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Law proposal against "killer games" in Germany

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  • Law proposal against "killer games" in Germany

    Gunther Beckstein from the Bavarian "Christian Social Union" (which is part of the German government) has made a proposal to finally forbid "killer games" in Germany. The debate, which has been going on for years, was recently fuelled by the amok run of 18 year old Sebastian B., who injured over 30 people in his former school and then killed himself. Like countless other young people, he reportedly liked to play games like Half-Life and Counterstrike.

    The other German amok runner, Robert F. who killed 16 people at his school in Erfurt, reportedly also was a huge counterstrike fan. Both boys however came from perfectly "normal" middle-class families.

    Several important politicians now publicly request the total banning of what they call "killer games". There is a huge media coverage of the debate and the governing parties already decided on more radical persecution of violent games in their 2005 Coalition agreement.

    It is getting likely that at one point, perhaps already at the beginning of next year, there will indeed be decided on a corresponding new law.

    There is already a mechanism in place in Germany for banning games etc., which is the reason that f.ex. Quake may not be sold to people under 18 years of age. In the debate/proposal atm there is talk about much more radical measures. From Mr. Beckstein's proposal:

    "Whoever publishes, produces, acquires, distributes (...) computer games which make it possible for the player to exercise violence (that is cruel or harmful to man's dignity) against humans or humanoid beings is punished by imprisonment up to one year (or a fine.)"

    Mr. Beckstein is currently presiding the Conference of Interior Ministers. (!) Similar views have been publicly expressed by other high-ranking politicians for example two of the Minister Presidents. As mentioned earlier, the coalition agreement also establishes similar intentions.

    Personally, I don't play "realistic" shooter games. However, I find all this pretty unbelievable.

    It's ridiculous. So-called "killer games" (the newly established term for at least Counter-Strike and Half-Life) are not the reason for people running amok. I think.

    If I remember correctly, the producers of Far Cry/Crysis are sitting in Germany - those guys would immediately be criminals when such a law passes. As would everybody who "acquires or distributes" shooter games.

    Just think about it. Gosh. It's effectively prohibition. The discussion also includes more general intentions to fight perceived "virtual threats" from the internet. It is lamented that parents often have no control over what their kids are doing online or when away from home. There is talk about obliging ISPs to make information about their users even more accessible to security agencies.

    The situation for young people in Germany today is very problematic, many see no perspectives for the future, there is a huge problem for them (us) to get normal jobs (not just call centers) etc. Lots of shit happening at the moment.

    But I'm sure, banning computer games will solve all problems :-) young Germans will soon be clean, well-behaved little wunderkinds again. Jawohl mein Herr!

    Are you feeling sick yet?
    Scout's Journey
    Rune of Earth Magic

  • #2
    Very.. what is a common place is most all of these happen IN SCHOOL. They can say the games/music/hair/clothes/food/diapers they wore when babies are all common between them but notice they leave out the hostility to the school? Oh wait... That's right.. I'm still looking for a Rocket Scientist to figure this one out.. Take a walk in the halls during school time and tell me what you see, what you hear, what you DON'T hear and DON'T see. Not only from the students but from the Educators. Sit in a few classes. Become a lunch parent. You would be amazed right after you pick your jaw up off the floor. We didn't have this problem when I went to school but you could see it coming.
    Last edited by Net-Tyme; 12-06-2006, 07:39 PM.
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    • #3
      Several important politicians now publicly request the total banning of what they call "killer games". There is a huge media coverage of the debate and the governing parties already decided on more radical persecution of violent games in their 2005 Coalition agreement.
      I don't know a thing about politcal environment in Germany so I'll start with that.

      In the USA, there was some sort of push for straightening out television and movies and, while I thought it was some boring/overhyped stuff at the time that politicians talked about to get attention, I think some of it worked.

      What happened was all of the "controversial" TV shows got moved to beyond 9 PM or 10 PM and it really cleaned up TV after a while.

      As far as the push against violent movies, I remember in the 1990's they kept coming out with a lot of very violent movies and I think it got to be a little much and whatever they did to curb that worked (hehe -- I have no idea what they did, was it the NC-17 rating that was invented?)

      As the technology gets more and more advanced, the potential for very realistic video violence becomes a possibility and everyone knows the box ratings don't mean much.

      Corporations tend to be greedy and evil and tend to try to sell/promote/push whatever they think they can make money on and I guess government threats and the occasional regulation is meant to be a check on that.

      I remember when Carmageddon came out -- a racing game where you ran over people -- I thought it was the coolest game ever and it seemed rather violent at the time (I think the German version made the companies release the game with "robots" instead of "people" and it the UK they were "zombies").

      I think I've already run across 1 or 2 games that I thought were a little dehumanizing and you know those corporations are targeting those specifically at kids (13-21) and the corporations don't care as long as they make a buck.

      I don't have any answers or claim to know what is right/wrong. Just some random thoughts on it.

      /Is Germany a free country? Wouldn't they arrest you if you made a post denying the Holocaust or if you wore a Hitler T-Shirt on the street, heh Just kidding around
      Quakeone.com - Being exactly one-half good and one-half evil has advantages. When a portal opens to the antimatter universe, my opposite is just me with a goatee.

