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."

Comments

Old news?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.digitalbattle.com/2006/11/29/crytek-mig ht-leave-germany/

November 29th, 2006

This should not exist anywhere

[Sciros]

"Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons"

As socially progressive/liberal as Germany is in many ways, the sheer fact that it has such an organization is astounding and disappointing to me. First of all, it sounds way too much like something only a "Totalitarian Regime"(tm) would have. Second, it's such a misappropriation of resources it's laughable.

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[TheRealMindChild]

Well, yes and no. Just by the name, you can't be completely sure their purpose. Maybe they approve videos appropriate for classroom viewing? Maybe they are the organization that enforces not selling porn to minors?

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[Sciros]

Heh, on that note, given the average German high-schooler's attitude/approach to sex, they might as well *market* porn to minors for all it matters.

Maybe I was a bit too surprised when a close relative of mine in Germany first nonchalantly said something like "oh, here everyone's slept with everybody" w.r.t. her school... it's like, thanks but I didn't really need to hear it from you T_T

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[nuzak]

Meh. At least Germany wears its totalitarian nomenclature on its sleeve. In the USA, the same department would be part of the Department of Commerce, created by part 79, paragraph 34, section 5(b) of the Oil Drilling and Cuddly Puppy Recognition Act.

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[icedcool]

You'd think they would have learned from certain incidents back in the 1940's. Any censorship in general is bad.

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[Clazzy]

I think they're under the impression that censorship in the "right areas" will prevent that kind of thing from happening again. Your guess is as good as mine on this, though.

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[aichpvee]

No, liberal means what we think it means. These people just aren't liberal. Anyone who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a liberal in any sense is a fool.

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[Shihar]

Sure, but the Department of Commerce would be lynched by the courts if they tried to even think about this level of bullshit. In fact, that is exactly what has happened. Various regulatory branches and legislators made up of in-bred idiots who have apparently never read the constitution have tried multiple times to pull such worthless crap and been shot down.

Say what you will about the US, but that Bill of Rights is a mighty fine thing to have. It certainly has been eroded over time, but it did just fine smacking down another handful of anti-video game laws this year.

Personally, I find Germany a nice to place visit, but considering the crap going on there, I wouldn't want to live there.

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[samkass]

This attitude is somewhat ironic. In Germany, content with nudity and some sex are not banned but violence is, while in the United States you're not allowed to see an exposed breast as a kid but you can buy a game in which you blow people's heads off and have their blood splatter everywhere. It's not really about the degree of regulation, but about the values of the society.

Re:This should not exist anywhere

[koi88]

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'm gonna coin a new word here:

[Stanistani]

Nannyfascist.

Re:I'm gonna coin a new word here:

[XxtraLarGe]

Nannyfascist. Somebody already beat you to the punch...

Piss people off enough and they move

[Applekid]

This really shouldn't be much of a surprise. If a government essentially makes your business illegal, you've got three options. Close shop, move, or go underground.

I have empathy for the Germans, but, let it happen. Let the gaming entertainment industry leave. Let the nanny-state take over. Then pay attention as crime doesn't go down, as youths don't magically become better adjusted, as tax receipts go down due to industry lost.

Look how long it took for Prohibition in the US to be tossed out the window. Look at what the War on Drugs STILL hasn't managed to succeed in. And, compared to gaming, these two examples are MUCH more important.

Re:Piss people off enough and they move

[Pojut]

Look at what the War on someDrugs STILL hasn't managed to succeed in.

Fixed.

Re:Piss people off enough and they move

[Corporate Drone]

This really shouldn't be much of a surprise. If a government essentially makes your business illegal, you've got three options. Close shop, move, or go underground.

Agreed. However...

I have empathy for the Germans, but, let it happen. ... Then pay attention as crime doesn't go down, as youths don't magically become better adjusted, as tax receipts go down due to industry lost.

Ahh, yeah, right. Tax receipts will go down over this? Not likely, at least not in any measureable way.

