Germany is very sensitive toward violence, doubtless thanks to the country’s inglorious past. However, it doesn’t seen so worried about the mass censorship that also went on during its most bloody era, since a new law has been passed to strengthen the lockdown on so-called “violence” videogames in the region.
A NeoGaf member translated a German article which talks about the new restrictions put in place before a “killerspiele” (game with violent content) can be given any sort of rating. While not an outright ban, the German government has created so many hoops to jump through that it effectively has killed off any reason for a publisher to bother releasing there. The new law is going to block far more games than before.
This will affect gaming in general, not just console-based videogames. In the past, only what the government deemed a “glorification” of violence was stamped out, but now any kind of “realistic, cruel or lurid depiction” of violent or murderous content is going to get the can. This is because it’s far more healthy to deny that violence ever happens and live in a kind of utopian dream world where we all clap tamborines and braid our hair among the daisies and singing pink goats.
Germany is the country that would currently like to see its worrying social restrictions extended to all of Europe, and I wouldn’t advise any country that believes itself to be developed and evolved past the days of burning witches to follow the Germanic lead. This kind of single-minded censorship should have ended by now.
Maybe this is just a way to stop kids from shooting their grandfathers in Medal of Honor.
