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Author Topic: EU to ban violent games?  (Read 4884 times)

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Offline TomasTopic starter

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EU to ban violent games?
« on: January 17, 2007, 03:18:07 PM »
cnn article
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"These terrible things contribute to violence and sooner or later that leads to police intervention," Germany's Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said of violent video games, after EU justice ministers discussed them at a meeting in Dresden.
 

Offline countzero

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2007, 03:21:45 PM »
hey, why do you care ? you're in Norway ! :)
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Offline TomasTopic starter

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2007, 03:23:35 PM »
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hey, why do you care ? you're in Norway ! :)

Alot of EU stuff are forced upon us Norwegians as well. This is because we are a member of EØS"dunno the english name"

One of the most recent things is changing our car number plates into the same style of EU number plates.

It would be better if we were a member ourself, since right now we experience most of the cons of being in EU without having any influence ourself or getting the good stuff like free trade between EU countries and so on.
 

Offline sir_inferno

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2007, 05:16:58 PM »
bah, that won't stop anyone. and besides, germany's just having a bit of a rant while they're in command of the EU...i doubt they'll do the random stuff they're saying they will atm
 

Offline Marco

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2007, 05:20:10 PM »
@Tomas: You're actually in EFTA (I assume that's what you were talking about), which means you get all the free trade stuff anyway, you, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Switzerland opted out of it and negotiated their own trade agreements.

Anyway, the respectable members of German society (irony) are go absolutely mental about violence in video games. Much of the German population are like an army of Jack Thompsons. Unfortunately a lot of these people become politicians and do silly things like ban Quake and have Gorden Freeman replaced with a robot in Half-Life. This will not become EU legislation, _ever_.

And frankly, the comments of those politicians give me many more violent impulses than all the violent games I've played from Rick Dangerous to Quake4. (like the desire to beat seven shades of crap out of this Herr Wolfgang Schaeuble for being so totally clueless).

Games do not make people violent, human nature is what makes us violent, we got along just fine killing each other long before computer games arrived, The Persian War, the Peloponesian War, Alexander the Greats conquests, the rise of the Roman Empire, the fall of the Roman Empire, the Arab conquests, the Ottoman Empire, the Hundred Years War, the 30 Years War, Napoleons campaigns, the 2 World Wars and innumerable other conflicts (and I didn't even go near wars in America, Asia or Africa there).
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Offline sir_inferno

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2007, 05:20:52 PM »
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Tomas wrote:
This is because we are a member of EØS"dunno the english name"


hooray for trying to "translate" languages you don't know: the european economic area?
 

Offline TomasTopic starter

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2007, 05:29:47 PM »
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which means you get all the free trade stuff anyway, you, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Switzerland opted out of it and negotiated their own trade agreements.

No we dont... We have very restricted rules when it comes to import even from EU countries. When we travel to another country we cannot for example bring more than one single litre of spirits/vodka and a couple of liters of beer. We also have limits when it comes to shopping at internet shop outside of norway and anything costing over 25 euro or so will be much more expensive due to toll. Actually if i buy lets say a game costing 26euro, then i will have to pay twice the price!
We also have taxes on food import and such to protect our norwegian farmers which means that there is no competition, limited selection and expensive prices.
 

Offline TomasTopic starter

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2007, 05:31:18 PM »
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hooray for trying to "translate" languages you don't know: the european economic area?

That is actually correct i think..
 

Offline Homer

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2007, 05:37:42 PM »
I'd like to know what makes a game 'violent'.
For instance is Deluxe Galaga violent because you kill so many aliens ? Is Turbo Tomato violent because he gets splattered ?
Anybody seen a definition for this particular legislation, or will they form a committee to decide on each game (which means they get to play them all and decide which ones we can't).
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Offline TomasTopic starter

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2007, 05:40:37 PM »
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I'd like to know what makes a game 'violent'.

I bet it will be similar to what the german government is trying to pass.. They are trying to ban all games that involves violence or cruelty against a human character. This means that games like CS and Call of duty will be banned. They even have proposed to prison those who break the law by playing such a game as well as those who sell or develope them.
 

Offline ZeBeeDee

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2007, 08:39:47 PM »
Well ... that would work NOT!

They ban one game and what happens? people will just pop off to their 'local' peer2peer site and download a copy.

Nice free publicity though for the games developers 'As banned by the EU so it must be good!'
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Offline sir_inferno

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2007, 11:01:36 PM »
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ZeBeeDee wrote:
Well ... that would work NOT!

They ban one game and what happens? people will just pop off to their 'local' peer2peer site and download a copy.

Nice free publicity though for the games developers 'As banned by the EU so it must be good!'


from what i briefly skim read on the cnn article, if they just ban the sale of violent video games, then you could still legally download the games from other countries (say gamespy direct to drive/steam)
 

Offline Plaz

Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2007, 02:28:42 AM »
Sure, ban games like Quake, Call of Duty....

I guess instead burning up a bit of twitchy energy or frustration with internet party fragging, they instead prefer the real thing like WWI and WWII were millions were not able to respawned.  :-?

Well that's my theory anyway.

Plaz
 

Offline countzero

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2007, 02:48:29 AM »
I think if there's a game to be banned, it must be grand theft auto(and sequels).
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Offline Marco

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Re: EU to ban violent games?
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2007, 03:00:28 AM »
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countzero wrote:
I think if there's a game to be banned, it must be grand theft auto(and sequels).


You are being sarcastic I hope.

Anyway I really wouldn't worry about this, at least not for people outside of Germany, they might get shafted by the idiotic nannying of their govt. but there's no way the EU has the power or the political will to legislate something like this.

Plaz: I think the WW thing is a bit too much, not all Germans are nazis, and no one's hands are clean when it comes to war. Every country (with the possible exception of Luxemburg) has done things that are shameful in that regard.

Edit: From the wiki article on one of the supporters of the ban:

'Schäuble is criticised by many for his strong conservative views and his pursuing of law and order politics; his remarks about the 2006 football world cup's security (demanding to put tanks in front of the stadiums if necessary) and his decision to opt out of the Schengen agreement during the world cup were frowned upon by many. He is commonly seen by civil rights activists, together with Otto Schily and Günter Beckstein, as one of the most rigid, authoritarian politicians in Germany.'

What a lovely man.
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