Germany to Ban All Violent Games

[Webs961]

Top German officials have agreed to a ban on the sale and production of all video games which depict "...the killing of people or other cruel or unhuman acts of violence against humans or manlike characters." The decision came after a meeting of all sixteen German state ministers convened to discuss the issue in detail.

The country has been infamously hard on violent video games before now, but an outright ban would result in a huge loss for the video games industry in one of its most successful European countries.

The law would result in no Call of Duty, no God of War, no Crysis, no World of Warcraft, no BioShock, no Uncharted, and no Grand Theft Auto.

Moreover, since a ban on the production of violent games would also be included in the law, German studios, such as Crytek, would have to outsource development to other countries.

The law is hoped to come into effect before the country's federal elections in September. The minister of the interior of Lower Saxony commented:

"Violent games lower the inhibition level for real violence and spree killers have again and again played such before they did the crime."

One can only hope that the German parliament will carefully evaluate the merits of this ban on the German economy before pressing forward.

Source: Gamezine

[iQue]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

Wow... this could potentially be devastating for gaming as a whole... Germany has a huge gaming community, losing all those players (though I doubt that many will stop playing just like that) and games coming out would be downright sad.

Studios would likely move to other countries but this doesn't seem very good.

[JoMaMaz]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

Wow... this could potentially be devastating for gaming as a whole... Germany has a huge gaming community, losing all those players (though I doubt that many will stop playing just like that) and games coming out would be downright sad.

Studios would likely move to other countries but this doesn't seem very good.

The entire country as a whole has a high number of computers per household, wow, this is ridiculous! And that last quote about, "Violent games lower the inhibition level for real violence and spree killers have again and again played such before they did the crime."

What about all of the frickin' nuts who murder and have never played a game?!?!? What are they gonna do for them. This is just stupid govt policy trying to act like they're doing something. Notice elections were coming up.

[Chaoticrambo]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

I feel bad for those in Germany if this could really potentially be instated.

I can understand were some countries ban certain games that are over-the-top or in some way could be considered un-patriotic for that specific country, but banning violent games as a hole? - what about movies with violence? I would be hard pressed to find many movies without any violence at all.

[BobTheJob]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

Isn't there just about zero evidence that playing violent video games makes a person violent. Heck, I play violent video games all the time, and I don't want to kill anything larger than a mosquito.

[thejeran]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

Isn't there just about zero evidence that playing violent video games makes a person violent. Heck, I play violent video games all the time, and I don't want to kill anything larger than a mosquito.

That one kid in (dont remember but it was on TGN awhile ago) killed a cab driver cause he wanted to see if it was as easy as in GTA.

[iQue]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

That one kid in (dont remember but it was on TGN awhile ago) killed a cab driver cause he wanted to see if it was as easy as in GTA.

That's not exactly evidence - and he might have killed that cab driver to see if it was as easy in the movies, books, paint-by-colours or whatever the kid does on his free time.

Games doesn't make normal people more violent, but it could potentially be dangerous for people that already have a screw loose. However games aren't a bigger issue than what movies, music and similar is

[Namakan]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

*Goes to set up game black market in Germany*

[imported_Whiskey]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

Expect piracy rates in Germany to skyrocket if this goes through. :|:

[Yukiism]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

I think i'll be selling some of my games in Germany for ridiculous prices

[teetsaar123]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

I think i'll be selling some of my games in Germany for ridiculous prices

*Business!

[[GCA]Tim270]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

Its quite ridiculous when you take a step back and think that computer games have only been around you know 20 years or so. How many people have died before computer games were even invented, the world's cruellest dictators never played a computer game. I cant understand games like manhunt and maybe GTA, but stuff like CoD is just stupid, its all about context and how the games portrays the actual killing of people.

[[55RA]W|Pvt.shiftydood]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

i bet they banned COD WaW cos you get to kill Germans.

[Micster]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

Think about the industry!

[Dairuka]

Re: Germany to Ban All Violent Games

They should ban religion while they're at it. Statistically, more people have died in the name of God, than in the name of Grand Theft Auto.

Note for those who don't understand: I was trying to be unrealistic to show how ridiculous a ban on video games really is.