Germany on the verge of total ban of all video games

[ChromeAlchemist]

German ministers have today agreed to ban the production and distribution of all violent video games, with the law only having to go through parliament in the next few weeks.

According to german website Chip Online and supported by Spiegel Online, ministers of the interior of all sixteen German federal states came together for a conference today in Bremerhaven where they agreed to forbid the production and distribution of all video games "where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or unhuman acts of violence against humans or manlike characters."

The country has been infamously hard on violent video games before now, but an outright ban would result in a huge loss for the video games industry in one of its most successful European countries.

The law would result in no Call of Duty, no God of War, no Crysis, no World of Warcraft, no BioShock, no Uncharted, and no Grand Theft Auto.

Moreover, since a ban on the production of violent games would also be included in the law, German studios, such as Crytek, would have to outsource development to other countries.

The law is hoped to come into effect before the country's federal elections in September. The minister of the interior of Lower Saxony commented:

"Violent games lower the inhibition level for real violence and spree killers always played such games before they did the crime."

Note the second part of that sentence: "spree killers always played such games before they did the crime." That's quite a statement; one we expect they'd like to support with the German school shootings on March 11th, which were linked to Counterstrike and Far Cry 2.

For the law to become a reality it must go through parliament in the next few weeks or months.

Is this for real or are the ministers just blowing smoke?

EDIT: Sorry about that, I thought I posted it.

http://www.gamezine.co.uk/news/formats/xbox360/all-violent-video-games-be-banned-in-germany-$1301757.htm

 

[WrongSprite]

They're not on the verge, don't be ridiculous. This will never pass through government.

If it did, the backlash would be so enourmous that games would be back in days.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Source?

Even if it is Germany I find this hard to believe.

 

[Yossarian90]

This really annoys me, banning something completley never really works. Someone is always gonna do it and more people are gonna do it if its banned. The way forward is a good ratings system and an understanding that it's only a game.

Frankly, this will just increase the number of over 18 games being imported to Germany or we'll see the rise of violent video gaming addict houses

 

[sabotstarr]

this is horrible. How can they ink a persons mental instability to a video game? Plenty of people have played Counterstrike and not killed people, where is that statistic?

 

[Mychas]

That's right, get rid of a supposedly "recession-proof" industry in the middle of an economic crisis, that makes sense...

Anyway, this isn't fair unless violent music,movies and books are banned too, at the same time.

 

[Agayek]

Source?

Even if it is Germany I find this hard to believe.

http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/24501-Germany_a_step_closer_to_violent_games_ban

http://kotaku.com/5281489/german-pols-push-to-ban-development-of-violent-games

 

[Trivun]

They'll never go through with it. The backlash would put the current German government out of power and send shockwaves through the country politically speaking, since no-one is going to support it in the public. Plus, it'll be too great a loss of revenue for the country's gaming industry, the government would have to be idiots to do that in this economic climate. There's no way they can do it without commiting social and political suicide.

 

[A random person]

They're not on the verge, don't be ridiculous. This will never pass through government.

If it did, the backlash would be so enourmous that games would be back in days.

/thread

I do wonder how the world would react if this happened, though. Could be interesting.

 

[ace_of_something]

If you could provide a link to the article that would be helpful.

The law would result in no Call of Duty, no God of War, no Crysis, no World of Warcraft, no BioShock, no Uncharted, and no Grand Theft Auto.

WoW? I guess you didn't say 'realistic' just 'killing' in which case that covers A LOT. Even games like double dragon where you 'knock out' the enemies. Someone could think you're killing them.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Source?

Even if it is Germany I find this hard to believe.

http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/24501-Germany_a_step_closer_to_violent_games_ban

http://kotaku.com/5281489/german-pols-push-to-ban-development-of-violent-games

Thank you.

Anyways, my response is this:

They're not on the verge, don't be ridiculous. This will never pass through government.

If it did, the backlash would be so enourmous that games would be back in days.

 

[veloper]

That's one way to heavily promote piracy I suppose.

 

[sabotstarr]

They'll never go through with it. The backlash would put the current German government out of power and send shockwaves through the country politically speaking, since no-one is going to support it in the public. Plus, it'll be too great a loss of revenue for the country's gaming industry, the government would have to be idiots to do that in this economic climate. There's no way they can do it without commiting social and political suicide.

The thing is though, that smart people that play games don't constitute the majority of the population, the scared parents who don't want Johnny killing people and believe that violent video games will cause that do make up the majority. That is why the law has a possibility, due the politicians scare tactics.

 

[Skeleon]

I checked Chip Online and sure enough...

http://www.chip.de/news/Innenminister-Killerspiel-Verbot-beschlossen_36791376.html

But this'll never pass.
It'd be madness.

 

[LaughingTarget]

If it works the same way as banning narcotics in America, expect major video game cartels to spring up in Poland.

 

[Pandalisk]

What do they think when they pitch this idea to themselves? "yea that'll be a great idea!"
ugh people...

if this passes i shall watch the results with amusment.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

What I want to know is, if by some act of Satan this follows through, what would they blame next? I guess they would probably go back to music and movies.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

Although this is Germany we're talking about, I doubt they'll ever go through with it.

 

[messy]

If you could provide a link to the article that would be helpful.

The law would result in no Call of Duty, no God of War, no Crysis, no World of Warcraft, no BioShock, no Uncharted, and no Grand Theft Auto.

WoW? I guess you didn't say 'realistic' just 'killing' in which case that covers A LOT. Even games like double dragon where you 'knock out' the enemies. Someone could think you're killing them.

Well kiss goodbye to pokemon, little monsters faint in that.
Also it doesn't make sense to do something that we'll cause loses of a fair few jobs (importers, game disc makers, video game shops) especially in the current economic climate. The German government would have to give opportunities to those out of work, or have a new strain on benefits. It just doesn't make economic sense, however a lack of economic sense got us in this recession so who knows they may just go through with it to appease those annoyed at the moment.

If it works the same way as banning narcotics in America, expect major video game cartels to spring up in Poland.

hmm yet another reason for Germany to invade poland, either to get video games or to prevent anyone from having them