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Censorship Games

Turkish Ministry Recommends Banning Minecraft -- Over Violence 91

Posted by Soulskill from the weapons-of-mass-construction dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Minecraft is known for a lot of things. It's a fantastic creative outlet and the digital sandbox of youngsters' dreams, for instance. The game has also been known to raise the ire of unrelated companies who somehow think all that creativity by gamers is something that can be sued over. It's known for amazing user-generated content, including games within games and replicas of entire cities. The nation of Turkey is known for very different things. It's a country that absolutely loves to censor stuff, for instance. And, thanks to recent developments, Turkey is also known as a great place to get a front-row look at the incredible violence done by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. But the Turkish government has a plan to keep its youngsters from witnessing too much violence: it is calling to ban Minecraft.
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Turkish Ministry Recommends Banning Minecraft -- Over Violence More

Turkish Ministry Recommends Banning Minecraft -- Over Violence

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  • Let's ban Minecraft! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    My kids will just play Call of Duty instead!

    • In Turkey that might constitute non-fictional training.

    • Re:Let's ban Minecraft! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Dutch Gun ( 899105 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @12:47AM (#49231373)

      Adults tend to get nervous about insanely popular trends or hobbies with kids that they don't exactly understand. They're banning it because it's so stupidly popular with kids, not because it's violent. The problem is that it's such an inherently non-violent game that they end up looking rather silly describing it as such, essentially proving the point that they have no idea what the game actually plays like.

      Of course, they'd look even more foolish if they told the truth, which is "We don't know exactly what this Minecraft thing is that our kids are spending all day playing. So, we decided to ban it just to be safe."

      • Re:Let's ban Minecraft! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @03:09AM (#49231723)

        This.

        If the backwards Turkish government has proven one thing time and again then that it has not the slightest clue about technology and makes even look US senators like the next gen legislator from the future.

        Seriously, any time you're embarrassed about how little your legislator knows about technology and how to use it, just look towards Turkey and you instantly feel better.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward

          That doesn't make me feel better; it makes me feel worse. It's like when my neighbor let his dog run rampant over my lawn for a few months; the fact that there was a major oil-spill destroying thousands of square miles in the Gulf at the time in no way made me appreciate the "good fortune" of having dozens of dog turds scattered about my property.

          Rather than take hidden pleasure in somebody else's misfortune, I'd rather we just get rid of the dog turds in our own government. *That* would make me feel better

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by mwvdlee ( 775178 )

        I think the main reason Minecraft is so popular with kids is exactly because it's a game that most parents are okay with.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @12:35AM (#49231319)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Soccer involves kicking a round spherical ball.
      I'm afraid that children will confuse these balls for people's heads and then go around kicking people's heads in.

      How do you think the game started?

    • Soccer involves kicking a round spherical ball.

      As opposed to a non-round spherical ball...?

  • back in my day (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Back in my day we didn't have this internet or these downloadable games. We had a copy of basic and that was it. If we wanted games we wrote our own games in basic and we liked it that way. Kids these days are so spoiled they don't even have to think for themselves. They just download prepared thoughts from web sites. It's shameful I tell you what.

    • And I'm getting off your lawn, already

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fisted ( 2295862 )
      Well back in my day, our computers were of tubular shape and used to have a pushbutton on one end -- and the tip of a ball point pen on the other.

  • How about parliament? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    They should ban televising their parliament then if they don't want to expose people to violence.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Yeah ... I don't think Minecraft is the worst of their problems:
      Amnesty International record of Turkey [amnesty.org]

      And while they're at it, Turkey should stop buying oil from ISIS. There's a reason ISIS is the best-funded terror group on the planet ... a handful of countries continue to buy oil from them, which ISIS extracts from fields they took over.

    • Not to mention that perhaps their efforts are better off trying to curb their reputation as a last stop tourist destination for ISIS recruits.

  • Executions (Score:5, Funny)

    by Michael Woodhams ( 112247 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @12:58AM (#49231399) Journal

    Of course Minecraft is violent. Do you have any idea how many innocent instructions get executed to make it run?

  • That will certainly help reduce the skyrocketing reports of domestic violence that current takes place in the country. (sarcasm)

  • Confusion (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    If Turkish kids confuse minecraft animals with real animals, then their problem is with a lack of education, not with Minecraft.

  • a "COUNTRY that absolutely loves to censor stuff"? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by beh ( 4759 ) * on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @01:49AM (#49231517)

    Are you sure, it's the COUNTRY that absolutely loves to censor stuff - and not its (elected) government?

    Turkey is a large and very diverse nation - been there twice so far and absolutely loved the parts around Istanbul we visited and the people we met. I just don't think it does the normal people there any justice to leave statements like "their country loves censoring" unchallenged.

    While here in Europe there were some long post 9/11 discussions on whether muslim headscarves should be banned - at the same time in (muslim) Turkey, there were demonstrations against the government, because their government wanted to LIFT a headscarf ban at Turkish universities.

