and masks falling from the ceiling. 

Of course, once it had landed the media were able to find at least two people who spun a teary tale of how scared they were that they’d never see family again. It’s the same with all of these things. 

What they missed, however, is the fact that this is a case of everything else working as it should. The panel blew out. The pilot realised something was amiss and dived to an altitude at which the air was breathable. Thanks to the design of the aircraft the missing panel did not cause it to fall apart. But that wouldn’t make such a good story would it?

You get these people everywhere now. After a channel ferry has had to hang around off Dover for a few hours due to rough seas there’ll always be some shrieking idiot saying it was "like Titanic". Well, it was a ship. Not many icebergs off Dover and I think all the passengers got off this one alive.

The sooner we in the Western world relearn the robustness of our Grandparents in response to crises the better. Panic helps no-one. An awful lot of people hailed as heroes are those who did not panic, but just got on with it and sorted the problem out as best they could. Those Quantas passengers behaved in a perfectly normal manner, despite what our Hollywood-addled media would have you believe.