Germany Hates Fun

In what could be the most disturbing news out of Europe in hundreds of years, Germany may make it illegal for anyone to develop, sell or play video games that contain “cruel violence.” Offenders could be sentenced to a year in jail. The bill was drawn up by politicians from Bavaria and Lower Saxony and will be presented to the national parliament in 2007.

The legislation was written as a reaction to a school shooting last month and the revelation that the shooter was an enthusiastic Counter Strike player. The 18-year-old committed suicide after injuring 11 people. Many Germans have since turned against violent video games. In a recent poll 72% of Germans blamed attacks like the school shooting on violent games and 59% support a ban.

“It is absolutely beyond any doubt that such killer games desensitize unstable characters to violence and can have a stimulating effect,” said Günther Beckstein, Bavaria’s interior minister.

Germany is a huge video game market, totaling a quarter of European sales and is currently the third biggest world market for computer entertainment. German teams now compete in professional tournaments, than can lead to sponsoring deals and huge cash prizes. If the law passes developers and professional gamers would be forced to take their business to another country.

Germany already has strict gaming laws. Under the current laws, developers have to remove violent content from German game versions. You can see blood spurting from wounds if you buy a game in the US, but not in Germany. I personally can’t understand such a law. Right now I am playing Gears of War and just turned another player into what appears to be several sausages. I don’t plan on killing anyone outside of the video game but I could totally go for a sausage.

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