Editor’s note: The following is the opinion of Seth “4:10” Robison and does not represent the views of Gamer Transit Authority LLC, its affiliated websites and operations.

I take the responsibility that you, my readers, place in me very seriously. You are counting on me to stand upon the weather-deck and chart the ever shifting winds of gaming culture, in order to deliver a fresh cargo of insights and opinion on a (semi) regular basis. Over my many years, I have seen the gaming sea grow from an itinerate tide pool, constantly on the verge of extinction, to a vast ocean covering the world, with tributaries joining it permanently with the larger social consciousness.

Lately, however, this ocean has been beset by storms of troubles, as those who feel intimidated by its growth have sought to dam its rivers and raise levees against the tide. And as I exhaust my stock of ocean metaphors, I wonder if those who seek to build these walls and poison these waters might just succeed.

As part of my self-assigned duties, I peruse all the flavors of the media to see how games and gamers are being portrayed and I have to admit, it’s been a tough week. First, there was this story out of England concerning the game Resistance: Fall of Man. This alternate history of World War Two FPS has a chapter taking place in the city of Manchester, where that town’s cathedral must be vacated of enemy forces though lethal means.

Well it turns out that the one kid in Manchester, England (and maybe the whole of England) owns a PS3 and Resistance: Fall of Man, called his mother in to show how neat it was that his hometown was featured in a game. And instead of being as excited as I would be if Capcom used my local mall for Dead Rising 2, she grew ‘concerned’ and naturally alerted the media to latest Most Important Thing That Ever Happened. So while we Yanks have to deal with crusading lawyers and government scolds, Sony and by extension, UK gamers, have the Church of England on their backs. They are no doubt longtime gamers themselves, since they keep up with the times so well, I mean they apologized for what they did to Galileo in 1992 and it only 350 years after he was dead!

Church officials have demanded a cough-donation-cough, as well as the usual public apology for ‘not thinking of the children’ and an edit of the game. Sony has rightly said just that they’re “sorry you’ve got your knickers in a twist,” (I’m paraphrasing, naturally) and reminded them that violence actually predates the existence of videogames, and that games can only hurt anyone if dropped on them from a great height (again, paraphrase).

And just when I thought it was over, over there, this comes along. Nothing quite like being preemptively reactionary. I man is something could be dangerous, why tolerate it? Orville, Wilber that thing could be dangerous, go back to the bike shop!

But seriously folks, this is going to do nothing but encourage piracy, and I have half a mind to think Rockstar loves the attention. (Of course, this is coming from the guy who thinks that Rockstar Table Tennis was a elaborate practical joke on Jack Thompson.)

In conclusion, I’m not entirely glad to find out that gamers across the pond have their own set of Flanders-esce scolds, but the more they complain the more chances we’ll have to drown them out.

This is my stop.

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Comments? Questions? E-mail me at seth410@gamertransit.com. Complaints? Never turn your back on the sea! Back of the Bus is © 2007 by Seth “4:10” Robison, used with exclusive permission by gamertransit.com. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.