Wow...just wow: German gamers face jail for acts of virtual violence

Players and creators of video games could face imprisonment for acts of virtual violence under draft legislation being drawn up by two of Germany's state governments.
Politicians in Bavaria and Lower Saxony have proposed a new offence that will punish "cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters" inside games. Early drafts suggest that infringers should face fines or up to 12 months' jail for promoting or enacting in-game violence.

The scheme comes in response to a shooting last month in the town of Emsdetten on the Dutch border, where Sebastian Bosse, an 18-year-old games fan, stormed into his former school and wounded 37 people before killing himself.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1969920,00.html

Along with the soy news from earlier this means that I'm likely a "homocidal" killer. (mispelling is intentional)

So, I guess that leaves out pretty much a whole bunch of fun games.

:eyes:

:crazy:

He was always such a quiet guy. Kept to himself. Great treats at Halloween!

and whoever sent him the bottle of scope.

n/t

One of those popular sounding BS laws that no-one actually pays attention to unless they are feeling vindictive...rather like sodomy laws.

Otherwise, I am sure that South German Prisons will be clogged with Gamers...

FILTHY FILTHY GAMERS!!! and sodomites!

We blame the thing instead of the individual who committed the act. No one wants to look at how society may have failed this kid--just like Columbine--we don't want to come to terms with the idea that just maybe this particular person had something wrong in their brain. We refuse to go look for real causes and solutions. Instead, we blame some inanimate things like video games, drugs, movies, hormones or cars.

Can human society get any more dysfunctional?

That way they only have to build and staff virtual jails and they can be staffed with NPC guards with level 999, soul sucking, and instant regen. It'd be just like Azkaban.

The ones people actually like to play anyway.

Oh well, at least it will be easy to kill the German players in World of Warcraft now. They'll be the ones running around with the Mighty Hammer of Jello, the Staff of Rubbery Intellect, and the Blade of Dull Wrath. BG's on the German servers will be FUN!

Most cartoons are full of violence. Oh, I guess they only care about "humans or human-like characters." I guess you can't learn antisocial behavior from animals dropping anvils on each other.

I wonder if the new law applies if you "helped" someone through the turn?

Furthermore, can Modern Talking be put under arrest if that horrible Formula 1 "Win The Race" song is set to the game soundtrack?



That would solve much of Europe's crap music problem and let far cooler musicians take the scene...