They've had all they can stands, they can't stands no more. German officials have been having a field day in targeting the games industry over the past few years, banning products at whim like capricious Gods. It would seem, however, that Germany is finally starting to go too far, and the seeds of rebellion have been sewn among the country's gaming population.
Things begun with a protest march, where an estimated 400 indignant Germans patrolled Karlsruhe to make their distaste for the government's actions known. This small demonstration is only the beginning, however, with a further three protests scheduled to launch simultaneously on July 25 in Cologne, Karlsruhe and Berlin.
In addition to this, a petition has been formed in the official forum of the Bundestag. Destructoid reader Christian wanted us to spread the word about the petition, and we're more than happy to oblige. If the petition reaches 50000 signatures, the authorities are bound by law to review the situation and discuss it with the people. The petition can be signed right here. If you're a German Destructoid member, we highly recommend that you do this thing.
Anything, videogames included, can be harmful in the wrong hands. However, the world should not be governed based upon what could happen to the minority, but to the majority. Germany has forgotten this and is currently oppressing the rights of gamers to choose what they can and can't play. It's great to see that German gamers are finally doing something about this, and we wish them all the best.
Contest:
8:30 PM on 07.08.2009
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Finish the fight!
Now, if we could just get aussie gamers to do the same, and we can stamp out these game hating beggars, that want to trash our way of life.
Give 'em hell!
I wish them the best of luck in this struggle. Its always great to see the good fight being fought.
I really hope this works & other countries take notice.
This paranoia against games is doing people no good.
Im in the EU but I dont think that counts, does it?
Good luck german gamers, please keep us posted.
Seriously though, I hope they can get to those 50,000 sigs to end this stupid censorship bullshit. When people's freedoms are on the line, they gotta fight to get them back. Way to go German gamers, and good luck to you.
P.S.
Can I sign even though I'm not German, or no?
-Only German citizens can sign this petition.
-Normal petitions are excluded from this rule. But this is a petition on a server of our parliament the "Bundestag" and therefore counts for this law.
-@EdgyGuy Unfortunately our voting system doesn't work like this. We do vote for individual members of parliament in our electoral districts but we also have to vote a partie's list. Of course all those obnoxious hardliners are on that list. As long as the party gets more than 5% of the votes(which is the mandatory minimum to get into the Bundestag) people on that list will get into the Bundestag. Now just think there were three more small parties in the USA and as long as the GOP gets 5% of the total votes they are in the Congress. In a system like that you can't get rid of the big parties. It's embarassingly flawed. And the sad thing is you Americans helped create it and approved of it after WW2.
@dgschrei
Yes, the german election system is flawed, but not as much as you might think. I guess that it still makes a huge difference who you vote for, and gamers can take an influence by doing a vote. If only vote participation in Germany would be higher...
Also, I'm glad Germany has a venue for the public to address grievances, despite the bureaucracy I assume they have to go through in order to do so.
It shouldnt be a problem for gamers there to throw off a ~100k+ protest....
Hopefully this will raise some awareness or at least start a more open minded discussion over media as well, showing opinions other than that "'killer games' make people run amok".
Going to sign this.
Come, my compatriots and sign this petition so that German gamers can life in freedom!
Over 134.000 people signed it in less than 6 weeks (the 50.000 mark was reached after about 4 days). They all demanded do delete this stuff instead of block it.
Guess what happend.
First thing: Many politicians basically said that all those people support child pornography, demand free access to it and so on.
Second thing: They completely ignored the petition (at least the 2 largest Partys, but for them it doesn't matter what the other partys says.
And now we have a law to block child pornography via DNS manipilation. You can bypass this in just a few seconds.
Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NNG5I6DBm0
This petition will also be completely useless.
The DNS blocking of internet pages with child pornography is 1000000bn times more disputable than the absurd producing and vending ban of video games with fictional violence against virtual beings.
That makes even the comparison of the petitions ridiculous!
In addition mentioned "petition against an internet blocking framework" was able to mobilze and to alert the public. As a result many people went through the registering process of the petition page and are now used to the signing procedure and to the petition process itself.
Most gamers are very lethargic beings when it comes to politics. The petition is the first real use of democratic tools against the political dispraise against
gaming and gamers in Germany. The petition is only the beginning. If it doesn't help we will protest, boycott and fight for our freedom!