Germans ban lanparty. Options

[Shock]

The ''Killerspiele'' had been spotted again. Some town in germany bans a lanparty because Counter Strike Source and Warcraft III are ''killer games''.

Oh you silly german government sometimes.

link Third message from the top (german)

[MARS]

Pathetic, isn't it? Ironically enough, the atmosphere on a LAN party is much less aggressive than your average rap concert but try telling that to the ill-informed old crocks running this country. Is it really that hard to learn from history? Every new technology/entertainment medium sparks massive uproar from the old folks. Those who believe in this whole 'videogames => massacres'-rubbish stem from the very same school of 'thought' which also proclaimed that the early locomotives were bad because travelling at such 'incredible speeds' (= 30 kilometres per hour) maddens the mind, the same people who thought that electricity was black magic, that man was not supposed to fly with an aeroplane, that comic books turn youngsters into godless, ne'er-do-well communists and that television is the ultimate corrupter of society. History has proven them wrong; EVERY-freaking-ONE of them and the videogames are merely the comic books of the modern generation. A new medium which, for some reason, scares the shit out of those who are too intolerant to understand it which gives them a free ticket to use it as a scapegoat for everything. It's depressing, really, and yet, I'm sure that there'll come a time when videogames are an accepted, socially established form of entertainment. It may take decades and there may be bans but eventually, gaming will come out on top, if only because a new scapegoat has been found. My money's on the VR-simulators.

[Shiro]

There is no hope for the German government. No hope. The UN and EU have proclaimed videogames as cultural goods and yet those old mindless guys ignore this fact.

[Sargeant Rho]

Good thing my mother decided to leave Germany. So we don't have to do anything with that Bullshit goverment anymore
There are times where I'm ashamed of being German *quickly changes state pertenance*

[NergiZed]

Wow, the German government is really starting to remind me of the Chinese government interms of their control of their people and the amount of censorship. They're still nowhere close to the Chinese, but then again, the Chinese laws are much more 'loose'.

[Chyros]

You have got to be kidding me.

Is the German government trying to send its nation back to the dark ages again or something? :/

[Sargeant Rho]

No, they are trying to ban every bit of violence in games. As soon as a gun just remotely appears, they allready call it a "killergame"....

[MARS]

The one thing that does give me hope is that all these old farts will die off eventually. It may take decades but around the time our
governments are composed of people who are born in the 80's, this whole bollocks about killergames will be over and done with.

[ultimentra]

Sometimes things like this makes me wonder what the german government would be like if the events in the movie Valkyrie succeeded. I am very disappointed with the Germans right now. I think its a great irony how such technologically advanced and efficient weapons come out of germany (computerized mobile artillery, Heckler & Koch guns, etc.) and they seem to be so opposed to violence...

[The_Hunter]

Sometimes things like this makes me wonder what the german government would be like if the events in the movie Valkyrie succeeded. I am very disappointed with the Germans right now. I think its a great irony how such technologically advanced and efficient weapons come out of germany (computerized mobile artillery, Heckler & Koch guns, etc.) and they seem to be so opposed to violence...

Isn't it going to be close to the opposite?
I heard within the next couple of years germany would have more people between the age class of 40/60 than it would have below that.
Last year there was even something silly about letting minors (-18) vote becouse of that.


But yea what your saying does explain alot i know for a fact that my grandparrents were also jabbering about me playing a fps game when i was like 13/14

[MARS]

^ True. 'The average German' is getting older in the next decades but what I said is still true: Old people do have this odd habit of dying and it's only logical that one day, the people who grew up with videogames will be in charge. They may be 50+ too and they may have abandoned gaming at some point but what matters is that they experienced it first hand which is why they KNOW that there's nothing dangerous to it. Heck, in 20XX, we might be seeing politicians who were avid Counterstrike players back in the day. They've seen it from an inside perspective as opposed to our current politicians who grew up during the grim years of the post-war era. The way these people see violence in the media is entirely different. WE know that violence is a classic motif of storytelling and videogames, just like books and movies, simply take their inspiration from this classic motif. And yet, we STILL condemn violence in real life (hopefully). The old folks on the other hand have seen the consequences of violence (i.e. World War 2 and the aftermath) which is why they condemn ALL sorts of violence, even if it's just fictional. This might also be a reason why many old people aren't into action movies.

Bottom line: Gamers WILL be stigmatised for the next years, there MIGHT be more bans but eventually WE WILL WIN because time is on our side.

