German Police Union Chief Wants Violent Game Ban After Shooting

A recent shooting in Germany has raised the ire of many politicians and officials, and they're turning to video games as a scapegoat after it was revealed that the shooter was a fan of Counterstrike and played Far Cry 2 the night before the rampage. First, a major retailer decided to drop mature-rated games altogether, and then the Minister for Social Affairs suggested restricting "addictive games," such as World of Warcraft, to adults only. Despite an unfavorable reaction from gamers and game developers alike, the chief of Germany's national police union has now spoken out against violent games as well, saying, "The world would be no poorer if there were no more killergames."

Cops

[McGiraf]

The world would be no poorer if there were no more killergames.

or killercops, for that matter.

If Police would not carry guns, less people would get killed.

Re:Right.

[sackvillian]

To say that viewing pornography everyday, where women are treated like beautiful objects at best, and dogshit at worst, wouldn't have an effect on one's outlook is rubbish. You can't even watch a romantic comedy everyday without it affecting your views - that is basic psychology, empirically proven. So to say that porn causes rape or anything like that would be silly, but to say that it is totally innocent is equally so. The same is true for video games, violent or otherwise. Whether the probably-small destructive effect of porn and video games warrant a rather large censoring is the question.

lack of skill in the next generation

[arekusu_ou]

During the "interviews" regarding WCG, most gamers start losing their highly competitive edge by 25. They're as young as 14-15. These people can make 100+ grand a year. Restricting gaming to adults is ridiculous and hurting people's livelihoods.

You think gaming is dangerous? How many people suffer more serious injuries than carpal tunnel syndrome in sports like Hockey, Football and Boxing? And how sick is Olympic gymnastics. Besides the fact they stunt their growths, and their level of obsession is insane.

You know what I think, Germany is bitter about not winning WCG, what with it being in their country in 2008 and is doing this so they can say, oh well, our competitors couldn't practice till they were 17 unlike the Koreans.

Besides if we don't practice zombie hunting, and anti-terrorist efforts, those losers who don't have experience will be victims of the zombie hordes and freak out if an AK47 lands in their hands and they have to defend themselves.

But seriously. Critical thinking skills. Hand-eye coordination. Prioritizing. Improved Reflexes and Motor skills. Typing Speed. Memorizing. Build-order. Tactics. Resource management. Tolerance to Mundane and repetitive actions. These are all skills garnered from games like SC, RE, CS, WC, racing, Civilization. These are skills maybe if our politicians had, they wouldn't have screwed up the world so much.

Re:Cue correlation != causation...

[CannonballHead]

Ok, so mod me -1 Scary Dude, but would still appreciate some reasoning more than simply "you don't get it."

Simple question: what is "separating" pretend from real?

I know what it is. I believe that I can separate pretend from the real. I've played rpgs, I've got a fairly active imagination, I've read quite a bit of literature (mostly pre-1900 and probably primarily 19th century). When it is fiction, I know it's not true. I also know that when authors write fictional stories, there is usually a worldview behind it. When I watch a movie (that isn't actual footage) I know it is not true, but I also know that directors/screenwriters make points, raise issues, have agendas, etc., all of which come out in their movies.

If I was simply to say, for the purpose of argument, that "if it's fiction, it has no affect on me," I'd be flat out lying. I really doubt that millions of people read Harry Potter books with a completely objective, emotionally unattached mind, analyzing it solely for literary reasons. I would venture to say that most people that read fiction read it because they like it; and I'd venture further to say that fiction (be it movies, video games, books, music, or whatever) is largely popular because it's a means of escaping (escapism...). No, I am not saying that escaping is inherently bad or something like that.

Re:Maybe bullets first?

[amilo100]

I was shocked when this happened. I mean - Michael Moore told me that these types of things would never happen in a country with strict gun control law. He also said that modern day Germany was fairly peaceful and the main culprit in American school shootings was American gun culture.

Yet two awful school shootings happened in Germany in the last 10 years. How could this happen? Germany with a population of 1 4th that of the USA have more school shootings.

Re:Oh common...

[lordtoran]

True. We also don't like having our shopping bags packed by the cashier. This happened to me the first time two months ago in Spain and I admit I was alienated at first, but quickly got used to it because it was a time saver.

Re:Maybe bullets first?

[wizardforce]

I draw the line at the point where the use of said device *will* kill someone outside of your property in its current placement. In other words, no biological weapons, no nukes and no explosives powerful enough to kill someone off of your property if it is detonated. Anything below that requires some level of cognition to *reliably* kill someone. Anything on your property that can not endanger anyone but yourself is your business.