{sidebar id=3}{sidebar id=1}In the last few months, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has stated that Crytek will need to move out of Germany if the government places a ban on violent videogames. How did it come to this? Why might a world-renowned developer be forced out of its home country and why might the German government ban videogames?

It started on March 11, 2009, when 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer went on a shooting rampage in Winnenden, Germany, leaving 16 dead including the shooter. Following the incident there were calls for a complete ban on violent videogames, paintball, laser tag because they "encourage violence." The current parliamentary bill has met fierce resistance from gamers. German citizens against the bill have a petition, which has reached over 50,000 signatures, forcing Parliament to review the bill.

It is completely understandable that the German government wants to do all it can to prevent further bloodshed, but are they putting forward this ban under a false premise?

Do video games encourage violence?

The answer is quite unclear; no one really knows the effect of videogames on people.

Texas A&M International University's Dr. Christopher J. Ferguson claims that 90- 95% of studies that try to link violent videogames with aggression are false. "The sad answer is it's really hard to measure aggression in the lab. We really don't have any real good measures of aggression," Ferguson said. "We can't have kids knifing each other or punching or beating each other up, of course. So we have that ethical constraint on one hand, and is it possible to create an aggression measure that functions well and is valid? I haven't seen one yet"

However, there have been numerous attempts by the media to link violence to videogames, which have been faulty in one way or another, but damaged the image of violent videogames.

In 2007, Fox News brought Dr. Susan Bartell on air to talk about how videogames cause people to behave violently. She ranted, "When kids play violent video games, we can see that their brains are different than when they play non-violent games. That they actually change and their levels of emotional arousal increase dramatically." Interestingly though in the study that she was relying on, the lead researcher did not link the data to violent behavior.

During the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007, Fox News brought on air Jack Thompson to talk about how the shooter must have played violent videogames and rehearsed the shooting in game beforehand. "To be able to pull this off, with this high a body count Bill, one has to have rehearsed [in a videogame] it in order to get ready to do it." In fact, the official report on the Virginia Tech massacre states, "None of the video games were war games or had violent themes."

This seems to disprove Thompson's immediate assumption. Moreover, the Secret Service studied the profile of shooters in school shootings and found that there was no accurate profile; only 1 in 8 school shooters showed an interest in violent videogames.

Given the media's bias, it is no wonder that the Germans are proposing this ban.  One very common misconception is that videogames lead to violence.  Unfortunately, it is partially due to the media's portrayal of videogames and the lack of activity by the Entertainment Software Administration (ESA) and other associations.

While the ESA does a tremendous amount of research, it is not enough. They need to actively promote the gaming industry and counteract the media's false portrayal of games. They need to get onto these news shows and debate them. Until these agencies take a stand and fight-back against the media anti-videogame hype machine happens the public and lawmakers, will be misinformed and possibly force Crytek out of Germany.

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0 #3 COMMENT_TITLE_R E Germany to Permanently Ban Violent Videogames — Sandra_Uhling 2009-09-30 22:40

Hi,

here is the description:
"Verbot von Spielprogrammen , die grausame oder unmenschliche Gewalttätigkei ten gegen Menschen oder menschenähnlic he Wesen darstellen und dem Spieler die Beteiligung an dargestellten Gewalttätigkei ten solcher Art ermöglichen."

Source: Page 55, http://www.baden-wuerttemberg.de/fm7/2028/BERICHT_Expertenkreis_Amok_25-09-09.pdf

Result is that also games that are rated for kids over 12 are forbidden.
So we can only play games that are for everyone or forr kids over 6.

They also do not think about games that use violence for anti-war messages.

 

 

0 #2 COMMENT_TITLE_R E Germany to Permanently Ban Violent Videogames — Sandra_Uhling 2009-09-16 04:32

Hi,
some eSport events were cancelled, because they play Counterstrike. We have now the VDVC (Verband für Deutschlands Video- und Computerspieler, www.vdvc.de). This is an organisation that represents the gamer in Germany. In other Countries the gamer also start to built up an organisation. In Switzerland they have an organisation that fights for the rights of gamer who are over 18. (www.gamerights.ch)

Some politicians also do not have basic knowledge about the laws, special the "law for the protection of the youth". The good point is that we have also other initiatives. One of these invited the politicians to a media workshop
And we do have the "Eltern-LAN-Par ty", this is a LAN-Party where parents can try out eSport games.

The VDVC is also interested in the topic Game Accessibility

 

 

0 #1 COMMENT_TITLE_R E Germany to Permanently Ban Violent Videogames — Mark 2009-09-15 23:06

Talk about a swing from one side to the other.

 

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