Byron's report misses the point

"A critical oversight of the Byron report is that of publisher corporate social responsibility" says Dr Patrick Stacey, who as associate fellow at Warwick Business School carried out a detailed study of violent game development. "Classification is not the issue, proactive responsibility is", added Dr Stacey. The recent Warwick Business School (WBS) study of violent game development revealed that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is of little or no concern to UK PC/Console game developers and publishers; one publisher paid lip-service to it on their website. The study also revealed however that the UK mobile game development sector leads the way by proactively designing-in responsibility to their content through their 'reflective' and collaborative practices. The WBS study also suggests guidelines for the wider games industry to adopt in terms of proactive responsibility and innovation. Classification is not the issue or the answer since an adult can still easily buy a game for a child. Classifying games like films could even make violent games more attractive to children. Children aspire to do adult things.
Dr Stacey and Professor Nandhakumar carried out detailed field research with mobile game development studios in London and Dundee last summer, funded by Warwick Business School. The study also recommends that greater communication take place between the games development industry and policymakers in order to create a better understanding of the industry. Dr Stacey further suggests that more games developers need to speak out against violent games as his study identified a degree of reticence and even denial over the question of violence.