German lawmakers are insane.

[Huckleberry Pie]

So I've heard that Crytek, the Germany-based game studio behind Far Cry and Crysis, is in a sticky situation as the German ministry proposed a law on banning first-person shooters and similar media on their country. I'm no German, but I feel that this has to be the most insane law I've ever heard since Hitler messed up the country over seventy years ago.

I understand their intentions on banning Nazi iconography in their country, as it did offend Holocaust survivors and people, grandparents in particular who've witnessed the dictatorship, but banning games is more of like an act of boasting and an act of showing off that they "care" when they're actually are a corrupt and dishonest bunch of monkeys. And with that logic, you should ban action films and anything else that involves violence, interactive or otherwise, as they too can get in the hands of children. Also, it might force gamers to go underground and torrent or buy games from organised crime groups who are taking advantage of the ban.

America tried it once when they banned booze back in the 20s. And yet Al Capone and his gang benefited more from it than the government.

Any thoughts on this?

Sources:

http://kotaku.com/5330374/crytek-threatens-to-leave-germany

[Mpilk901]

Also, it might force gamers to go underground and torrent or buy games from organised crime groups who are taking advantage of the ban.

Erm, I don't think it would get so bad that gamers would buy first person shooters from organised crime groups. It would likely be some immigrant trying to make a quick buck.

I think the whole idea is idiotic though, I love how games get so much criticism but movies are fine. What makes a action movie with shooting and pig blood more acceptable than some comic violence blood pixels? For example Manhunt 2 was banned in a number of places because of how violent it is, but when you compare it with the likes of Saw which is almost on it's 6th title. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Manhunt 2:

Saw IV:

[Huckleberry Pie]

Ditto on that. They both involve blood and murder, but Saw is a lot more disturbing if you compare it side by side with Manhunt, despite the lack of interactivity. They should ban Saw and similar films too if they want to implement with that kind of logic.

[TM™]

I read somewhere that Crytek didn't add in Ragdoll physics to Crysis since it was against the German law.

Even so, if it does get banned, Cevat Yerli even said himself that he'd move to a different country if it did happen (I don't have the source on what he said since this was a while back).

[WRX22B1998]

honestly when i played crysis i didnt find it all that good. it just seemed like a game with good graphics and everything else pretty average.

but yeah this is pretty out there. i remember some time ago apparently they banned all forms of games in greece

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_3037/2002

[Huckleberry Pie]

honestly when i played crysis i didnt find it all that good. it just seemed like a game with good graphics and everything else pretty average.

but yeah this is pretty out there. i remember some time ago apparently they banned all forms of games in greece

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_3037/2002

Yep, heard of it, and found the law pretty much out of proportion. I wonder if those Greek bureaucrats sniffed too much camper fuel when they passed that law.