3:37 AM on 01.11.2007
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Nex
According to this story found on Reuters, Franco Frattini (the EU Justice and Security Commissioner) has decided that Germany has the right idea about violent games. Apparently the rest of the EU has been too lenient regarding the sale of games to minors in the past, so Frattini (whose name could only be more Italian if it was "Earnesto Spaghetti-Os") believes the entireity of the EU should create a uniform set of rules regarding violent games. Of course, Europeans still routinely give copious amounts of alcohol to minors, but alcohol has never been proven to cause erratic driving or violent behavior, right?
It goes without saying that the new, uniform rules wouldn't be less stringent than what is currently in place. In Germany, to buy a game considered "too violent", you have to offer sexual favors to a leper and pray that he doesn't steal your skin to replace his rotting carapace. Frattini thinks this kind of hoop-jumping is necessary to keep kids away from the dangerous opiate of video games.
It seems that Europe is sprinting headlong into becoming a continent wide nanny-state. These "morality enforcement" actions, along with some of the more Orwellian things that have been going on in the UK and other countries, have made America's fight against ultra-conservatives seem tame by comparison. The next time the President tells the media that his god backs the war in Iraq, thank that same god that you can still head down to the local Best Buy and pick up a copy of Dead Rising (without getting an itchy rash or a recurring colony of oral crabs).
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Contest:
We have many laws for younger people, like me, if we want to buy new games or movies.. there are really bick buttons on every dvd which is for 18+ ! But just yesterday, i bought a movie which is 18+ ;) (I am 17).
But: The stores dont care about it at all .. the thing is:
They think violent video games makes us young people to murders. I could buy a softair weapon to injure people and learn shooting without any problems. But they think that the video games teach us to kill people. We have a mouse and a keyboard, so we can kill people? Thats so fucking stupid. I hate this.
There were two (2!!!) kids who killed some teachers and pupils in a school. They both played Counter Strike 1.6.
We have 80 Million People living in Germany, 2 of them are making this shit. i think about 20% of the people in germany already played cs 1.6 or a game like that.. now because of these 2 little asses EVERYBODY IN GERMANY!! will get harder rules for these games.
So, when i am 18, i dont want rules that forbid me to play the games i want. Everybody who is 18 and above, even 50 years old, are not allowed to play these games if germany thinks they can stop it.
The only thing that they are doing is: Everybody will just download the US Versions of the games. Thats all.
God Damn i am so fucking pissed.
(I told you i am from Germany, so i am sorry about the bad grammar)
In December Frattini's been already slapped because of his outbursts on this subject. Viviane Reding, commissioner for the information society and media, said: "It is...very unfortunate that my services were not pre-consulted before your letter to the Ministers of Interior was sent out,". She was referring to the PEGI self-regulation system, which actually is been now enforced by Italy as a useful tool in the new law the Italian government is tuning right now. That's why Frattini's new crusade looks pretty odd to me... No one is talking about censorship or "blocks" on contents.
for more informations: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/24/reding_said_to_frattini/
Wait, what?
wait isn't legal in Vegas to?
damn i need some sleep.
< part2 >
Or maybe they'll just give us the same watered down titles that the rest of the Euros have to suffer with...
US - No alcohol for you, go run a hooker over in GTA
Both make so much sense
Damn good bashing.
Of course, Americans still let you drive vehicles without any proper instructions whatsoever 5 years before they deem you mature enough to handle a bud and sell you a sniper rifle 3 years before you can have your first Tequila shot. But Guns have never been proven to hurt poeple and no one was ever run over by some 16 year old high schooler, right?
however if it'sjust broad bans. then i have a problem. Limit exposure to the kiddies. i'm 22. i should be able to play games were a brutally kill people. Cause thats my reward for putting up with 22 years worth of bullshit.
I see. They won't even allow the "porn room" type deal where all the "adult" videos are in a room where only adults are allowed to go? Thats shitty. I suppose that does drop sales.
Still I haven't heard very many people throwing up better ways to keep children from getting these games. It's all neat to bitch and moan about censorship. But if you don't like how things are you need to make a better way of doing it and present that way to the people in charge. Cause obviously they don't want kids to have this stuff and they don't care how thats done.
I don't see a problem then. Children shouldn't be exposed to it. It may inconvice store owners into droping the product, fine. The system needs to change. You don't show barebreasted titty mags in public areas, you don't need to show gore fests video games there either. The industry will just have to cope and evolve. Finding out ways to advertise other then just sitting on a shelf. However i don't see this shelf advertizing dying out since adults could very well still into into adult entertainment areas if the store has enough fore-thought to make one.
As I also said before, I'm not worried about this. The EU's legislature system just isn't for this kind of thing, and I don't see many people taking this guy all too seriously. He probably just saw how popular anti-gaming crusades were in the states, and tried to hitch a ride on their coattails.
BTW - USA isn't in an Orwellian nightmare already? Just because you can buy Dead Rising and don't see camera's on the street you actually think your privacy and freedom is secure. Guess you're lucky they can't vote Bush in for a third term and get the draft reinstated.
The rise of the nanny-state has in all fairness been (in Britain at least) a greater leaning towards American ideals. Only since the ill-fated war on terror and Blair's love affair with Bush have such ideas as a constitution or Britishness tests entered discussion. These are the things that encroach upon our freedoms, yet they are the foundations of American society.