Saturday, January 6th 2007

German ratings board refuses to rate Crackdown, sales to minors illegal

The German ratings board has refused to issue a rating for "Crackdown", the Xbox360 game that will come with a free Halo 3 beta invitation. Crackdown was probably banned in Germany for being too violent. A game without a rating in Germany isn't "illegal", however it cannot be sold to a minor, advertised, or displayed in a public store. All sales of the game have to be person-to-person. Two other Xbos360 games that have been deemed unrated in Germany are Gears of War and Dead Rising.
Source: Joystiq
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42 Comments on German ratings board refuses to rate Crackdown, sales to minors illegal

#26
mout12
So basically, you're telling me that I feel scared to walk through Compton City (I'm white) because of video games?
Posted on Reply
#27
lemonadesoda
No. We are not blaming video games for your fear of getting mugged. What we ARE blaming video games (and films) for is the glorification of gore and human cruelty, and encourging us to find it entertaining, even "funny".

So the parallel is, that WE laugh at you when you get mugged in Compton City... and we think it is EVEN BETTER if you are first mugged, then have your hands chopped off, then get your leg slowly sawn off, then laugh again while your wimper as your blood spurts out of your body... and then we think: that was fun, let's find your wife, brother and kids and do the same to them. Only this time, we'll video it and show it to you so that you suffer psychologically as well as physically.

This is the concern. And the proposed ban in Germany is not about games like COD, or films like Black Hawk Down, but games like Punisher, (and worse that may come in the futre), and films like Hostel and Crank, (and worse that may come in the future).

Remember that 10 years ago such games and films didnt exist (except maybe black market snuff videos). Now they are becoming commonplace and if not stopped, the genre will only get more extreme.

I personally think that the world is becoming a sick place when society "enjoys", or is at least entertained, by watching people getting hanged on TV.
Posted on Reply
#28
xylomn
lemonadesodaNo. We are not blaming video games for your fear of getting mugged. What we ARE blaming video games (and films) for is the glorification of gore and human cruelty, and encourging us to find it entertaining, even "funny".

So the parallel is, that WE laugh at you when you get mugged in Compton City... and we think it is EVEN BETTER if you are first mugged, then have your hands chopped off, then get your leg slowly sawn off, then laugh again while your wimper as your blood spurts out of your body... and then we think: that was fun, let's find your wife, brother and kids and do the same to them. Only this time, we'll video it and show it to you so that you suffer psychologically as well as physically.

This is the concern. And the proposed ban in Germany is not about games like COD, or films like Black Hawk Down, but games like Punisher, (and worse that may come in the futre), and films like Hostel and Crank, (and worse that may come in the future).

Remember that 10 years ago such games and films didnt exist (except maybe black market snuff videos). Now they are becoming commonplace and if not stopped, the genre will only get more extreme.

I personally think that the world is becoming a sick place when society "enjoys", or is at least entertained, by watching people getting hanged on TV.
In my experience I really havent heard of a massive number of people to genuinely do enjoy of what you speak in a real life situation... sure we hear bout the odd 1 or 2 people on the news from time to time but these are a very very small percentage of people... my mates got mugged a few months back, I didnt find it amusing or entertaining.. and most people I have talked to didn't agree with for example the bbc showing footage of saddam being hanged (disgusting if you ask me)...

Its still shifting blame, all this stuff that is produced in video games is no where near as bad as what can be found on tv and especially on the internet (and with relative ease)...

I do agree with making some of the more extreme things harder to access like having to prove your over say 18 to purchace a certain game... and having a worldwide rating system like the one zekrahminator mentioned would be fantastic (although personally i prefer the way pegi does it by actually printing the age requirement rather than some group like mature or teen etc.)

Banning these things overall wont make much of a differance though... anything that is banned only generates more interest in it and the people who would be influenced by violent video games will only go and get violent media from other widely available sources like TV or the internet...

