Jail time for German gamers?

[BlairH]

http://au.gamespot.com/news/2006/12/...ml?sid=6163059

Shocking! Absolutely shocking!

[hoffmandu]

http://au.gamespot.com/news/2006/12/...ml?sid=6163059

Shocking! Absolutely shocking!

Silly Germans..........they definitely topped out with BMW. No violence against human looking targets..........PSSSHHHH! What else is there?

[BlairH]

Given the fact that the human looking targets in question don't actually exist in real life, and the violence is imaginary violence. The proposed ban is bordering dangerously on "thought crime!" territory.

[Serik]

Ok, censoring swastikas is understandable I guess, but saying that killing zombies approximates violent acts against people? The zombies are already dead...oh, and they're friggn' made up creatures.

Let's say that this law passes. Who, or what, will German lawmakers blame the next time a demented kid shoots up his school?

[Perry Holley]

Phrozen, this board has rules against using profanity. Don't do it again.

[BlairH]

Ok, censoring swastikas is understandable I guess,

No it's not.

Censorship of history (and censorship in general) only leads to very bad things.

EDIT: Ha! How appropriate! It slipped my mind that somebody had just been warned for swearing, honestly Guv!

[Jmacq1]

Yeah, from (admittedly) what little I know of the laws in question, Germany's zeal to censor all references to Nazism borders on an attempt to make the whole world forget it ever happened. :p

I don't even think Nazi stuff can be shown in its' actual historical context in Germany, but anyone who might know more feel free to correct me.

[Michael P]

Dear Germany,

Please stop. We know you feel bad. We know you're sorry. We don't think you're all murderous scumbags. It's okay if you have the violent video games. We have them too.

Come, play with us. We'll let you be Sub-Zero.

Sincerely,

Rest Of The World

[Serik]

Gamespot's article says Nazi symbols can be used for art and educational purposes. The journalistic credentials of Gamespot notwithstanding, who in Germany decides if videogames are art?

I support unrestricted free speech here, but I'm not going to chastise the German gov't for banning swastikas from videogames. They have a unique viewpoint on the issue and I feel out of place debating the merits of it.

[Mike Pothier]

Nein! Nein!

Ah, I mean NO! NO! Don't deny my gaming brethren their fix.

In other news, Jack Thompson woke up with a massive woody.

[Chevan]

Seeing as most video games have a decidedly bipedal bias, I think Germany just banned eight out of every ten games.

[Agent Helix]

Germany is a bunch of hippie peaceniks.

Who knew?

[Alex]

Dear Germany,

Please stop. We know you feel bad. We know you're sorry. We don't think you're all murderous scumbags. It's okay if you have the violent video games. We have them too.

Come, play with us. We'll let you be Sub-Zero.

Sincerely,

Rest Of The World

Whatever, im not letting some kraut nazi jerk be sub zero.

[Draconomicon]

No it's not.

Censorship of history (and censorship in general) only leads to very bad things.

*sighs*
Its *not* censorship.
You cant even watch TV without stumbling over one or another report about the holocaust.
You can talk about it alright. You can watch documentaries alright as well. Its just not allowed to use it in a way that could desensitize the german public to the meaning of the Nazi Swastika and what Nazis did. That is why there are harsh laws dealing with the use of such here.

Yeah, from (admittedly) what little I know of the laws in question, Germany's zeal to censor all references to Nazism borders on an attempt to make the whole world forget it ever happened. :p

I don't even think Nazi stuff can be shown in its' actual historical context in Germany, but anyone who might know more feel free to correct me.

I am German.
Ive been 4 years in elementary school, 5 years in high school and 2 years in business school. Ive had history classes for at least 8 of those years (yeah, even in business school...) and 6 of them dealt mainly with World War 2, the Nazis and what else was going on around them. Trust me, if there is something that does NOT happen its that we try to forget it. In fact, nothing could be further away from the truth.

Consider yourself corrected, and having been 100% wrong.
It sure is nice that people still think BAD of us! :(

The proposed legislation comes on the heels of a shooting on November 20 where an 18-year-old student went on a shooting rampage and wounded six people in his school before killing himself. Backers of the bill also point to the 2002 Erfurt massacre where another German student shot 13 people, according to the paper. Both incidents have been blamed in the media on violent games, and much has been written about the two shooters' fascination with games such as Half-Life: Counter-Strike.

It might be hard to understand, but such events are not regularly happening here, and therefore it pretty much disturbed Germany as a whole.
What you guys might 'not' know is the fact that shortly after this, there was a HUGE amount of people trying to 'mimic' this guy. Suddenly, all over Germany, letters would be sent to schools, threatening to blow them up, there were threats issued online by people thinking its 'cute' and such. Heck one guy confessed he only sent a threat to his school so his Girlfriend has the next day off and can spend time with him. Not to mention that suddenly a lot people started to glorificate that guy, who was evidently not quite right in his head, going by the letter he wrote just before he committed the killings.

I know you don't live here, and therefore you cant understand what might have started the whole idea that this legislation might be a good idea, hell, I hope it gets shot down as quick as possible, but its understandable if from one day to the next it seems like the whole country is going crazy and everyone has to be afraid for their live.

Dear Germany,

Please stop. We know you feel bad. We know you're sorry. We don't think you're all murderous scumbags. It's okay if you have the violent video games. We have them too.

Come, play with us. We'll let you be Sub-Zero.

Sincerely,

Rest Of The World

Not a chance.
Definetly not in my lifetime, and I actually consider that a good thing.
We cannot let go of that and we shouldn't. It needs to be remembered, so we can see how things should never be again, anywhere.

[Donald M.]

It might be hard to understand, but such events are not regularly happening here, and therefore it pretty much disturbed Germany as a whole.
What you guys might 'not' know is the fact that shortly after this, there was a HUGE amount of people trying to 'mimic' this guy. Suddenly, all over Germany, letters would be sent to schools, threatening to blow them up, there were threats issued online by people thinking its 'cute' and such. Heck one guy confessed he only sent a threat to his school so his Girlfriend has the next day off and can spend time with him. Not to mention that suddenly a lot people started to glorificate that guy, who was evidently not quite right in his head, going by the letter he wrote just before he committed the killings.

I know you don't live here, and therefore you cant understand what might have started the whole idea that this legislation might be a good idea, hell, I hope it gets shot down as quick as possible, but its understandable if from one day to the next it seems like the whole country is going crazy and everyone has to be afraid for their live.

So you're saying Germany is entitled to overreact stupidly to school violence because it doesn't happen there as often? Please. Germany is not unique in its reaction to school violence. It's not something you get used to however much or however little it happens. Every time it happens it's a tragedy. Every time it happens we usually learn after the fact that there were warning signs and it could have been prevented had someone bothered to notice. Every time it happens, someone inevitably blames it on video games.

The reaction is understandable, but no, not a single person has to be afraid for their lives because violent video games are out there. Or even because, and this is the real problem, disturbed people are out there. Live your life and don't try to regulate the lives of others. For every gamer who plays Doom or whatever and goes out and shoots up a school, there are millions who never will, which kind of blows a hole in any theory of a connection between games and violence.

Not a chance.
Definetly not in my lifetime, and I actually consider that a good thing.
We cannot let go of that and we shouldn't. It needs to be remembered, so we can see how things should never be again, anywhere.

So . . . what . . . you hope there are never any violent video games in Germany in your lifetime because it will bring about the Fourth Reich? I'm a little confused.

It's not like there are games out there that glorify the Holocaust. At least, none that any sane person would want to play.