If at first Keith Vaz doesn’t succeed he tries, tries and tries again

Active anti-games campaigner and Labour MP Keith Vaz has raised his fourth early day motion aimed at quelling the effect of violent games, this time targeting Activision’s Modern Warfare 3.

And just like those that have gone before, it’s totally without substance.

This House is deeply concerned about the recently released video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, in which players engage in gratuitous acts of violence against members of the public,” the EDM notes.

It notes in particular the harrowing scenes in which a London Underground train is bombed by terrorists, bearing a remarkable resemblance to the tragic events of 7 July 2005. It further notes that there is increasing evidence of a link between perpetrators of violent crime and violent video games users and calls on the British Board of Film Classification to take further precautions when allowing a game to be sold.”

In stark contrast to Vaz, fellow Labour MP and vocal games supporter (and most recently anti-News International campaigner) Tom Watson has openly expressed his disagreement with Vaz, adding the following amendment to the EDM:

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 an 18 classification, noting that `the game neither draws upon nor resembles real terrorist attacks on the underground’.

I further believe that the game has an excellent user interface and challenges the gamers’ dexterity as well as collaborative skills in an outline setting and encourages the BBFC to uphold the opinion of the public that whilst the content of video games may be unsettling or upsetting to some, adults should be free to choose their own entertainment in the absence of legal issues or material which raises a risk or harm.”

In May of this year Vaz raised an EDM entitled Video Games and Young People, which urged gamers to, amongst other dated and stereotypical demands, drop their joypads and venture out into the sunlight once in a while”.

Vaz’s previous EDM include were both calls for tighter restrictions on violent games.