EU Hatches Cunning Plan For Violent Games January 20, 2007
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US hysteria has reached European shores with a growing number of EU ministers calling for a unified stance on violent games.
Led by Germany, which has its fair share of game-inspired violence in recent times, the move will see the introduction of a tougher games evaluation system, stricter age ratings, identity checks in stores and the use of police powers to enforce the system. A study is to be started into the various games laws of all 27 member nations with a view of harmonising them and making them a lot tougher. Don’t expect anything soon then.
Games like Rule of Rose (above) are already in the firing line of Franco Frattini, European Justice commissioner, who is determined – and rightly so - to protect children from violent games.
In addition to stricter regulations, the likelihood of outright bans on certain violent games looks far more likely in the future. I’m all for tougher laws and increased age ratings to protect children from violent games content but blanket bans?
Where do you stand?-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
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Game sales will fall if customers feel the product could have been better so they better not change the gameplay or feel of games by taking out violence.
If they ban the games all together we can get around it by buying the game from a diffrent country anyway.
I live in the UK, although there "might" be a very slight link to violence in games to violence in our youth, ultimately the parents should be responsible to ensure that Little Johnny doesn’t play violent games. If a child plays a violent game the parents then claim that they were not informed of the content.
Yet ALL violent games, or games with inappropriate content for a minor is rated by the BBFC, and on all box art comes an “18” certificate, just like an “18” cert. movie.
If the parents are too stupid to realise it has inappropriate content for their little darlings, then they are the ones that should be punished.
The problem is, older brothers and sisters, or parents who just don’t care will often buy a game, regardless of content and let their child play it. These are the people ruining it for everyone else.
The EU are just a bunch of fascists. They should look at the bigger problems in society and stop using Video Games as a scapegoat for the countries problems.
I'm fed up of parents buying games like grand theft auto for their kids and ignoring the age warning. Who's to blame? Not the child as they just want what every other kid in the playground has. Not necessarily the parents either as they are being allowed to get away with it which only feeds their ignorance. I don't even blame the store that sells it as they have no power over what a parent allows their child to play. If this is the only way to solve the issue and inspires all parties to buck up their act then I'm all for it - and it allows games for us mature audiences to not be cut down in order to satisfy the ever frenzied media and ignorant politicians who fear children getting their hands on such content