Total Ban on Violent Games in Germany?

[Necuno]

Total Ban on Violent Games in Germany?

It appears that Germany's 16 Interior Ministers have banded together to ask the Bundestag (Germany's equivalent of Parliament) to ban the production and distribution of violent video games. Moreover, the ministers hope to see this accomplished before Germany's new elections take place on September 27th.

Although we're hampered a bit the language barrier, GamePolitics has received this information today from three German readers. Their accounts appear to coincide with this Google translation of a Spiegel Online report.

The move comes during a scheduled conference of interior ministers. School shootings, in particular the March 11th rampage committed by a 17-year-old in Winnenden, were prominently mentioned in relation to the group's demand for a ban on violent games.

If passed, such a move would affect not only German game consumers, but German game developers such as Crytek (Far Cry, Crysis). Under the proposed law, Crytek would apparently need to outsource development of violent games or even relocate its operations to another country.

they really don't have anything better to do, do they ?

[Voicy]

What I'd love to know is what they will choose to blame the next violent spree on...

And if they're recording violent behaviour among youths before and after the ban on a yearly basis to see if it had any effect.

[Mephisto_Helix]

Pathetic really ....... and it's just going to spread IMO

[Lydon]

These people are such fools.

Teenagers who go on shooting rampages clearly had something mentally whack to start off with! It's not the video games that are leading to mass shootings - it's the freaking nutters playing them!

By that logic Germany should also go ahead and ban any movies with violence in them, as they portray exactly the same acts except far more realistically.

[Shamrock]

If I kill someone I'd expect people to blame me, not video games. God damn...

[iOverflow]

are they going to ban metal music next?

[OmegaFenix]

I don't think it will spread. Gamers numbers are pretty big at the moment, considering that most of us who grew up blasting alien scum and paying that pixily chic in the strip joint to show us her weird nipples are now in the mid to late 20. We're not youths anymore. We have a voice, plus the capital gaming brings into countries like the UK and the States means it will always have its place. Small places like the Germany and Aus can ban video games but what happens when u ban something? Yep al of a sudden all those other kids who never played those nasty video games want to see what the fuss is about. Tisk Tisk Germany. I really though you guyz had some brains.

[Lydon]

They'll probably mistake Britney Spears as a metal artist and ban her too, considering how useless they seem

Small places like the Germany

Erm, Germany has the world's 14th highest population and 5th highest GDP

[Mephisto_Helix]

Not to mention that basically the whole of Europe is on par with the 'Nanny mentality' ..... watch, this will spread over a few years.

[smokey]

Fscking joke.

"Guns don't kill people, video games kill people..."