Counter-Strike, EverQuest banned

By Ellie Gibson Published 21 January, 2008

By Brazilian Government.

Bad news for Counter-Strike and EverQuest players living in Brazil - both games have been banned after a judge ruled they are "harmful to consumers' health".

As reported by AFP the judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes, made his ruling in October 2007 - but the ban is only coming into effect now. Simoes stated the games encouraged "the subversion of public order". He also ruled they were "an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security".

Counter-Strike and EverQuest were first released in 1999. One modded map for the former game saw players taking on the role of either a police officer or drug dealer in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.

According to Brazilian readers of Kotaku, the game has been accused of teaching players war strategies.

It's alleged EverQuest is harmful because players are asked to accept both "good" and "bad" quests, the psychological burden of which is said to cause problems. The game was never officially released in Brazil.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Royal Fool #1 4 years ago

    I suppose there will be waves of angry Brazilian CS players forming rebel resistance groups now.

    But in all seriousness, this is fucking stupid.

  • bad09 #2 4 years ago

    "an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security"

    At least it's not just the UK who have completely out of touch idiots for judges!

  • DDevil #3 4 years ago

    Braziliowned?

  • zoidberg #4 4 years ago

    CS came out in 1999 and they're just figuring this now?

  • kallenai #5 4 years ago

    Given the state of Brazil's internal strife due to Drug cartels fighting for turf and different rebel groups popping up like squirels to fight the government I'd have thought most kids routinely live with the fact of guns and violence as a daily matter of life..........but of course CS is just one step to far.

    Hey theres an idea for Gordan Brown and his government, ban CS and any other game you can blame for the state of crime and violence in the UK.
    Edited by 1 at 21/01/08 @ 10:17

  • keyboardmonkey #6 4 years ago

    Video Games responsible for all Drug and Gun crime in Brazil!

    /E-mail to Daily Mail written

    Right just need to find a game that has Kidnapping as its main theme and then all politicians/ bent cops/criminals/ drug lords are off the hook.

  • Kill_Crazy #7 4 years ago

    I think Brasil may have far more important matters to deal with. Like drugged up kid gangs and some of the worlds most bent cops where they'd rather shoot people than 'fill in the paperwork'. Absurd.

  • Ares #8 4 years ago

    DDevil: Braziliowned?

    No. Wait! ... No.

  • mingster #9 4 years ago

    Yeah so what with their slums (favelas), drug cartels, kidnappings, corruption...
    Its two old video games that are the source of all this .. ummm of course.

  • Davey #10 4 years ago

    What the hell are mibr gunna do!?

  • crozon #11 4 years ago

    wow i mean wow, brazil one of the most violent countries in the world because of poverty just put the blame on video games....wow just wow........

  • Moz #12 4 years ago

    *sigh*

  • NickNack #13 4 years ago

    Sort out the corrupt police over there before you pick on video games. I've seen a copper from there (on tv) drag a young boy around the back of a police van and shoot him dead for being in a gang or something like that. And no one said anything about it.

    I know most police all over the world are bastards, but I never knew they actually got away with murder in the middle on the day in a busy street.

  • Kryon #14 4 years ago

    I didn't even know Brazil had a government! I thought it was run by a bunch of festering shemales who own the Wii...

  • BanjoMan #15 4 years ago

    There's only really major problems in Rio and Sao Paulo, and the problems are all in the favelas. Incidentally, I don't think people in favelas have too many PCs capable of running either game.

  • Snooz #16 4 years ago

    This ninja pc should be able to crank up the oldest CS shouldn't it? http://indra yam.com/images/100laptop.jpg

  • The_Inquisitor #17 4 years ago

    A footballer said recently that England are not good internationally at the sport because too many people are playing games. Maybe Brazil just wants to prevent the same thing happening to them. Funny though.

  • Maximilian #18 4 years ago

    I'd love to know how they plan on implementing the ban.

  • TitusCrow #19 4 years ago

    i just wonder how warcraft sliped through the net! that is real social destruction :)

    anyhow cant speak now got to get back to grining honour in AV

  • miiiguel #20 4 years ago

    Most brazilians don't buy their games anyway, they just P2P them.

  • Kyle #21 4 years ago

    Hey theres an idea for Gordan Brown and his government, ban CS and any other game you can blame for the state of crime and violence in the UK.

    Shhhhh, don't give him ideas!

    Also, how the chuff do you ban something that hasn't officially been released?