Look how long it took for Prohibition in the US to be tossed out the window. Look at what the War on Drugs STILL hasn't managed to succeed in. And, compared to gaming, these two examples are MUCH more important.

Prohibition got tossed 'cause mainstream, voting Americans made it happen. The "war on drugs" isn't getting anywhere 'cause mainstream, voting Americans... don't really care about it. Gaming? Not even on the radar...

Unfortunately par for the course

[Eco-Mono]

In general, I've found that the German government is extremely concerned about not repeating the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately, they seem to choose censorship as the way to accomplish that goal time and time again. C.f. laws making it a felony to deny the Holocaust (I don't deny it, but the cones who do still deserve their free speech).

Re:Unfortunately par for the course

[koi88]

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.

Re:Unfortunately par for the course

[DerWulf]

Who decides what can be said then?

Re:Unfortunately par for the course

[Sciros]

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

Re:Unfortunately par for the course

[grumbel]

### 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?

Parental responsibility, anyone?

[llamalad]

Why do we need legislation to protect children?

Isn't that what parents are for?

Parents should know their kids and what their kids are doing.

Outlawing lazy/ignorant parents, I think, would be much more productive than banning video games and porn.

Re:Parental responsibility, anyone?

[kalirion]

Why do we need legislation to protect children?

Isn't that what parents are for?

Parents should know their kids and what their kids are doing.

You realize the same argument can be made against child molestation laws, right? I'm not trying to compare the two, just saying that you should modify your argument a bit ;)

Re:Parental responsibility, anyone?

[sumdumass]

Most parent don't know how to be a parent. And some who think they do never become a proper parent. It is because we have a generation of kids raised by kids attempting to raise kids. They are just burdens and tax write offs now. Whenever someone offer to take part of the parenting role away from parent the majority of them say "OK, less I have to do now" or they had never even though about it long enough to know someone should have been doing it.

The guberment needs to raise your kids because it takes a village and even if it doesn't, they can.

Got you now!

[Daimanta]

Godwin'd in less than half an hour

NEW RECORD!

False premises, false logic, false conclusion

[Rui del-Negro]

Unless you give up your job and homeschool your kids, it's kind of hard to know (let alone control) what they're doing 24/7. And I'm not sure that's desirable, either.

I'm sure you wouldn't like to see explosives manufacturers (for example) targeting your 8-year-old kids. Buy a stick of dynamite, throw it at your friends, it'll be a blast! (add footage of cartoon character covered in soot, but still in one piece, and then everbody laughs).

Likewise, some people think that certain kinds of games (or certain kinds of movies, powertools, guns, junk food, industrial chemicals, cigarettes, liquor, etc.) should not be advertised or sold directly to children. It's a crazy notion, I know...

Your talk about "banning videogames" suggests that you don't know what this law says, and didn't even bother to RTFA (in fact, it looks like you didn't even read the fucking summary, let alone the fucking article). The law doesn't "ban" any games and doesn't even forbid children from playing those games. All it says is that the games can't be advertised or sold directly to children. If your kids want to play it, they can simply ask you to buy it for them.

So you see, this law is exactly what you were asking for: it "outlaws ignorant parents" by making sure they are informed, and forces them to make a conscious decision.

What Crytek is doing here is called "getting free publicity". Their "threat to leave the country" is nonsensical, for two reasons:

1. The place where the game is developed makes no difference; the law applies to all games marketed and sold in Germany. They could move to Mars and that wouldn't make any difference.

2. All this law does is force kids to buy the games through their parents. Is Crytek's target market "kids who buy and play games without telling their parents"? Even if it is (which I find hard to believe), there's still #1.

damn video games!

[arse maker]

Hitler played too many PS1 games back in Austria, look what happened to him! War and violence is a new phenomenon, lets burn everyone at the stake till the issue goes away. Oh and for people surprised germany has so many totalitarian laws, the funniest part is they create them to counter Nazism, apparently strict over reaching laws will stamp this issue out, oh, the delicious irony :)

Re:Germany destroys games

[KDR_11k]

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.