Switzerland to Ban Violent Videogames

[Souplex]

Only Switzerland could do something so horribly netural!

 

[Deef]

No way. But what will they blame everything on now?

Exactly what I was thinking.
+ respect for reading my mind and picking out what I would think long before I thought it.

 

[wildpeaks]

You know what Swiss government, I'll be making sure not to spend any tourist Euros in your country the next time I'm in Europe.

I'm not sure I understood that sentence, Switzerland doesn't use euros.

 

[wildpeaks]

You know what Swiss government, I'll be making sure not to spend any tourist Euros in your country the next time I'm in Europe.

I'm not sure I understood that sentence, Switzerland doesn't use euros.

I know, I was corrected a few pages ago haha. [..]

Ah sorry, I was still in the process of reading the rest of the topic when I replied.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

It seems that they (as a nation) have decided that they don't want it in their country.

And that gives me the clawing and incorrigible impression that people there are boring, no matter what might be the contrary.

Essentially every male over 21 in their country is an active (and armed) reservist... if that helps.

So no violent video games but...killing people in the real world is fine?

Their standing army is purely defensive. As a matter-of-fact, it is a method to slow down wars between neighbors. It comes from a long history of playing doormat to European empires. Switzerland is a very useful through-way for Europe, by remaining neutral, and having an army to make sure armies don't walk through anyway, they help keep wars from progressing. They don't like violence, but they understand unarmed "peacekeepers" will find themselves in it anyway, on the receiving end.

 

[SilentVirus]

WOW the stupid virus is spreading

Stupidity is the biggest epidemic ever.

 

[wwjdftw]

I'm dead serious, If your swiss and want games mailed to you, message me. I will mail them to you, just repay me for the game itself, I won't even charge shipping.

 

[theultimateend]

It seems that they (as a nation) have decided that they don't want it in their country.

And that gives me the clawing and incorrigible impression that people there are boring, no matter what might be the contrary.

Essentially every male over 21 in their country is an active (and armed) reservist... if that helps.

So no violent video games but...killing people in the real world is fine?

Their standing army is purely defensive. As a matter-of-fact, it is a method to slow down wars between neighbors. It comes from a long history of playing doormat to European empires. Switzerland is a very useful through-way for Europe, by remaining neutral, and having an army to make sure armies don't walk through anyway, they help keep wars from progressing. They don't like violence, but they understand unarmed "peacekeepers" will find themselves in it anyway, on the receiving end.

So...they understand that a defensive army is required in reality. But they don't understand that there are no credible studies that show any long term negative effects from playing video games violent or not?

They do realize there is far more crime related to sports and sports fans than ever in the history of video gaming (or even board gaming, surprised right, I figured ;D).

So perhaps they should ban any sports in their country first? They'd be safer that way.

Especially if Soccer(football) happens to be popular there.

 

[Twilight_guy]

What happened to you Switzerland? You used to be cool man.

I think people will just illegally import the games if they really want them. On top of that, I doubt if the police have the time to crack down on illegal game ownership so I'm sure there will be a black market. Oh well, I feel bad for ya Swiss gamers.

 

[ERadical]

Come on Switzerland, you use to be cool

 

[Nuke_em_05]

It seems that they (as a nation) have decided that they don't want it in their country.

And that gives me the clawing and incorrigible impression that people there are boring, no matter what might be the contrary.

Essentially every male over 21 in their country is an active (and armed) reservist... if that helps.

So no violent video games but...killing people in the real world is fine?

Their standing army is purely defensive. As a matter-of-fact, it is a method to slow down wars between neighbors. It comes from a long history of playing doormat to European empires. Switzerland is a very useful through-way for Europe, by remaining neutral, and having an army to make sure armies don't walk through anyway, they help keep wars from progressing. They don't like violence, but they understand unarmed "peacekeepers" will find themselves in it anyway, on the receiving end.

So...they understand that a defensive army is required in reality. But they don't understand that there are no credible studies that show any long term negative effects from playing video games violent or not?

They do realize there is far more crime related to sports and sports fans than ever in the history of video gaming (or even board gaming, surprised right, I figured ;D).

