Jail Time for German Gamers?

Juergen Hubert

Read this.

This time, Stoiber and Beckstein (the prime minister and minister of the interior of Bavaria) have outdone themselves. Up to 12 months in jail for shooting humanoid-looking enemies in 3D shooters? What are they smoking?

AbsoluteZero

Why not virtual jail? The punishment should fit the crime!

Deusfaux

posted Dec 12....

...there's a good chance we did read it and did discuss it to death


... in fact i know we did, and the thread is probably still around

BaronVonSnakPak

first ive heard of it.

funniest thing ive heard in awhile.

AbsoluteZero

How come every time a minor kills someone, everyone goes zomg videogames!

Is that all kids do? Play videogames? Is that the only source of influence in a child's life?

Marlor

Jürgen Hubert wrote:

the prime minister and minister of the interior of Bavaria

There's your problem right there.

Just kidding. I love Bavaria, but sometimes the old stereotypes are justified.

FreddyD

What's next? Burning video games? Putting video gamers into special camps?

TM2 Rampage

"Proposed legislation targets pixelated mayhem and virtual violence;"

How come whenever there's an article about video game violence or video game movies or something anywhere, people always have to try to sound clever and pull phrases out of their Stan Lee Thesaurus?

Dashui

Applies to developers, too, even retailers. Oh God, don't jail Crytek! I want my Crysis!

mcc

If we outlaw imaginary guns, only outlaws will have imaginary guns.

Marlor

mcc wrote:

If we outlaw imaginary guns, only outlaws will have imaginary guns.

Imaginary outlaws.

...

Imaginary guns don't kill people, imaginary people kill imaginary people.

khain

Dashui wrote:

Applies to developers, too, even retailers. Oh God, don't jail Crytek! I want my Crysis!

Wasn't Crytek moving from Germany because half their team was detained and treated like criminals?

BaronVonSnakPak

FreddyD wrote:

What's next? Burning video games? Putting video gamers into special camps?

in 2016 a conclusive study will show once and for all that while videogames do directly correlate to a fraction of homicidal violence, being german correlates to mental incompetance 100% of the time. 2016 also saw the passing of a german legislature that mandated every german born must kill him/herself to prevent future retardation.

Kriz

Marlor wrote:

mcc wrote:

If we outlaw imaginary guns, only outlaws will have imaginary guns.

Imaginary outlaws.

...

Imaginary guns don't kill b]imaginary[/b people, imaginary people kill imaginary people.

you left out an imaginary.

Alfred J. Kwak

You can't deny that there is a loosy connection between the increasing number shooting rampages in schools and violence in media.

Also, you shouldn't take Stoiber any serious.

FreddyD

Alfred J. Kwak wrote:

You can't deny that there is a loosy connection between the increasing number shooting rampages in school and violence in media.

Also, you shouldn't take Stoiber any serious.

Yeah, all those violent shootings get repeated on the news over and over.

TM2 Rampage

BaronVonSnakPak wrote:

FreddyD wrote:

What's next? Burning video games? Putting video gamers into special camps?

in 2016 a conclusive study will show once and for all that while videogames do directly correlate to a fraction of homicidal violence, being german correlates to mental incompetance 100% of the time. 2016 also saw the passing of a german legislature that mandated every german born must kill him/herself to prevent future retardation.

Heh but really I think if the Nazis originated in the US and we did the holocaust and stuff, our country would probably be like what Germany is now. I mean, it takes something to happen really close to home for people to really care. Remember that big tsunami that killed a lot of people and stuff? Well, I bet that 9/11 is a bigger deal here... hrm. Then again the tsunami was an act of nature and 9/11 wasn't... but hey... hrm.

Freezie KO

Hey, cool. Fascism returns to Germany.

Silpheed

Freezie KO wrote:

Hey, cool. Fascism returns to Germany.

Guess the Krauts missed it. Letting people decide what to do for themselves is after all such an unfashionable thing.

Marlor

Kriz wrote:

Marlor wrote:

Imaginary guns don't kill b]imaginary[/b people, imaginary people kill imaginary people.

you left out an imaginary.

So I did.

Anyway, about this law...

We get crap like this proposed all the time here in Australia, but we are always secure in the knowledge it will never be enacted (instead, it will just be reported in the worldwide IT press, and make us all look like yokels).

Politicians may be stupid enough to propose this sort of thing, but the public servants who run the country are generally intelligent enough to ensure it never gets past the soundbite stage. Hopefully this is the same thing in Germany... just posturing to get the technophobic masses onside for some election or another.

AbsoluteZero

Marlor wrote:

mcc wrote:

If we outlaw imaginary guns, only outlaws will have imaginary guns.

Imaginary outlaws.

...

Imaginary guns don't kill people, imaginary people kill imaginary people.

I think the imaginary gun helps. I think if an imaginary person stood in an imaginary crowd yelling "BANG! BANG!" I don't think too many imaginary people would die.

Kriz

AbsoluteZero wrote:

Marlor wrote:

mcc wrote:

If we outlaw imaginary guns, only outlaws will have imaginary guns.

Imaginary outlaws.

...

Imaginary guns don't kill people, imaginary people kill imaginary people.

I think the imaginary gun helps. I think if an imaginary person stood in an imaginary crowd yelling "BANG! BANG!" I don't think too many imaginary people would die.

tarnok

AbsoluteZero wrote:

Marlor wrote:

mcc wrote:

If we outlaw imaginary guns, only outlaws will have imaginary guns.