      So while you guys all have to fight your anti-matter counterparts, me and my evil twin will be drinking a beer laughing at you guys ...

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      • #4
        It won't happen because not every German is as stupid as the bavarians (heh).
        http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/82084

        You left out one important bit (or maybe I overread). Sebastian B. wrote a letter describing how people, school, society ruined his life and that he wants revenge for that. Well, does anyone care? No, games make murderers. Yuck!
        Quake 1 Singleplayer Maps and Mods

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        • #5
          The problem is that the artificial debate about "killer games" covers up the necessity for other debates that a lot of people don't want (social debate.)

          Baker, fact is they ARE already "tidying up" this stuff. There is an index for such games. They are only available for adults (18 and over.) So technically, Sebastian B. was an adult and the debate is pointless...

          "It's not gonna happen"? Well there are a number of things happening lately that most people thought would never happen. They're just introducing monthly fees for every internet-capable device ... everyone I know said "that's stupid, they can't do that." Voila, turns out they can.

          I guarantee you that 75% of Germans will agree that killer games are bad, and need to be forbidden, because that's what the media are pounding into their skulls. Thus it can happen really easily. Afterwards they'll sit back and think the problem is solved. Until it happens again.
          Scout's Journey
          Rune of Earth Magic

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          • #6
            Originally posted by golden_boy View Post
            The problem is that the artificial debate about "killer games" covers up the necessity for other debates that a lot of people don't want (social debate.)

            Baker, fact is they ARE already "tidying up" this stuff. There is an index for such games. They are only available for adults (18 and over.) So technically, Sebastian B. was an adult and the debate is pointless...

            "It's not gonna happen"? Well there are a number of things happening lately that most people thought would never happen. They're just introducing monthly fees for every internet-capable device ... everyone I know said "that's stupid, they can't do that." Voila, turns out they can.

            I guarantee you that 75% of Germans will agree that killer games are bad, and need to be forbidden, because that's what the media are pounding into their skulls. Thus it can happen really easily. Afterwards they'll sit back and think the problem is solved. Until it happens again.
            I don't claim to have any answers. A couple of years ago I would have been instantly solidly against the idea of banning a category of games.

            In the last couple of years, I think I've realized that I don't really know enough and that the world is a more complicated place than I had thought.

            I'm not even sure what freedom is and isn't anymore or whether or not it is a good thing. I know I think freedom of speech is important and freedom of expression and, at least in the USA, we seem to have those.

            Freedom to sell anything to kids and marketing it in any way? I'm not so sure about that one. We crack down on McDonalds and children's toy commericals in the USA because it is consensus that some sort of standard of ethics has to be applied to things targeted towards children.

            I don't have any answers. Maybe the fault of democracies is that you can vote away smaller groups rights.

            Where is someone wise to tell me what to think about this! Ha ha

            Well there are a number of things happening lately that most people thought would never happen.
            Yeah, I agree with that one. This world dazes and confuses me and everything is changing so quickly, heheh.

            Quakeone.com - Being exactly one-half good and one-half evil has advantages. When a portal opens to the antimatter universe, my opposite is just me with a goatee.

            So while you guys all have to fight your anti-matter counterparts, me and my evil twin will be drinking a beer laughing at you guys ...

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            • #7
              I think he ate peanuts on a regular basis too, so they better outlaw that too!

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              • #8
                Yes, the world is a confusing place sometimes. But that doesn't mean that laws don't have to make sense anymore. Quite the opposite is true. Less actionism and more debate would be in order.

                It's not a question of selling nonethical stuff to kids. The law proposal has a new quality of stupidity because:

                a) it wants to extend the already-existing ban from "kids" to "everybody"
                b) it threatens USERS (grown-ups, kids are already covered) with JAIL
                c) it makes no distinction between wargames (AA, CS) and stuff like Quake
                d) it is no solution.

                You wanna go to jail for playing a 10 year old computer game that contains graphic violence against big, furry, lightning-throwing teddy bears or pink monsters (sometimes invisible!) or Borg imitations that are threatening mankind with a black hole generator???

                Oooooo. Dangerous. Ban Star Trek. Ban H.P. Lovecraft. Ban science fiction.

                And then you have deathmatch. People running around virtual places as Batman, Homer Simpson (my favourite) or space marines (!) and blowing each other up with ridiculously huge weapons (if they aren't busy "rocketjumping" or "bunnyhopping".)

                Oooooo! Ban Homer, Batman, space marines and ridiculously huge weapons! (yeah, ban them!) Ban fun! And definitely ban competition!

                Hm, come to think of it, they are in fact phallic symbols! Ooooo! Ban penises.

                And wake up in the USSR. Well OK, they had penises.

                It's also an example. It's not just about Germany anymore. We now have the EU (hooray) which means stupidity is now quickly spread - like the flu.

                Which brings us back to the world being a confusing place. And that is exactly the feeling that those politicians are first creating, then exploiting.
                Scout's Journey
                Rune of Earth Magic

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