The second red warning sign isn't required by law but some stores apply them on their own since the shooting. Some stores even stopped selling games 18+. And in my opinion, videogames are already treated worse than cigarettes here. Cigarettes are socially accepted, unlike videogames. It's okay for you to smoke but god forbid, if you play videogames...you're practically a sick psycho and should be locked away.

Soon they will have boxs with just rating and it can be a gamble if you pick the right one.

Here's one German reader shedding light:

Yes, there is some kind of hysteria at the moment here in the land of writers and thinkers. Being a passionate gamer and a teacher at the same time, I must admit that, to a certain degree, I understand this hysteria. The public is getting more and more worried about what our kids are doing in their locked up rooms. Events like the "gun rampage" have brought to the public conscience that a growing number of adolescents feels left alone and seeks for salvation in entertainment that is clearly not suited for their age. It seems to be the easy way out for parents, politians and preceptors to find a scapegoat in violent video games.
I totally agree with the majority of the German gaming community that a shortsighted and hasty discussion is happening out here at the moment. Censorship has never been (and will never be) the solution for the shortcomings of a society when it comes to dealing with teenagers feeling alienated by their own evironment, be it teachers, parents or peers.
However, I totally agree that the majority of "killer-games" (like they are called in the media) like GTA, Far Cry or the like are totally inadequate in the hands of minors. The laws are there, now it's up to the parents to enforce those laws and make sure that their 15-year-olds don't spend their free time killing pixel people in their boy caves. Violent videogames, just as cigarettes and pornogrophy, are no good in our kids' hands.
Us adults however: Game on!

@falinter
I saw that weird shit.

Someone should stand up and get the support of the people. maybe hold a rally?
speeches would be good too.

update: the scene may seem familiar, but the place is different. many liquor stores are losing their underage customers to video game dispensaries. "Hey man, buy me Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown?"

I totally agree with you, KIKOXP.
Being a German gamer is not as easy as it is in other countries. Most adult games come out edited and cut, that's the reason why most coregamers only buy via the internet. Walk in the store and buy Fallout 3 and you get a version that is rated and only buyable by people over 18 years and it is still cut. No blood and gore. In Germany we have strict laws for videogames but even as an adult they (who? the USK) force you to play the censored stuff. We even suffer from our Xbox Live Marketplace that doesn't let us download things like Doom or Duke Nukem 3D which have been banned when originally released for PC in the 90s or Gears of War mappacks or english voiced DLC for Fallout 3.
Naturally in times of the internet this doesn't work. Who wants to get the uncut games, will get them, wether he is over or under 18. (And if you are really into tech you can trick the XBL marketplace via proxy)
The thing is that in Germany whenever youth brutality happens, they (the press and the politics of the conservative CDU) just search for the obvious scapegoat that they can blame easily nationwide instead of thinking about the problems that a society with one of Europe's worst school system (PISA study) and 'care only for yourself' mentality causes.

@ Sam:
Sadly, you're wrong.
Gamers are the new Jews.

hello, my name is ALeks_M from german videogamesblog onipepper.de the stickers indeed are gettin bigger and bigger. there is a great discussion going around throughout the republic because of the possible coherency between this so titeled "killergames" and persons running amok. the word "killergames" is used by the yellow press in an inflationary way for pure sensationalism, creating a scapegoat in order to make things easy and understandable. and this leads most people into a total false direction and makes it very easy to hide social, political and educational mistakes behind it. videogames for me are art, reflecting the world outside with all its matters and the world is not just a nice place...i am very critical about this journey and it really makes it very hard for us german videogameblog writers, cause restrictions can be a terrible pain in the ass. hopefully there will be some good discussions going on in our country about this subject, that aren't biased and kept fair. we'll see...

I can only agree with my fellow Germans. I have to fear to be declared an outcast if I publicly declare that I play games that involve shooting at a bunch of polygons. As someone who wants to get into the industry this is especially tough for me because the public is scaring away the people that would employ me once I get off of university.

Usually it is really hard to unite games in a common cause, like Jim already hat to learn with his short "Gamers for Gaming" experience. We are just too used to fighting with each other. The consoles wars alwas do a good job at dividing the masses and more importantly gaming is a competitive activity which further strengthens the feeling of rivalry.

But in this case I believe it would benefit us, if we would at least get all the German gamers here on Destructoid into one boat. We might not be able to influence the way they treat our medium, but at least we could group together and try. 2009 is a voting year and there are millions of us out there. If we could just get a large enough part of these people to vote for the right party, we could make at least a little bit of a difference.

I believe that from the Destructoid community which somehow is almost miraculously strong there can spring a force of opposition, that can at the very least stirr up some opposition and garner some interest amongs German gamers and maybe even the press.

Mabye I'll make this my first Blogpost on Destructoid. I think I'm gonna do this first thing tomorrow morning. But for today I'm just too tired to make an awful lot of sense.

I didn't know rockstar were working on a ds game called 39.99. i think i noticed a promotion for chinatown wars somewhere but i can barely make out its 39.99 with all those stickers and labels on it.

obviously i kid. But whats the point why not just ban it in germany and be done with it.

@T045T: For a myriad of reasons.
For once as I already mentioned there is something about the destructoid community that is different to all German websites. Somehow Niero and the Editors managed to get gamers into their community that are willing to get their hands dirty and work done. If you try to rally for support in other (german) communities the only thing you'll here is: "What are we gonna do? Games don't have a lobby. We don't stand a chance" They just all act like ostriches meaning they put their heads in the sand and hope for better times.

Also the fact that Dtoid is a English-language website in my mind would work in our favour. It's sort of a natural selection. If you managed to get good enough in a second language that usually means that you are not a complete retard an that would help, keeping it troll free, which is vital, if you ever want to be taken seriously.

Another problem is that if I were to start a movement from a German site, all the Admins on those sites would just tell me to get my own site. Well I don't have the money for that. I'm planning on entering university this year so money is already a big issue.
On Dtoid however these movements are actively encourage by the admins and the editors. (as long as they stay inside of legal boundaries of course.)

It's funny that you mention the Pirate Party. The immediately sprang to my mind, while I typed the words "the right party". Something tells me that none of the Partys in the Bundestag right now will help us, so I really think we should use the advantage our system has over the American two party system and vote for an alternative party. The only problem is, we need over 5% of all votes to get them into the Bundestag, and I don't see this happening. At least not in the small timeframe that is left until the election.

All prices in Germany have to be declared including all taxes so yeah it's with VAT. It's just this little game of 1:1 conversion that has been going on ever since we got the Euro. And before that it was 1:2 when we still had the Deutsche Mark. But we in Germnay usually earn more money than you Americans do, so it sort of evens out again. But I still wouldn't mind getting my games cheaper. Or getting them at all.

Or if I thin about it, why do I care at all? I'm importing everything from the UK anyway. Mainly because those USK labels (not the round one) are so goddam ugly and since they increased the size by law they are just ridiculously big. And the are NOT stickers. They are printed onto the cover because the law requires them to do so.

I see stuff like this at Canadian Gamestops/EB Games, Games sometimes have a giant red sticker on them that say "Are you 17?"

only for the protocol:
german version

us version

@unknown user:
I think nobody here is blaming the USK, they're doing a good job, no question. But things like the size of the stickers and the overall "hate" against games and gamers in the society from a political standpoint is getting quite out of control, in my opinion. I don't know, maybe I'm going to write a blog about it.

Fingers crossed they don't open up the death camps again, for gamers this time.

They seem to have a history of problems with acceptance over there hey.