    • Really sad situation there. I visited last year and three years before then. It has changed a lot and it looks almost inevitable now that the secular state will be rolled back. Syria also used to be a tolerant multicultural country that tourist would visit.

      Personally I just find the problem to be religion in general. Most religions eventually degrade from you and 'God' to you and a leader guy who apparently has a special hotline to 'God'. This creates an unaccountable power position, made worse by the leade

      • Re: a "COUNTRY that absolutely loves to censor stu (Score:4, Interesting)

        by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @03:30AM (#49231805) Journal
        The interesting thing about Turkey is that there is (was) a more or less common belief / acceptance of in the secular state as founded by Kemal(Atatürk), with the military having a specific charge to defend that secularity if necessary. They have stepped in before when things got a bit too religious, but the ease with which Erdogan has swept aside those military, cultural and constitutional defenses shows how hard it is to actually defend against a popular leader with followers united through faith. It's also a valuable lesson on the fragility of democracy. Erdogan purportedly said: "Democracy is like riding a tram: once you reach your destination, you get off"; now he may not have actually said it, but he is certainly acting it.

    • Re:a "COUNTRY that absolutely loves to censor stuf (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Kiuas ( 1084567 ) on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @03:29AM (#49231803)

      Are you sure, it's the COUNTRY that absolutely loves to censor stuff - and not its (elected) government?

      The elected government is a result of the people. Turkey is a mostly functioning democracy and they have voted Erdogan into power twice now (well, he wasn't voted for rpime minister but his party was, and later he was elected presisent despite his actions as prime minister). Now, as someone who used to date a secular liberal Turkish woman (who at the time lived in Turkey) a few years back, trust me, I'm more than aware that not all of Turkey or its people support such policies, but unfortunately at this point it seems that most, even the majority does (although in fairness sake, he won the presidential elections with a very narrow margin, just over 51 % if the votes, so the country was/is split on the middle

      Erdogan has gained popularity because he has done some good to the Turkish economy and improved general infrastructure etc. This is all fine and well. Unfortunately the man is also religious bigot and a conservative who's doing his best to slowly dismantle the secular basis which Turkey has maintained ever since Ataturk. There was recently a case of a woman being jailed for having the audacity to stand on a quran. A guy was jailed and is facing charges for (literally) "insulting the president".... Not to mention he handled the riots, the attempted banning of youtube etc etc.... He's an authoritarian through and through when it comes to social issues and rights.

      So either the majority of Turks living in their native country do not realize this, do not care about this, or are actively in favor of it (and outside the larger cities there are still large areas were this sort of conservative islamic rhetoric is popular as hell). Either way the populace is not entirely to blame for his actions, but when you have over half the people voting in favor of a guy who has a track record of favoring banning things he does not agree with, well the country is not exactly blameless either.

      • Indeed, is that why Americans, twice in a row, elected a president who declared two wars on the taxpayer's dime, bankrupted the nation, and destabilized an entire geography - of which, Turkey is right at the border?

        • As the other commenter indicated, the president doesn't declare war. Congress declares war.

          So why would you bring Obama up anyways?

          Obama after all doubled the national debt, he started many wars (http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/272471/fact-checking-the-war-comparisons-between-obama-and-bush/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/23/... [cnn.com]) though two is kind of limiting it a bit, and was elected twice.

    • Oh come on. It's a synecdoche. Are you... not a frequent user of human language?

      Obviously the calls for censorship are not coming from the unanimous entirety of the population, nor from Turkey's inanimate infrastructure and buildings, nor from Turkey's actual soil and rocks and trees.

      When the news reports that the White House said such-and-such, do you express surprise that a 200 year old edifice has achieved sentience and begun meddling in politics?

    • Are you sure, it's the COUNTRY that absolutely loves to censor stuff - and not its (elected) government?

      If you don't stop your government from doing evil, you are complicit, just like if the brain and heart don't stop the hands from doing evil, you are guilty.

      Yes, that implies some dark things about Americans, of which I am one.

    • If you were 'in the parts around Istanbul', that might have made a difference. As is not uncommon generally, or terribly different from arrangements right here at home, your results may vary between some of the more cosmopolitan urban areas and the electorate out in pious hickville.

      Pious hickville won the last round at the polls, which is why the current government alternates between highly controversial 'development' projects practically designed to rub the uppity urbanites' noses in it and pandering to

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 )

      elected hahahah.

      well, perhaps it was elected. IT CAN'T FUCKING BE UNELECTED though and investigators trying to bring up the corruption are fired.

      I guess they found out that minecraft has a chat option.

      at least Erdogan is doing everything he possibly can to keep Turkey out of meeting EU requirements.

    • Looking outside the official explanation, governments are concerned about the use of social gaming as a communications conduit. I believe there have been stories on Slashdot about this. If email is known to be under high surveillance, then the terrorists will seek to communicate in code via Xbox live or Steam.
  • So moral guardians want veto power over game content, with spurious justifications . . . the articles in the "You may like to read:" section are particulary relevant this time.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Perhaps somebody depicted a mohammad?
  • to practice what they preach.

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