German ministers attack "Killerspiele"
Want to ban them by September elections.
A group of German interior ministers plans to ask the Bundestag to ban the production and distribution of so-called "Killerspiele" - or violent videogames.
According to Welt Online (thanks Eurogamer.de), the interior ministers for Germany's 16 federal states believe the games reduce our inhibitions and therefore pose a risk.
The ministers were acting partly in response to the Albertville-Realschule massacre in Winnenden in March, in which a 17-year-old boy went on a shooting spree that claimed 16 lives. The perpetrator, Tim Kretschmer, reportedly played games like Counter-Strike and Far Cry 2.
Welt Online quotes the ministers' draft bill as saying, "the production and distribution of games in which a substantial part of the game consists of realistically portrayed killing or otherwise gruesome acts of violence against human or human-like creatures are to be forbidden" (thanks to Alex from EG.de for the translation). They hope to get it through the Bundestag before Germany's federal election in late September.
Whether they will or not remains to be seen, but Welt Online is clearly sceptical - pointing out that even Germany's reigning coalition government was forced to withdraw attempts to ban paintball in the aftermath of the Winnenden murders due to protests.
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Comments (39) Latest comment 3 years ago
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I think they should ban 14 year olds from playing Call of Duty, though, because they pwn my ass in Modern Warfare, and that pisses me off to no end.
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Could it be that the games aren't actually to blame and it might be something less straightforward?
Oh God no.
They try to ban paintball and games but not the gun clubs. Ridiculous.
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Gun clubs are still allowed, and it's not like Tim got the weapons there, because his father was a member of one, who owned enough of them to supply a small army and kept them at home. It's gun laws and social environment / stability we should focus upon, not some games we play in our spare time.
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Wheres he now?
/imagines "gamer jails".
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but not to worry, the BNP and other euro-fascists are doing well - we'll all be dead by the time halo 5 gets banned!
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Why bother treating the causes of the disease when you can ban the symptoms, eh?
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It makes me want to move back to the UK. At least we just banned guns after the Dunblane massacre.
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That's what I'm hanging onto at the minute.
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What are the odds!?!?
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As well as playing Far Cry 2 and Counter Strike, he has also been watching Kill Bill, The Terminator and Die Hard as well as reading American Psycho and Zodiac.
It must be the games that are the cause though, movies and books have never influenced anyone.
/sarcasm
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Think, politicians!!
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What are the odds!?!?
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idd. If I was a self respecting gun toting psychopath with severe emotional issues, you'd hardly find me playing 'Hello Kitty Adventures'...
plonks.
Are the gonna burn violent books (crime fiction etc)? Violent TV, Movies?
Having to talk to Call Center Help lines (esp SKY TV) makes me want to hurt small children and kick puppies... gonna ban them too? \o/
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i'm so with you. every time i had to call BT, i wanted to go on a killing spree
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Guns here in Denmark? Seriously? And no, that was a legitimate question, not a sarcastic one
It's true that the current "war" between Hells Angels support groups and gangs of 2nd generation immigrants over the drug market (or maybe they just like shooting at each other, unfortunately hitting innocent bystanders on occasion) has seemingly made shooting almost commonplace in certain parts of Copenhagen, and illegal guns apparently aren't too difficult to get hold of, but it's definitely not my impression that the average Dane go around longing for firearms for "personal protection", and unless I'm much mistaken you can't even buy guns legally here (outside of permits for gun clubs or whatever they're called, but I think we're talking about an extremely tiny minority of the population here).
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/is German, but lives abroad
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[link url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/new sid_7080000/newsid_7083400/7083457.stm
]http://ne ws.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid...[/link]
But it also happens in The Netherlands
http://ne ws.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/339483...
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Anybody with half a brain can see the problem with tarring everybody playing 'violent' games with the 'potential killer' tag and yet time after time one party or another picks it up to gain political capital. That's all it is and it's blatantly so - they don't care about games or killers or victims or even if there's a link between any of those but just something to gain an extra percentage point on the polls. It's cynical, distasteful and sadly not a surprise in the slightest.......
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Gun laws are pretty strict here in Germany (and get stricter). Not much use though if they aren't observed. The gun used in the Winnenden incident wasn't locked away, as it should have been.
As for the planned law itself - meh. It'll never hold before the Supreme Constitutional Court. As long as there's someone who takes it that far.
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Beer also 'reduces you inhibitions', and should therefore be banned in Germany.
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Not that I condone the violent game knee jerk reaction but convincing people that youths go on the rampage beating people to death with dildos after watching porn seems a harder sell to me.
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haha, methinks the folk that organise Oktoberfest wouldn't let that happen.
Oh my god, imagine if it did get banned, what would i DO?!!?!
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That is all.
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Christ, will our species ever be able to function without idiotic clueless fools running our countries. Killer plays games so must be games fault. Had a look at this guy on Wiki. Do these twats know he was actually firing REAL guns and was "a lonely and frustrated person who felt rejected by society"? Probably more to with it than Far Cry........
I just love the Germans hate of violent VIDEOGAMES. The irony is of course, Germany was the cause of some of the worst REAL violence this world has ever seen (twice).
Violent games - harmless "naughty" fun
Genocide and mass invasion - VERY VERY bad
Anyway I'm off, I played FFVII yesterday so I'm off to buy a REALLY big sword.
"................"
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Besides I don't really think banning games will work.
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Oh man, that's a sport I'd pay good money to watch.
But this is just ridiculous.
I mean, has Bomberman been banned in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Pakistan yet? It's OBVIOUSLY the cause of their..... oh, wait...
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Here here!
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Also, "Won't anyone think of the children?" and "I'm thinking of the children, can I get your votes now, worried parents"?