So perhaps they should ban any sports in their country first? They'd be safer that way.

Especially if Soccer(football) happens to be popular there.

Maybe they don't understand why violence of extreme gore is necessary in a videogame?

Maybe they don't have high crime at all, and they just don't care for the violence for it's own sake in videogames?

There is a strawman argument used frequently in this type of discussion that goes along the line of: "people who don't want violent videogames don't want it because they think it causes violence". Many violent videogame "proponents" can't seem to wrap their head around the idea that people may exist who simply just don't want it because they don't see any benefit associated with it.

Sometimes the question isn't "why shouldn't we?", rather "why should we?"

 

[icaritos]

Dont worry guys there is a light at the end of the tunnel, all those who hate technology (and i mean ALL) are part of the previous generations. They want to keep the modern world locked by their stale standards but they will eventually die off.

 

[Cody211282]

Yea because the government will protect you from evil games and censor out all those bad things you cant hear or see, am I the only one getting a 1985 vibe from this?

 

[NuclearPenguin]

I'll mail them to you!

DON'T WORRY SWISS GAMERS!

What about downloadable violent games? Like on XBLA, PSN, and Steam? Will this affect them, too?

Well steam wont sell Final Fantasy XI to people in sweden so im guessing they can put the law on steam.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

Only Switzerland could do something so horribly netural!

Spoiler

Brownie muffins for the reference!

What happened to you Switzerland? You used to be cool man.

I think people will just illegally import the games if they really want them. On top of that, I doubt if the police have the time to crack down on illegal game ownership so I'm sure there will be a black market. Oh well, I feel bad for ya Swiss gamers.

And to you too.


Also, im hoping this doesnt come to sweden any time in the near future because if it does, im outta here.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I will laugh and laugh when it turns out violence either is uneffected or actually increases when violent games are taken away.

Violent games remove stress, what happens when you let stress build up?
I'll give you a hint, one word: Columbine.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

(note that "violent" games are defined as those who show "scenes of cruelty towards humans or quasi-humans". In short this would count most PEGI 16 - 18 games)

Hell, you could easily count Zelda games in that!

Oh, and welcome to The Escapist!

Enjoy your stay.

Thank you,

And yes you can include Zelda, probably along with Mario, Kirby, heck even Sonic or Pokemon, And don't get me started on 360 and PS3 games.

I wouldn't be worried for this for too long. Switzerland is known for its frequent referendums, so with an appropriate amount of negative response to that and one or two of these I'm sure a compromise solution would be reached.

Getting the 40'000 signatures for a Referendum shouldn't be to difficult I guess. But we'll still have to see how this turns out.
Anyway the "Restrict sale to minors" motion passed with a crushing 27 to 1 votes in favor or something along those lines and the "ban violent games" motion has a more even 19 vs 12 in favor of it.

So it looks like a ban isn't the most probable outcome.

Wait & See

Actually, it would be hard to find a game that didn't show violence to humans or quasi humans. Seriously, someone name one good game where nothing violent happens to people (of any species) at all.

 

[Nihilism_Is_Bliss]

ouch, they'll end up with a severe aging population problem. everyone under 25 will leave switzerland

 

[Sworm]

...
It seems that they (as a nation) have decided that they don't want it in their country.

...

Maybe it is just something that they don't want in their society? Because they don't see a need or point to it?

Don't they have some form of direct democracy? If that's true, wouldn't that also imply that Swiss citizens have been given a say in this?

And that gives me the clawing and incorrigible impression that people there are boring, no matter what might be the contrary.

To all of the above, Allow me to state that the people had no say in these motions, I still don't have a total grasp on Politics here but I'm pretty sure that IF they want to implant this law in the constitution, It will have to come down to popular vote.

I must research more on this. But let it be known, only politicians and the government are responsible for these motions, not the people (not yet anyway...)

Essentially every male over 21 in their country is an active (and armed) reservist... if that helps.

Not exactly no, the recently instated a choice where we could either do the military service, or do the civil service which is longer but more flexible, many people opt for that now, so many in fact that they are considering removing the choice. (earlier we could only do the civil service after writing a letter of conflict in conscience and a psych evaluation)