Switzerland to ban violent games?
The Swiss Government has passed a proposal to ban any game that rewards players for violence.
Specifically the law calls for a ban on any videogame which "requires cruel acts of violence against humans and human-like creatures for in-game success", according to GI.biz.
The new law was initially put forward last month and has just been passed into law, though the government is still in the process of deciding the specifics of how the law will operate and what exactly will and won't be allowed. You'd think they'd establish that before that passed the motion though...
While the government is still deciding the specifics terminology and text of the new law though, the Swiss people have a chance to challenge it - provided they can prove enough opposition.
Further motions currently being put forward by other political groups include the Christian Democratic Party's call for a ban of all first-person shooters rated by PEGI as only being suitable for 16+ audiences.
Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyWhat happened to the neutral, tolerant, banking paradise?
Now they're banning people from expressing their religion, banning certain genres of games, what's next?
I think the next step is going to be releasing all their banks' records for the whole world to see.
F*** Switzerland
They are slowly but surely getting pressure from the rest of Europe to open its banks as well. Especially when you have the HMRC in this country paying £600,000 for a client list of UK residents with offshore accounts from an employee of one of their biggest banks. Last week the French authorities sent back to Switzerland a list of clients from all over Europe saying they were just interested in their French account holders. Rumours that they paid for it.
So with this much activity and controversy in Switzerland, you'd think they had better things to deal with than banning games. Hang On! aren't they banning the car there as well?
What is funny about this thing is that the govermment doesnt allow any father to buy toys that resemble war weapons, and violent videogames, but any father could buy a real weapon and give it to his son/daughter, because there is not a law in the country that penalizes this action, or the port of arms, oh the irony.
I hope this trend stops now, but it seems that many countrys are taking steps to follow this route, i think all the gamers in the world need to do something before this thing gets out of hands, to the point of destroying this media.
Noe that all teeangers won't have bfbc2, they all going
to socialize and have unprotected sex (sine they missed ou
on sex-ed, as they were busy playing).
Believe me it's better to have teenage gamers locked in their
rooms than roaming on the streets.
Do u also want to hear my theory on how banning violent games increase air pollution rates?
Kill people in GTA and the cops come after you. Although a fair few of the missions are to kill people.
Stupid and pointless law if you ask me. If you can't determine between game and real life, you shouldn't be able to go out and buy a game in the first place, you should be in a mental institute.
Swiss Politician #2: No no no, don't be silly, let's pass a law banning all violent games.
Swiss Politician #1: Aha! Of course! Much better!
..lolwut?
Edit: THATS why we went to Iraq!, they'd obviously been playing Comand And Conquer at number 10
No, poor parenting and pier influence does.
But seriously if some one reenacts something they did in a game they probably need their head examined.
Anyone who wants to pay for a game will use online services such as steam...
Anyone else who doesn't care about copyrights will simply torrent it...
So, the only thing this would actually do is remove the shops selling the game, and in that way removing a certain number of jobs and the corresponding taxes that go with shopping there.
+1 ROFL... Beware, Spanish Inquisition might strike again and some more xD
i'm sorry - what did seaside attractions ever do to anyone?!
So since humans don't like to hear that bitter truth, it's easier to say that violent games stimulate crime. There you go problem solved, no loger is the politician required to explain why crime rates are high.
It's a shame how Europe no longer stands behind what it's been known for. It's becomming the Middle East
*facepalm*
Hands up who knows the difference between Sweden and Switzerland..?
Why are you lumping Australia in with Switzerland and Germany? Australia doesn't ban violent video games, or thinking of it.
The only issue with L4D2 is that Australia doesn't have an R18+ rating, so games needing R18+ need to have the violence toned down.
As an example I used above, Australian's can buy L4D2, but only the "Low Violence" version.
couldn't you just proxy your IP thru america or wherever buy the game then play all day? surely it doesn't censor games once they are on the computer? If I take the normal version of l4d2 to austrailia on my laptop what will happen?
I know in germany and a lot of these other countries there was a lot of rhetoric about how violent video games made youth more violent. Cue a school shooting and the victim's parent blaming it on the popular fps of the day and tada.
They tried it in the US, but frankly they don't have enough push and I don't think anyone has demonstrated a STRONG scientifically sound link between violence and video games and transition to real life violence.
Games of such nature may not be advertised, or stand around in shops.
They have to sport CLEAR age restrictions, and may only be sold upon proof of age and over the counter (i.e. not from a shelf where a kid can see them)...
but that's just my guess.
WOO-HOO!!!!
Yes, a proxy will give you the "Full Fat" version of L4D2 to view in the Steam store, but you are forgetting that there are other ways that Valve collects location data - especially the credit card and address details you have to supply at purchase.
The games are still linked to your account, and if your account says you are an Aussie, then you are out of luck, that's the version you're getting.
Can anyone tell me differently?
Edit:
I IMed a friend (he is in Australia) to try out a proxy for me, just for the fun of it.
When he views the L4D2 page, it shows an orange "Low Violence Version" warning.
When viewing the same page through an overseas proxy, the warning isn't there.
BUT.
What happens if he tried to purchase through the proxy and Valve sees that his account is marked Australian and he is paying with an Australian credit cart and contact details?
2. Torrent the original version.
3. play the original version with all the gore you want.
At least that is what I did with Fallout 3 as I got the german version.
They mess with the waves, damn them! Especially in Switzerland their beaches are littered with piers.
Haven't the Swiss just lifted a ban on Motorsport recently?
And besides, nothing feels better than pwning a shouty 13 year old yank on MW2 - that puts a smile on my face all day long