Yesterday, justice ministers in the European Union (haha) promised that they’d tighten regulations on the sale of ‘violent’ videogames to minors, going to lengths, like many ignorant organizations, to distinguish videogames from other forms of media like they’re somehow worse. Of course, calling them “killer games” as if gaming is a new and horrific strain of AIDS really helps matters.
“There is broad consensus that much more needs to be done,” stated German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, flying the flag for Germany’s obsession with strangling the videogame market, presumabley because most games on the shelves involve killing their ancestors. Seriously, with all the bannings Germany would like to slap on games, one wonders if Hitler ever left the place.
Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini added that the definition of a “killer game” needed to have a solid criteria. Actually, it doesn’t, because it’s a pitiful, pathetic, scaremongering term that continues to see society mentally stuck in the dark ages. We laugh as we look back on the hysterical witch trials of medieval times, but how depressingly amusing it is to see that a large amount of the population never stopped, they just changed the label.
Among all the ineffectual bluster of these so-called officials, there is talk of new age restrictions, sanctions against retailers to stop them selling games to children and strengthened parental advisory warnings. That’s all well and good, although I believe it’s up to a parent to decide what entertainment their child is smart enough to enjoy, but we can do without sensationalist terms like “killer games” now, can’t we? Oh wait, sorry, I forgot that most of these ‘officials’ lack the maturity to be able to stop with such offensive, thoughtless and childlike insinuations.
While this goes on, actual crime is rampant, public transportation is a joke and our healthcare system is dangerous at best, but who gives a stuff about actual issues when the OMG KILLAR GAMEZ are out there?
[Via Next Gen]