Like always happens we are looking for a single cause to a problem when we really need to look at the bigger picture, and banning media has been proven time and again not to work...

I agree that society in general has become more accostomed to seeing this kind of media and yes some are entertained by it which I don't agree with entirely (in the case of games I think differently because a game is just that, a game, its not real and has no baring on real life), but this trend in society is generally fueled not neccissarily by more people doing bad thing rather our access to the information that people are doing these things.

I play on a point you mentioned... Remember 10 years ago, and compare the difference in how much easier and quicker we have access to information now than we did then, is it not also a posibility that it simply seems like more of certain crimes have happened because we find out about more of them thanks to better flows of information, many figures (in the UK anyways) show many crimes to actually be falling nationally.


PS. Sorry for any bad spelling/grammer or if i repeat myself I've just got home from work and I am quite tired...
Posted on Reply
#29
Casheti
You can write me an essay anyday.
Posted on Reply
#30
xylomn
CashetiYou can write me an essay anyday.
I never used to write things that long till I went to university :laugh: I'm surprised myself how much I wrote there lol
Posted on Reply
#31
lemonadesoda
I think University homework assignments should be based on writing efficient, structured, tables, bullet point lists, or concept charts. ESSAYS SHOULD BE BANNED.

Also please think about your logic:

"In my experience I really havent heard of a massive number of people to genuinely do enjoy of what you speak in a real life situation..."

But at the same time you are defending that these types of games and films SHOULD be produced, and SHOULD be avaible, and SHOULD be available to impressionable people. So people dont like it in real life, but they DO like it as entertainment. See how fxxked up things are getting? Do you want to encourage a society that encourages pandering to this?

There has been a lot of recent criticism in the news broadcasts associated with the murders of the prostitutes in the UK before Christmas. The way that the whole "live" situation was turned into media voyeurism. At some point you have to make a judgement: do you care, or not? If you don't care than you have become de-sensitised, and this is one of the reasons that the German legislative is taking action. If you do care, than the whole point is moot.
Posted on Reply
#32
prime95
Something to blame the actions of others on... another scapegoat for violence... do you care? Do you cry for dead prostitutes? Do you pray for them, their families? Do you care.
Posted on Reply
#33
Casheti
xylomnI never used to write things that long till I went to university :laugh: I'm surprised myself how much I wrote there lol
What did you study?? And how much did it burn your pocket? :p
Posted on Reply
#34
xylomn
Well I'm currently still studying it lol

I'm about half way through a degree in Computing Science Software Engineering BSc/Hons

If I calculate everything I'm probably atm in about £10,000 of debt.... why did you make me think about that :( lol

and the government wonders why people are reluctant to go into higher education:laugh:
Posted on Reply
#36
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
bornfreeGood to see at least someone recognizes the influence on kids of violent games. In America good judgment never stands in the way of the almighty dollar...
it has no influence :roll: i have played GTA since it came out and i was 10 i didnt steal a car and kill anybody i think the rating crap is BS. the only thing that makes any diff is upbringing not playing violent games
Posted on Reply
#37
Casheti
I saw a thing about a kid who went on a rampage with a shotgun after getting bored playing on GTA. :roll:
Posted on Reply
#38
xylomn
cdawallit has no influence :roll: i have played GTA since it came out and i was 10 i didnt steal a car and kill anybody i think the rating crap is BS. the only thing that makes any diff is upbringing not playing violent games
exactly we've had all this violence/crime/etc before video games were even invented so how can they be the root cause
Posted on Reply
#39
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
xylomnexactly we've had all this violence/crime/etc before video games were even invented so how can they be the root cause
and crime didnt exactly go up when GOW, GTA, and Halo came out did it
Posted on Reply
#40
zekrahminator
McLovin
And Casheti's ppd continues to increase :p.
Posted on Reply
#41
Casheti
And what are you implying? :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#42
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
Lazzer408

65 PPD :eek: stop posting post whore
Posted on Reply
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