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Germany’s 16 Interior Ministers asked the Bundestag to ban production and distribution of violent video games in the country, and are hoping the new sanction goes into effect before elections take place on September 27.
The ban comes on the heels of the recent school shootings that have occurred in the country, most notably the Winnenden shooting on March 11.
If passed, not only would German consumers not be able to purchase the games at retail, but German developers like Crytek would be required by law to outsource development of any game the law deems violent.
Or move its headquarters to another country.
More over on GamePolitics.
Viewing 21 responses
anasui said:
the wonders of import will again make this thing useless
Macrike said:
Oh well, no God of War III for our German neighbours then. Import ftw.
Retroid said:
This is very well thought out and bound to be a huge success.
Superfrog said:
It’s not going to happen, they (the interior ministers) already tried it before.
Michael O'Connor said:
“This is very well thought out and bound to be a huge success.”
I detect a hint of sarcasm.
JesteR said:
Amazon.co.uk will get even more money from germans. Or people just download it from torrent. This law just kills any kind of german developer scene. How far away from reality can politicians be?
Robo_1 said:
The nauseating process of politics. Despite no evidence linking violent games to violent crime, they’ve found their scapegoat and they’re going to run with it for all to see.
I wonder if Hitler was a big Call of Duty fan
jnms said:
@Robo_1, perhaps Hitler played violent board games, there must be a link to gaming somewhere!!!!
wz said:
Will not happen.
BULArmy said:
Yeah and the piracy will grow in Germany because of that law. I thing that Germany go to far. Violent games are not the biggest problem of our society.
bradleyw said:
Terrible idea. Video games are not the problem. Why dont they blame alcohol or bad parenting or tv or something…HELL no they won’t, so who gets the dump taken on…video games
OnkelMaik said:
It is a product of the current election campaign. Our politicians are simply too old.
Greetings from a poor German…
polygem said:
sigh – this is so stupid – where is the connection between a game and violence that happens in reality? what about a connection between meat eating causing violonce then? or superstar tv shows causing inferiority complexes in kids…f%&k it…amazon.co.uk and austria – my money will be yours.
kid amok
polygem said:
yea OnkelMaik dirty empowered old men and women who lost touch – its sad
mtothew said:
you know i love my country – but i hate the politicians. they blame videogames for a much deeper problem. integration doesn’t work well in some cities or areas, our school system is so old and discirminates students that seem to be “stupid”, actually, they just need help and voila, they could be as smart as anyone else. but that would be too complicated to solve, violent videogames are such a convenient excuse for being lazy and saving money in the wrong places. why cant they face the fact that its something young people (and some older people as well) do, its a new thing they didnt have when they were young – why ruin it? why ruin one economic branch?
JesteR said:
Integration is the wrong word because that refers to foreign people living in Germany. School shooter were all germans as far as i know so far.
mtothew said:
yeah i know but thats one problem here. im not talking about school shootings only, its also about violence. politicians think young people are violent because of these games and the feelings that stop you from killing or hurting someone go away by playing these games. so yeah, its not about integration concerning the shootings, but its part of the debate
Superfrog said:
It’s a generational conflict. The older generation (= still the majority of politicians in Germany) thinks that it knows everything about video games from theory, but it doesn’t. It’s the same as in other countries, think Jack Thompson x50. But since the end of WWII, Germany is traditionally über-cautious and very sceptical when it comes to any kind of new media. It’s seen as either kid’s stuff or dangerous. They try to avoid any possible “danger” to the society. It’s sick and stupid, but it won’t change much until the generation that grew up with games comes to power… :/
JesteR said:
Hm i dont think they are über-cautious. I can not think of any movies that got banned like Saw or so. Those movies are pretty violent but the politicians dont seem to have a problem with it. Maybe it because they like movies too and they dont play games? I can only hope when a younger generations of politicians comes into power that they changed it back to normal.
Superfrog said:
Movies as a medium are more established than games. Even though many violent movies don’t see an uncut release in germany, they are not even closely as much in the pillory as games are.
Those politicians at the age of 45 to 65 are convinced out of theory that the interactive component of playing games is more dangerous than passively watching movies. And they use the fact that most of the school shooters more or less played Counter-Strike as “proof” that there is some connection. At the same time, they ignore that 90% of all boys of the same age probably play CS, too. And CS is not even violent. It’s ridiculous…
TheTwelve said:
Germany is SO eager to get rid of their past that now they’re going overboard.
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