According to several internet sources, including this one Germany's 16 Interior Ministers are rallying to completely stamp out violent videogames. The online edition of German news magazine Der Spiegel has revealed that interior ministers urged against ‘Killerspiele' (killer games) during a conference held last Friday. Although details are only being shared in English via online translations such as this, it seems clear that German ministers are now serious about preventing another incident like Winnenden on 11 March where a 17-year-old shot 15 people. The previous evening the shooter had been playing the game "Far Cry 2". Spiegel Online details that the ministers have appealed for "an explicit production and dissemination ban as soon as possible", preventing the development and distribution of all games considered to be violent within Germany. The Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) software ratings board already stands in the way of many violent games being released in Germany. The blockbuster "Gears of War" series for Xbox 360 is among them. However the key issue with the latest appeal to the Bundestag, the German equivalent of the British Parliament, is that violent videogames may not be produced on German soil. This would be hard on German based developer Crytek, coincidentally responsible for the original "Far Cry". Winnenden isn't the first tragedy to move government officials against violent games, and especially those that involve shooting other people. The Columbine High School massacre of 1999 brought that same year's E3 videogame convention under US government scrutiny, forcing first-person-shooters - in particular ultra-realistic ‘simulation' Soldier of Fortune - behind closed doors, viewable by appointment only. In the case of Columbine it was id Software's "Doom" held responsible. Do violent videogames beget violent gun-toting youths? Are the German ministers over-reacting, or even acting to be seen to be acting? If the German ministers' appeals are accepted, and if the decision proves to be popular overseas, it's likely that UK MPs will see vote-winning opportunities in this country too.
*sigh* you can't stop violent games though, yes the game designers puts an age limit like U, PG< 12, 15, 18 on it but it still don't stop kids playing it especially when parents buy it for them
^ of course, you can mask your IP, which may result in severe lag and servers rejecting you, you can use so much cracks that having keyloggers on your pc becomes normal but for the most part it would push some games underground and the average person wouldn't touch it. i dont think its gona happen anyway but it would be interesting to see what happens if they do.
^ thing is though making it illegal will cause a riot that age limit was set etc, just people acted illegally to give kids those games though, that's why violent games hasn't been banned yet because it's either the kids that bought it illegally as they were underage or the fact parents bought them the games and knowingly that they shouldn't be playing it..
i actually just wanted to quote the bold and post... but then there's that word limit... so there u are -tongue2
violent games will always be around, people appeal to it more because in normal society we would be banned from acting that way. In a simulation we are able to take the role of a social deviant and cause havoc in the world.
yes lets make violent video games the scapegoat. after that doesnt work, lets ban violent films, then music, then the news, then we should all just live in little white padded boxes for our own good
