Following the introduction of a motion before Parliament asking the Scottish government to address the negative effects of violent games on children, a Dundee MSP has gone on the attack on behalf of the game industry, calling the motion “unnecessary hostile.”
Labour MSP Elaine Smith’s motion requested that the government notify parents of the “possible risk to children’s emotional and psychological development as a result of prolonged use” of games, reports the Press and Journal.
Dundee West MSP Joe Fitzpatrick took umbrage with Smith’s proposal, saying, “I am very keen to promote Dundee’s world-leading video game development sector and am concerned at this unwarranted attack on an important industry and the effect it might have on its development.”
He added, “The UK Government is due to introduce legislation protecting children by making age ratings compulsory for all boxed games designed for those aged 12 or above, using the Pan-European Games Information (Pegi) classification system.”
Fitzpatrick has also previously championed tax breaks for the UK videogame industry.
Comments
Re: Dundee Pol Sticks up for Game Biz
Not wanting to get too political, I'll remind the previous poster that it's only fair seeing as the british government has been burning away Scottish oil for the last 40 years or so
Re: Dundee Pol Sticks up for Game Biz
Scotland receives too much in the way tax money as it is, proportionally it is much higher than what English residents receive. And with all that extra money they can blow it on these pointless investigations.
No such thing as Scottish oil anyway, it's British oil.
Also let's not forget that the country burnt a lot of money on your bust banks.
Re: Dundee Pol Sticks up for Game Biz
I note from your comments that neither the Law of the Sea or Geography are your strong suit.
If it is possible to hypothecate tax spend you can also hypothecate oil revenue :-P
Gus (who used to live in Dundee, in the buildign next to where Realtime Worlds now have thier studio).
Re: Dundee Pol Sticks up for Game Biz
ZING!
Re: Dundee Pol Sticks up for Game Biz
doesn't the industry already voluntarily place age ratings on ALL boxes? or am i missing something?
Re: Dundee Pol Sticks up for Game Biz
What State said, or at least the first line of it.
Also, the situation before was that PEGI only rated certain games (as far as the UK market is concerned), now they're rating all of them, and are also backed by law at retail.
/b
Re: Dundee Pol Sticks up for Game Biz
There's a difference between voluntary and compulsory.
Rockstar North is based in Scotland, so a major developer there (as well as many of its breakaway studios).
Goes to show how the Scottish government is wasting British taxpayers' money.