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Crytek Considers Leaving Germany Over Game Law
Heise is reporting that the largest German game developer and makers of the much-anticipated upcoming title Crysis, Crytek, are considering leaving the country in anticipation of a new restrictive law. "The Conference of Interior Ministers (IMK) of the countries had unanimously decided on a production and distribution ban for violent computer games for the first time in the end of May. The responsible Federal Ministry of Family Affairs is presently working on a less drastic draft of a law for the protection of children and youth. Instead of only the previous 'violence glorifying' games, also the 'violence dominated' games should be indexed by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (BPjM) in the future. These may then no longer be advertised and sold to youths."
http://www.digitalbattle.com/2006/11/29/crytek-mig ht-leave-germany/
November 29th, 2006
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
In Germany, content with nudity and some sex are not banned but violence is
That's exactly the point. There would be no nipplegate in Germany.
Whenever American friends come to visit here in Germany, they are surprised about the "level of nudity" you can see in public TV. You can see completely naked women in shower gel ads in the afternoon, but nobody would be shocked about that.
However, there is this tendency of some politicians to blame violent video games for everything that goes wrong with a young guy. I think this is stupid, but I know a lot of people who agree with these politicians.
I don't need a signature.
Unfortunately, they seem to choose censorship
While I certainly don't agree with this kind of law, I don't this this could be called censorship. Violent games would not be forbidden. From tfa: "These may then no longer be advertised and sold to youths."
Adults (over 18 years) may still purchase these games.
I don't need a signature.
Elbow hits harder and hurts the hitter less. Unless you hold your fist at the right angle and connect well you're liable to damage your hand. Far too many people learn this the hard way. So, not so much "nerd fight" as, say, "muay thai" perhaps... :-P
I like basketball!!1!
1. The censoring went down as time passed. Try Company of Heroes, it has bloody, severed limbs flying everywhere and its rated 16.
2. Customs doesn't give a shit what games you are importing. Well, unless it's Manhunt or something because that's banned. They don't care about indexed or unrated games though.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
### I don't this this could be called censorship.
Game magazines had to destroy whole charges of their magazines because they reviewed the wrong game, which could easily happen since the BPjM reviews games after their release, not before release. So at the point the review was written it might have been legal, but not when the magazine went to print some days later. The thing to keep in mind is that advertisement doesn't refer just to a commercial on TV, but to virtually any mention of the game in a positive context, like a simple review/preview. What the BPjM does isn't just restricting sales to minors, its censoring any kind of normal reporting on the game. Its censorship at its best and yes, theoretically you might still be able to buy such a game, practically it is close to impossible, unless you import them from some other country.
Luckily things have calmed down quite a bit after the USK (Germans ESRB-like thingy) ratings got mandatory, since it got a lot more predictable which games get indexed and which don't, which before this was quite random and sometimes happen month or years after their release. But on the other side the USK ratings make the BPjM look even more then censorship. I mean why is there a need to index games when its already illegal to sell them to anybody below 18 years?