German Politico Calls For Ban On Violent Games 61
GamePolitics reports that Germany's new coalition government wants to limit the development and production of violent games. From the article: "... Andreas Scheuer, a parliamentarian serving under the banner of the conservative Christian Social Union, told Der Spiegel that violent games 'have no place in Germany's bedrooms.' Scheuer added that parents must be responsible for what their children play, but that the German government could help less media-savvy parents by introducing a 'complete ban' on violent games. Along with movies, games are already subject to a rating process."
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Unbelievable. Oh, wait. Yeah, it is. (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a tradeoff. Most people here in Germany understand English pretty well - in fact, good enough to play an English video game. So they're banning violent video games, and all it will do is increase piracy. Nice people in the states that have the violent video games will put them on bittorrent, the people here will download. It's a tradeoff - should we try to crack down on copyright infringement and stealing and piracy, or should we try to restrict an activity which has yet to be conclusively proven to actually cause violence? They can't just ban the internet, can they?
My mom never let me play anything violent until I was 16. Once I did, I found fun in them but I was partially horrified at what I saw. This was a good experience. I was old enough to be mature enough to realize that I can't do in real life what I can do in these games, yet I was young enough for my mind to wrap around the idea of "I don't want this to happen to me in real life, do I?". So I can play all the violent games. It doesn't fase me a bit, in fact I think its pretty damn fun. But anybody that knows me in person knows exactly that I won't hurt a fly. I let out my anger in the game, and am a calm person when it matters.
Re:Yes, they do (Score:4, Interesting)
How about the idea that the German government has no place in their citizens' bedrooms?
Amen.
There are already video games that are verboten in Germany because of their violent content, e.g. Manhunt. This game has been confiscated from video game stores.
In addition, we have some kind of red list (called the Index), which includes all games that are rated suitable only for adults (18+). Those can't be sold in store areas that minor can access (i.e. they must be in a seperate room). You cannot advertise these games, you cannot print reviews of these games.
Because of this, some video game companies don't even try to sell some games in Germany. For instance, you can't buy God Of War (!) in Germany. If I want it, I have to import it from the UK or Austria.
Fuckers.