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German Police Union Chief Wants Violent Game Ban After Shooting

Posted by Soulskill on from the perfectly-logical dept.

A recent shooting in Germany has raised the ire of many politicians and officials, and they're turning to video games as a scapegoat after it was revealed that the shooter was a fan of Counterstrike and played Far Cry 2 the night before the rampage. First, a major retailer decided to drop mature-rated games altogether, and then the Minister for Social Affairs suggested restricting "addictive games," such as World of Warcraft, to adults only. Despite an unfavorable reaction from gamers and game developers alike, the chief of Germany's national police union has now spoken out against violent games as well, saying, "The world would be no poorer if there were no more killergames."

6 of 518 comments (clear)

  1. Oh common... by XPeter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously? This is completely ridiculous. There is no way that just video games alone made this person go on a shooting rampage. Several studies by groups such as Harvard Medical, The Journal of Adolescent Health, and the British Medical Journal have shown that there is no conclusive link between video games and violent activities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversy). These people don't think that uhm...the media for instance has anything to do with it? Let's get real here people. There is no way playing some Far Cry 2 or any game like it alone contributes to the initiative to do violent things.

    For me, video games are a great way to relax after a long day. It's an unwinding period and I don't feel violent at all when playing. I'm not alone saying this, there are many others who feel exactly the same way. The German police chief should look at the facts and statistics before he jumps the gun.

    Just my two cents.

    --
    "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
    1. Re:Oh common... by KDR_11k · · Score: 3, Informative

      The prosecution is charging the guy's father for keeping a gun unsafe when his son was pathologically depressed. Also the father is a gun nut and taught his son how to shoot at a pretty early age.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    2. Re:Oh common... by lordtoran · · Score: 4, Informative

      Wal-Mart has no presence in Germany (although they tried). The retailer is in question is Kaufhof, which has hypermarkets in many major cities. Compared with the hundreds of MediaMarkt, Saturn or Medion stores I don't think their decision will have a nocticeable impact on the market. Even among hypermarkets Kaufhof is one of the minor players. This is totally played up by the press.

      --
      Want to hear the voice of GOD? cat /boot/vmlinuz > /dev/dsp
    3. Re:Oh common... by SBFCOblivion · · Score: 3, Informative

      taught his son how to shoot at a pretty early age.

      I guess I'm confused by this statement. Are you implying this contributed to him going on a rampage? Or is it more of an FYI?

      My father taught my brother and I to shoot at a young age as well and it taught us both about gun safety and handling. But he also kept all his guns locked up in a gun case and my brother and I wouldn't go near it without my dad being there.

  2. Re:Jack? Is that you? by headLITE · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nah, we just have that a lot in Germany. Something bad happens, and politicians jump to it and want to ban violent computer games over it. So, for example, someone shoots some people at a school and the day later, we learn from the press that we need to ban Counterstrike, and also that suspicious pornography was found. Then of course we need to something against child pornography, regardless of no child pornography being involved whatsoever in the shooting or the shooter's private live. You get the idea.

    That said, I would personally appreciate if computer game makers could cut down on the violence a little, I don't like it very much in my games. Of course, other adults who like to shoot pixels should be allowed to do so, and the government should stay out of it.

  3. Re:Maybe bullets first? by ishpeck · · Score: 3, Informative

    He also couldn't have killed fifteen people if the other fourteen had killed him after he shot the first one.

    --

    "If I were to ask you a hypothetical question, what would you like it to be about?"