Germany is very sensitive toward violence, doubtless thanks to the country's inglorious past. However, it doesn't seen so worried about the mass censorship that also went on during its most bloody era, since a new law has been passed to strengthen the lockdown on so-called "violence" videogames in the region.
A NeoGaf member translated a German article which talks about the new restrictions put in place before a "killerspiele" (game with violent content) can be given any sort of rating. While not an outright ban, the German government has created so many hoops to jump through that it effectively has killed off any reason for a publisher to bother releasing there. The new law is going to block far more games than before.
This will affect gaming in general, not just console-based videogames. In the past, only what the government deemed a "glorification" of violence was stamped out, but now any kind of "realistic, cruel or lurid depiction" of violent or murderous content is going to get the can. This is because it's far more healthy to deny that violence ever happens and live in a kind of utopian dream world where we all clap tamborines and braid our hair among the daisies and singing pink goats.
Germany is the country that would currently like to see its worrying social restrictions extended to all of Europe, and I wouldn't advise any country that believes itself to be developed and evolved past the days of burning witches to follow the Germanic lead. This kind of single-minded censorship should have ended by now.
Maybe this is just a way to stop kids from shooting their grandfathers in Medal of Honor.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
11:34 AM on 12.19.2007
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Can Germans import FPS games or any game with violent content from outside the country, but from within the EU without being subject to scrutiny??
>.>
*clap* *clap*
Well done Mr. Sterling, well done. On a side note, beer, latex, scatology, and cuckoo clocks still fly in German video games. So be sure to get your fill. Also, anti-Semetism...no, wait, that probably is gone.
Heroin Bob: Yeah! What about the Nazis?
Resident of Wyoming: Well, I don't see Nazis as an evil... I see them more as ... a gathering of people.
Many shops import English language versions of films, games and books from the UK, USA and even Austria and the like to give customers what they want, but you may not advertise the fact. I order all my things from importers because of draconian idiocy forced on us here.
I also find it ironic that the Germans are some of the most dedicated gamers, German clans and fansites are from what I understand very big and well organised.
Shit, I thought at least here at Destructiod I'd be safe from that ridiculous discussion...
By the way, Jim: The singular form of "Killerspiele" is "Killerspiel". Just a minor detail. ;)
Please let this be just a very bad dream! This cannot be true! No! If I can't get No More Heroes just because the German gouvernment thinks that it is too violent (even the "black dust edition") and ban this game here... Let's just say that I would be very VERY angry.
Our politics have always been crazy about violence. I'm waiting for the day, when every last bit of violence is forbidden and some kid shoots up his school. What are they going to blame next? Porn?
Well, thank God there are imports.
As of now it's only a draft (the second, to be specific), which has to be discussed in the Bundestag (lower house of the German parliament) and the Bundesrat (upper house of the German parliament) BEFORE becoming "the" law...
Do I think it will pass? Probably... in some form or another...
The only way to change that is for the gamer community to speak up outside its niche and to the mainstream media. Politicians look at the game boxes and a couple of violent snapshots and that's all they know about games..Oh! And that games are a "Kids"thing.
Other then that... censorship. A topic equaled in explosiveness amongst various communities only by ratings, Jack Thompson and horribly, gory crimes. Whilst I do think that there should be some level of control because moronic children and teens always think it's cool to buy games not intended for them and shoot everything into a bloody pulp, I don't think you should completely ban shooter games. They are a way of releasing stress (my personal opinion wants me to add "stupid" to that statement, but never mind me), and jut suffer from bad PR because they're frequently abused by lunatics and used as a scapegoat for possibly undefeatable problems within out society. Also, blaming video games seems to have become a sport amongst news channels and mass media, since they are always mentioned in glaring detail whislt other issues, for example the fact that the "Mortal Kombat Murderers" were completely drunk, are disregarded although they give the thing a totally different spin.
However, I don't think that the brutal, mindless slaughter of six millions of people (people who dies in the resulting war not counted) is nothing to be "hailed" by making a game about it. I don't say we should forget it and just go on, but I don't think making a game out of it is appropriate.
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