Supplementary material

[Shock]

Old people are also unadaptive to new developments which may explain them pointing their finger towards videogames as their ''corrupter''. It's the baby boom generation, once revolutionary, now terribly intolerant.

You can see the same development in other countries, most other european countries have their own babyboom generation and thus an abundance of elderly people. Take for example all the support for that lunatic right wing political party of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, completely fed by hallowed racism within the hearts of 40+ aged people.

[Overdose]

We may be fine with videogames in the future but when we are old there will be something that will blow videogames right out of the water. I'm betting some kind of alternate life simulation (more advanced than VR) and even our generation will find it dangerous. People would never want themselves off the simulation, they would commit lifelike brutal acts like murder and rape there. So just like our elders grew up playing board games, cards and hopscotch, we will also find the next source of entertainment dangerous or at least some or most of us would.

Just like our great grandfathers didn't want our grandfathers playing cards or snooker because they thought that would turn them into gamblers, drunks and thugs.

[Shiro]

We may be fine with videogames in the future but when we are old there will be something that will blow videogames right out of the water. I'm betting some kind of alternate life simulation (more advanced than VR) and even our generation will find it dangerous. People would never want themselves off the simulation, they would commit lifelike brutal acts like murder and rape there. So just like our elders grew up playing board games, cards and hopscotch, we will also find the next source of entertainment dangerous or at least some or most of us would.

Just like our great grandfathers didn't want our grandfathers playing cards or snooker because they thought that would turn them into gamblers, drunks and thugs.

Very well said Overdose, I can only agree to this.

[Shock]

Star Trek-esque Holodecks, you mean there?

[Shiro]

This, or Matrix^^

[Nix]

But guys, think of the CHILDREN!


If having gunsvideogames is criminal, then only criminals will have gunsvideogames.

[Frostyarmy]

"WHY SO SERIOUS" GERMANS GOVERNMENT =O WHY?

EDIT: and also this will be a constant thing no matter what we do People will want Something shut down becuase its to violent or whatever but people will just fine the next great thing and they will want them to eaither go back to what it was before or Go in a circle there is NO STOPING THIS

This post has been edited by Zhao: 7 Jul 2009, 7:27

[Comr4de]

Pathetic, isn't it? Ironically enough, the atmosphere on a LAN party is much less aggressive than your average rap concert but try telling that to the ill-informed old crocks running this country. Is it really that hard to learn from history? Every new technology/entertainment medium sparks massive uproar from the old folks. Those who believe in this whole 'videogames => massacres'-rubbish stem from the very same school of 'thought' which also proclaimed that the early locomotives were bad because travelling at such 'incredible speeds' (= 30 kilometres per hour) maddens the mind, the same people who thought that electricity was black magic, that man was not supposed to fly with an aeroplane, that comic books turn youngsters into godless, ne'er-do-well communists and that television is the ultimate corrupter of society. History has proven them wrong; EVERY-freaking-ONE of them and the videogames are merely the comic books of the modern generation. A new medium which, for some reason, scares the shit out of those who are too intolerant to understand it which gives them a free ticket to use it as a scapegoat for everything. It's depressing, really, and yet, I'm sure that there'll come a time when videogames are an accepted, socially established form of entertainment. It may take decades and there may be bans but eventually, gaming will come out on top, if only because a new scapegoat has been found. My money's on the VR-simulators.

You just stole the exact words right out of my mind. This is the reasons as to why we have idiot lawyers running about attempting to do the shit everywhere, governments and certain politicians attempting to ban, restrict and totally shut down the industry. Video Games, this new medium is yet another of those 'radical' innovations by man which some deem 'the devil himself' and only time will be the cure for idiot thinking such as what we see today.

[Failure]

You are all fukin' lucky you ain't living in Poland.

It's annoying when you see in TV that some Chick with 5 doctor titles cries about killing in games and other bad things, but when reporters asks her if she played the game, she says no.

Dumb politicians.

This post has been edited by Failure: 7 Jul 2009, 14:57

[Shiro]

You are all fukin' lucky you ain't living in Poland.

It's annoying when you see in TV that some Chick with 5 doctor titles cries about killing in games and other bad things, but when reporters asks her if she played the game, she says no.

Dumb politicians.

Same here in Germany

[MARS]

The only difference is that our idiots are 'smart' enough to stay away from the science crowd
because they know they won't be able to give them any scientific proof for their baseless claims.

[Wi-Ta]

This and the fact that we will have parliamentary elections soon (for the Bundestag 27. September 2009).
Our "idiots" are fishing for the votes of the "always yesterday" voters.