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 Digg.com Facebook Google Bookmarks N4G Gamerblips del.icio.us Reddit Slashdot.org StumbleUpon The German Government threatening to ban violent games? That's a disgusting idea. It prevents creativity. Violence has been a part of films, literature, stories and other entertainment mediums for millennia. The Ancient Greeks had stories that had fighting in for gods sake, The Aneid, The Iliad, The Trojan War, Theseus, and Hercules all had senseless violence in. If the German Government passes this, then other governments will follow, probably including ours with it's policy of 'all games of any kind are bad'. Looks like they're living in a dictatorship, again. I'm not sure why the German government feels the need to do this. Is it because of previous wars for example? I mean if a game is rated mature of 18 for example - doesn't it mean that the audience is capable of understanding the context of the violence and should be able to choose the content they want to play/watch. Perhaps increasing the age rating on games would be a better option or asking people to apply for a permit/licence to watch/play games.
It goes to show how out of touch a government can be these days (dont even bother to mentioned China) :(
If they ban this shouldn't they ban training their army to kill/shoot/mame/aggresivley interrogate etc?
I feel sorry for people living there - they'll only ever be allowed to play games where all the people have been replaced with fluffy animals (actually that's worse isn't it).
Wait a minute - they wont even be able to play Golden Axe would they? (violent acts on human like beings) :shock: I take it they're also banning rap music, action films and books by Tom Clancy as well... its like they tread on eggshells because of the past with what happened with adolf.
afraid of getting blamed for creating a monster.
but this is going too far. Yeah I second that. And what they're calling 'violent' I wouldn't class as violent at all. A game like Crysis for example features hardly any blood or gore, and if a game is age rated then it is up to the individual purchasing it to make an informed choice as to wheather it is suitable. Parents buying for their underage kids to shut them up because they have no control over them whatsoever should also be subject to the same scrutiny and disallowed to purchase the game if it is beyond reasonable doubt they are buying for a minor - much like pubs are allowed to do with alchohol. My worry is that once one country starts doing it the rest of the 'policically correct' world will follow suit, eventually making us all play kiddie titles with lovely pastel colours or else seek the sanctuary of retro gaming. Of course, this could eventually lead to so called 'violent games' becoming a black market, one in which games and money are traded behind closed doors and shady underground car parks...
It seesm ridiculous that the numbskulls who come up with these stupid out of touch ideas even get them this far, let alone may actually be able to pass them as law in the future. I also like how movies like silence of the lambs for example (which is much more violent than any game I've ever played) go unoticed by the same people who constantly pick on videogames as its seen to be a soft target. It's time the gaming industry fights back imo, and forms an official lobby to combat such misguided and obvious attempts to destroy our fun loving and harmless culture. You joke, but after the school massacre earlier this year, I know there were comments that the government was looking to ban paintballing... Oh well, Germany's loss. No their banning the domestic production of violent videogames. Not the sale of violent video games from foreign producers.
But still I dont agree with this either, its just an easy cop-out. Instead of focusing on regulating the sale of R18 games to adults only their just going to try to take away the choice altogether. No, Godz_Mercenary, it's not Germany's loss. If this goes ahead in Germany - one of the most powerful states in Europe - how long before it moves across the continent?
This is bad news for anyone who loves their video games. Nazis still in germany. Never mind the games - 16 interior ministers? !!! It's worth noting that the ruling partyin Germany is the CDU/CSU. Both Christian, conservative parties, although I don't think they have a majority. i somehow daoubt it. If Germany passes it the UK will staunchly object. It what we do as a nation. Also Germany has always had pretty stringent regulations in reguards to videogames and they never spread.
The polar opposite is happening over here too. The government has finally realised the value gaming has to the economy and are proposing tax breaks to devs and sorting out the ratings system in a way that everybody should be happy.
Think about how much cash R*, Lionhead and the rest of the UK devs bring in a year in taxes and the like. So long as they keep doing so they'll be no violent games bill. If the German government does pass this law, I'm suspect they'll quickly be forced to repeal it by the European Union, since I'm pretty sure it would violate at least one EU law. Irony: British government making sounds that are good for Crytek UK, German government making sounds that are bad for Crytek.
It's yet another case of "you're aiming at the wrong target". Why do governments love to go on about the affect of violent games on youths. I'm being serious here in saying that I've been playing these games since I was 7 but I'm not a hooligan or anti-social blah blah blah, in-fact I would go as far as to say that video games are the reason that I'm not 1 of these horible little *******s running all over the show terrorising pensioners. If I ever get angry and feel like hitting out I put on the xbox and shoot some fools in the face and have a laugh with my friends doing this, what's wrong with that? There not real, I've shot an image generated by hardware inside my console. Playing violent games is surely like having sex with an inflatable doll, you may fail to pull out in time but you're not going to die and for the doll you're not going to make anyone pregnant. (I'm aware how stupid that sounds but that's how stupid people who criticise not just violent video games but all video games sound to me. | 
