Jail Time For Gamers In Germany?
December 13th, 2006 Posted in Business
After a recent shooting in German where an 18 year old shot several kids at a school, politicians in Germany are looking to ban violent videogames, and punish those who play them. A new bill, which was introduced last week by the states of Bavaria and Lower Saxony, proposes a new offense. Those found guilty of “cruel violence” against humans or characters resembling humans could face fines, or jail time of up to one year, including developers, retailers, and consumers, according UK newspaper The Guardian; in effect anyone who has anything to do with gaming. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
Via GameSpot
December 13th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
If that law doesn’t cover movies and t.v shows as part of it’s “cruel violence” stance then violent games are just the scape goat.
December 13th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Well we know from history that the Germans love to scapegoat people and things and not take full responsibilty for their own situations sadly enough.
December 13th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
sad but true….
December 13th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Ain’t that a pretty far out generalization of germans?
December 13th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
I think the Germans are taking themselves too serious, they’re always worried that something bad will happen, once again with them as “the aggressors”. SO naturally they’re afraid of anything that might trigger that special German gene they have
December 14th, 2006 at 12:02 am
Jack Thompson lives in Germany now??
December 14th, 2006 at 12:08 am
Or books mentioning the phrase “Das Faterland”.
Isn’t it funny that Germany actually has the biggest Counter-Strike fanbase in the world?
But for some reason they’re not too keen on WW2 shooters
December 14th, 2006 at 12:21 am
Once someone shot up a school in the US, they blamed GTA, while the father of the kid had his own arsenal of weapons in the garage, I remember from an interview that he had 4 M16 rifles (amonth others) and 10,000 bullets.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:28 am
So what … what does that prove praytell. How do you know he didn’t tell his son “Look here these guns are not for you to go around killing people … they are for our protection and to use in cases of dire emergency only” … or something to that effect. His father didn’t kill anyone and those were his guns so he had the chance many times … and how do you know he himself didn’t grow up around guns. Yet did he kill anyone when he was a kid? Sometimes it is a little to easy to shift the blame on the parents when the truth is there are just some pychotic people out there in the world NOONE can reach. Get all the facts first before you are so quick to blame the parents. Are you parents responsible for every mistake … big or small … that you ever made folks .. I know mine weren’t. I am my own individual and the majority of the choices I made were soley mine and I take FULL responsibility for them.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:28 am
Meant to say “Are YOUR parents responsible …”
December 14th, 2006 at 12:40 am
does the prison sentance for playinga violent game count for adults? well its stupid even for kids since everyone knows its not real. movies probably ahve a way bigger influence since a violent film is very graphic and more realistic, and they usually add other things like a barrage of swearing whre you eventually don’t understand what they’re saying, and some sex. all i can say is governments are so incompetent and run by idiots, they hardly ever go to the real problem and solve it if it makes them more money. i wouldn’t be surprised if there are real people like in Lord of war, (thanks for recommending btw it was a good film).
December 14th, 2006 at 12:41 am
You still DID NOT address the core issues of my main point … so I am not going to take this argument any further … stay stuck on the whole gun issue if you want … have fun.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:42 am
can’t weapons just be banned, U.K hardly gets any gun related crime even though its on the rise.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:45 am
I love my country and the fact that we can have weapons legally. That’s why I DON’T live someplace else folks .. but seriously now I am done with this thread. Whoever wants to declare themselves the winner feel free to … it won’t matter to me.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:47 am
Besides we are NOT talking the U.S. in this article … we are talking about Germany so please stop dragging our country into this mess. NOW I AM DONE.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
today video games.
10 years ago it was video nasties.
20 years ago it was gangsta rap.
30 years ago it was drug filled rock music.
lol, madness, a madman is still a madman, no matter what he does in his leisure time.
December 14th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Anuban: You, like most other Americans, cannot imagine a society without weapons. Tell me what bad things would come out of banning weapons. Weapons are meant for one thing only, to Kill, and I can do without that. You probably say it is for protection only. But if NOBODY else has weapons, what’s there to fear. You wouldn’t be so paranoid if you knew nobody else could shoot you down every minute. And fact is, you would never have had all those killings at schools if it weren’t because those kids had weapons at home.
I love my country and the fact that we can have weapons legally. That’s why I DON’T live someplace else folks
December 14th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
We had a friend from America stay with us, we went for walk in the dark evening (Which made him vervous to begin with), kids were playing with fireworks, to which he proceed to jump in a bush! Funny at the time… but it spoke volumes about the where he came from… yeah, guns are great… idiot.
December 14th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
You don’t sh*t about us Americans so you should mind your words. I really don’t take kindly to people from other countries talking crap about a place they only know on some surface level. if you want things to stay civil between us and for us to be able to discuss other topics down the road I would suggest you drop this who “You like most Americans” BS you are saying. You don’t me at all except from this place and you don’t know “Most Americans” … so I suggest you stick to what you know and leave my country out of your gun arguments unless you have lived over here for more that five years.
I hope we can continue to discuss other topics but at this point the matter is in your hands … if you want to keep it up with your view of America then I won’t have anything to say to you. I came to this site to discuss gaming not my Country’s laws and political views concerning my country. Just gaming please.
December 14th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
“You don’t talk” … arrghh … I was so angry I typed a bit too quickly.
“You don’t know me” …
Again this article is about laws in Germany that affect gaming … stick to that please.