German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

May 20, 2010

Last June, news emerged from Germany that a group of Interior Ministers had asked for a total ban on the production and distribution of violent videogames. Thanks in large part to a petition, such a ban will not be enacted in the near future.

German website Game Captain reports (translated) that the 73,000 signatures captured on a petition against banning such games allowed the matter to be taken up in front of the Committee on Petitions. The petitioner was allowed to speak, and apparently asked more education on media be provided in place of the ban.

Parliament State Secretary Dr. Herman Kues, of the Federal Ministry for Home Affairs must have been swayed, as he announced that no changes to the current criminal code would be enacted. Instead the government will push for more public education of the PEGI ratings system.

Unsurprisingly, game publishers were happy with the news: EA Senior VP Dr Jens Uwe Intat told GamesIndustry.biz that, “The German decision is a very welcome step as we encourage policy makers to better understand the reality of today's videogame market and give games the same respect as books, films or music.”

Thanks Magic!

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Comments

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by killatia on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 14:50.

Thank goodness someone in the German goverment has the brains not to ban video games.

http://www.magicinkgaming.com/

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by Cheater87 on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 13:06.

Germany uses the USK as their game rating system with PEGI tagged on. The games are still censored by the USK with the PEGI rating next to the USK rating. I hope they totally switch over to PEGI.

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by Afirejar on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 13:56.

If the PEGI rating is there, it's solely because the game happens to have one and the publisher decided to put it there. The USK rating is known and legally binding, PEGI isn't.

In fact I just went through my XBox games and I don't have a single game with multiple ratings symbols. The games I bought in Germany all have USK only, the ones from Austria all have PEGI only, and the ones from the UK have BBFC only (except FIFA 09, which for some reason is a British version with only the PEGI symbol).

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by Nocturne on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 02:51.

PEGI ratings only on British versions of games isn't that uncommon. BBFC ratings on games were only required if the game included violent content , profanity, promoted criminal activity and/or references to sex or drugs. They wouldn't have rated Fifa as it didn't fall within their remit.

There are some games that don't include any of that but have BBFC ratings because they can still be submitted at the publishers discretion (such as Ratcht & Clank: Crack in Time which has a U rating, U = Universal/no restriction)

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by Kojiro on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 12:22.

Win! Thank goodness.

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by Avalongod on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 11:39.

Excellent news for Germany! I'm glad to see that the leveler heads won out.

Now I only hope that we Americans (and our Supreme Court) will learn from the German example...

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by Cheater87 on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 09:29.

Now if they would only switch over to PEGI and get over the huge censorship problem.

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by Chris Kimberley on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 11:34.

"Instead the government will push for more public education of the PEGI ratings system."

This seems to suggest that PEGI is the system they care about. So presumably they're already using it or will soon switch. Anyone have any direct knowledge of Germany's rating system?

===============

Chris Kimberley

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Chris Kimberley

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by Afirejar on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 13:51.

Don't use PEGI, and don't plan to. Any reference to the PEGI system is most likely an error in the article.

Re: German Government Says Nein to Violent Game Ban

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 09:22.

Reason has won the day..... I wonder if Hanna(our forum goddess mod) is still in germany...mmmm

Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! CP/IP laws should not effect the daily life of common people! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

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http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/

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Cecil475: @PHX Corp - The dude's a moron who wouldn't know crap if it came up and kicked him.05/19/2013 - 6:36am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/ea-sports-developer-calls-wii-u-crap-and-nintendo-wa-508481261 EA Sports Canada Moron calls Wii U 'Crap' and Nintendo 'Walking Dead'05/18/2013 - 11:42am

E. Zachary Knight: If the videos are of sufficient quality that people subscribe and watch regularly, then those let's players are providing a service that people want. That is the heart of capitalism. That is not something that should be shamed.05/17/2013 - 8:06am

E. Zachary Knight: I have no idea who either of those people are. However, I still don't see why making a business out of creating let's play videos is somehow evil or wrong.05/17/2013 - 8:04am

MaskedPixelante: It sure is if you're just doing it for the money. See Tobuscus and/or Pewdiepie for what happens when people get into it just for the money.05/17/2013 - 7:30am

E. Zachary Knight: Why is it wrong to make money doing LPs? Why should that be something that should be shamed?05/17/2013 - 6:20am

MaskedPixelante: https://twitter.com/PsychedelicSA/status/335183893214924801 Now here's an interesting, glass half full thought about the Nintendo LP thing. It outs the people who are just doing LPs to make money.05/17/2013 - 5:56am

E. Zachary Knight: I responded in writing to all this "let's play" stuff Nintendo Started. No need for my permission, I won't give it. It's not mine to give. http://divineknightgaming.com/?p=29205/16/2013 - 2:21pm

E. Zachary Knight: Lars Doucet of Levelup Labs has a Reddit going on game companies that allow monetization of Let's Play videos. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1egayn/lets_build_a_list_of_game_studios_that_allow/05/16/2013 - 1:04pm

Sleaker: @Imautobot - yah I wouldn't use an emulator as a good first run test of how stable the console is, haha.05/16/2013 - 11:47am

E. Zachary Knight: The 50th person to jump off a bridge is just as dumb if not dumber than the 1st.05/16/2013 - 10:03am

MaskedPixelante: Yeah, let's all jump on Nintendo for doing this, even though they're hardly the first company to do this...05/16/2013 - 9:47am

E. Zachary Knight: Wow Nintendo, this is wrong. http://kotaku.com/nintendo-forcing-ads-on-some-youtube-lets-play-video-50709238305/16/2013 - 8:44am

Imautobot: @Sleaker, further gameplay has revealed that the controller button do stick under the faceplate. Also, The NES emulator (Emuya)keeps crashing on me, though I think a bad ROM is causing it.05/16/2013 - 7:10am

Papa Midnight: AE: I wonder if any other publishers will follow suit.05/15/2013 - 8:12pm

Andrew Eisen: EA is ditching Online Pass. http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/15/ea-kills-its-controversial-online-pass-program/05/15/2013 - 7:20pm

Avalongod: @Zach and quicnkold...I've read the bill and the intent of it is to fear-monger. It's not a balanced message. I don't recall the ESRB being mentioned at all. It's more "keeps your kids away from these movies/games or they'll become violent"05/15/2013 - 4:35pm

E. Zachary Knight: quiknkold, The big problem with that legislation is the amount of misinformation out there. Who is going to ensure that the information in the pamphlet is accurate?05/15/2013 - 3:25pm

quiknkold: REBeardogg : I'm on the fence about this. on one side, I want parents to be aware of the ESRB, and even Movie Ratings. On the other hand, I feel this will be used for nothing but Propaganda. The ESRB does a good job.05/15/2013 - 3:07pm

IanC: Frostbite is coming out on iOS devices. Yet the Wii U cant handle it? *coughbullshitcough*05/15/2013 - 2:31pm

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