All violent video games to be banned in Germany

[ElRhodeo]

Reasonable said:

mibuokami said:

FreeTalkLive said:

mibuokami said:
Surely this is some kind of joke? How can this 'law' be anything constitutional???

We are talking about Germany here.  Germany isn't exactly know for freedom of speech.  In fact, it may have the worst freedom of speech laws of any Western developed nation.

I know, but a complete ban seems irrational, to what degree is a game considered 'violent'? From the wording you could put up a case for banning game like Rachet & Clank! This cannot be on face value, there has to be something I'm missing.

You're not necessarily missing anything.  The issue with this kind of law is it is terribly open to interpretation and unclear application.

So for example I could say anything with blood, humans and real situations is violent (so goodbye CoD, etc) but anything that is clearly 'cartoon' in nature in fantasy environments is okay (so hello R&C, etc).

I think this approach is both a shame, as it's taking goverment guidance too far, and a mistake as its going to be very difficult to enforce or even reliably apply.  In the end it seems likely it will (if made law) struggle for a few years, waste a lot of money, and be quietly changed or adapted at some future point.

A better answer, I believe, is clear (and simple) rating of games content linked to a much better level of education of parents/stores in terms of controlling access.

In the end though it really varies by individual, so guidance is all anything is at the end of the day (apart from clear exceptions).  For example my eldest child is about to turn 13.  Because he's sensible, mature, etc. I have no problem with him playing many titles that are 15 or 18 or watching certain 15 or 18 certificate films.  On the other hand there are other titles (games & films) I know he is not mature enough for yet, and I guide him away from them for the moment without hiding their existence or tyring to demonize them.   He knows that over time he catch watch and play whatever he wants, as he matures and grows to take responsibility for his own tastes and actions

Better parenting and awareness of their children and the content would make more sense to me - but that's a tougher problem than trying to pass a quick law.

 

 

Well, "better education and parenting" are always necessary and welcome, but reality today is quite the contrary: Parents have less and less influence on their kids' activities. Blaming the government for the bad state of education is a bit easy, and it doesn't help solving the problem either. I'm not sure I agree with that law either, but I think it's legitimate to think about actions against the brutalization of today's society.

(Not talking about you here): In internet discussions on the topic, I noticed that most gamers never say anything constructive. It's mostly dumb sarcasm like "Oh well they should ban Mario cuz he's killin dem turtles" or "Why don't they ban bread cuz teh killers sure ate bread before killing". Or they're just trying to end the discussion by blaming it all on the government: "The government should spend more on education instead!". 

I'd LOVE to see every government spend twice as much on education - too much is never enough. But it's a bit more complicated than that, with social classes growing further apart. For typical young offenders it's already too late for school to have any positive influence.