Imaginary outlaws.

...

Imaginary guns don't kill people, imaginary people kill imaginary people.

I think the imaginary gun helps. I think if an imaginary person stood in an imaginary crowd yelling "BANG! BANG!" I don't think too many imaginary people would die.

That depends. Does he know the imaginary cloud kill spell?

Librarian

Silpheed wrote:

Freezie KO wrote:

Hey, cool. Fascism returns to Germany.

Guess the Krauts missed it. Letting people decide what to do for themselves is after all such an unfashionable thing.

Actually I started a thread on the very same topic 1 month ago in D&D, which might have been a wise decision since none of the input over there was as retarded as the statements I quoted above...

Juergen Hubert

Silpheed wrote:

Freezie KO wrote:

Hey, cool. Fascism returns to Germany.

Guess the Krauts missed it. Letting people decide what to do for themselves is after all such an unfashionable thing.

Only in Bavaria, as current political affairs unrelated to this prove.

And possibly in parts of the American South, or so I've heard.

ROFISH

Remember, in Europe violence is the 'it's sin of the world, think of the children!' compared to America's 'omfg no sex, think of the children!'

Dusda

ROFISH wrote:

Remember, in Europe violence is the 'it's sin of the world, think of the children!' compared to America's 'omfg no sex, think of the children!'

That's a difficult choice to make. Boobs or guns. Hmm.

Juergen Hubert

For the record, I do think parents should have the right to control and/or supervise what kinds of games their non-adult children play on their computers (whether they have the technical expertise to do so is another question...).

But this kind of heavy-handed intrusion into the lives of citizens - including adult ones - is simply unacceptable. I hope the Supreme Court slaps these state governments silly at the first opportunity.

Szechuanosaurus

I think the crazy thing is, this sort of stuff in Germany is a direct backlash from their fear of a repeat of post-WWI German politics - ie, a return to fascism - but all they seem to be doing is re-introducing fascist ideals. They're trying to protect the citizens from the re-emergence of a fascist regime by imposing tight restrictions on free speech.

Captain K

Szechuanosaurus wrote:

I think the crazy thing is, this sort of stuff in Germany is a direct backlash from their fear of a repeat of post-WWI German politics - ie, a return to fascism - but all they seem to be doing is re-introducing fascist ideals. They're trying to protect the citizens from the re-emergence of a fascist regime by imposing tight restrictions on free speech.

But we're only talking about this particular proposal because it's "too far in the right direction", if you will. Obviously this legislation hasn't passed, and I don't think it shows any signs of passing.

Other legislation that restricts the display of swastikas and other Nazi logos doesn't get as much news, because far fewer people disagree with it.

autono-wally, erotibot300

It has been said, but still: It's bavaria. While I generally like it and most clichés about it are what most clichés always are most of the time, untrue and stupid, sometimes they ARE true.

When a German says "Bavaria!", it should have a similar meaning as an American saying "Texas!"

skace

FreddyD wrote:

What's next? Burning video games? Putting video gamers into special camps?

hahaha

Dírhael

FreddyD wrote:

What's next? Burning video games? Putting video gamers into special camps?

We already do that, and 'round these parts we call them a LAN-Party.

core tactic

I predict Jack Thompson is going to move to Germany just to fell right.

Rabid_Llama

Kriz wrote:

AbsoluteZero wrote:

Marlor wrote:

mcc wrote:

If we outlaw imaginary guns, only outlaws will have imaginary guns.

Imaginary outlaws.

...

Imaginary guns don't kill people, imaginary people kill imaginary people.

I think the imaginary gun helps. I think if an imaginary person stood in an imaginary crowd yelling "BANG! BANG!" I don't think too many imaginary people would die.

That is exactly what I thought. Weird.

Samphis

autono-wally, erotibot300 wrote:

It has been said, but still: It's bavaria. While I generally like it and most clichés about it are what most clichés always are most of the time, untrue and stupid, sometimes they ARE true.

When a German says "Bavaria!", it should have a similar meaning as an American saying "Texas!"

I told this to my wife, who spent a couple years in Germany and she wasn't surprised at all. She said that Bavaria is....strange.

Allon

GODDAMMIT!
Everytime I find a nice little messageboard without crazed german GURPS fanatics, I can't even blink before it's infested with them again.

Hey Jürgen, welcome to the board, again. >_>
*points in the direction of ODAM*

Fake edit:
Bavaria != Germany

Gyral

So, what if there are no guns in the world? Then do they have to jail people for using swords, knives and steel pipes in videogames. Because, you know, guns don't kill people; they just make it a hell of a lot easier.

darleysam

Gyral wrote:

So, what if there are no guns in the world? Then do they have to jail people for using swords, knives and steel pipes in videogames. Because, you know, guns don't kill people; they just make it a hell of a lot easier.

so does jumping on their heads. And don't even get me started on looking for weak-spots.


massive damage

Juergen Hubert

Allon wrote:

GODDAMMIT!
Everytime I find a nice little messageboard without crazed german GURPS fanatics, I can't even blink before it's infested with them again.

Hey, what am I supposed to say? Every time I find a new message board, someone else is there who already knows me! It's a conspiracy, I tell you! A conspiracy!


And I'll let you know that GURPS is far from being my only game...

Cheezy

Wouldn't it be self defense in the majority of games where you can kill humans?