Switzerland to attempt banning violent videogames.

Ostriig on 23/3/2010 at 23:28

Sorry, Thirith, looks like the cretinfest has now reached your otherwise appealing shores.

Quote:

Originally Posted by (http://kotaku.com/5498781/swiss-government-cracking-down-on-violent-game-sales) Kotaku
According to a report on Gamesmarkt, Switzerland's National Council has just passed a pair of bills that seek to restrict the sale of violent video games within the country.

The first, put forward by Evi Allemann, of the Socialist Party, wants to stop the manufacture, advertisement, importation and sale of any game that promotes as a means of advancement or "success" acts of violence against humans or "human-like" creatures. It passed by a margin of 19-12.

The second bill looks to ban the sale of violent videogames to children, which I suppose doesn't really concern us, does it?

Anyway, it's probably also worth noting a relevant particularity of the Swiss legislative process:

Quote:

Before you cry foul, please note that under Swiss law, any petition that can gather over 100,000 signatures must go to a national referendum

Oh, almost forgot, on a tangential note it appears that South-Australian Attorney General and generally insufferable ass Michael Atkinson is (http://kotaku.com/5498362/adult-rated-video-games-bound-for-australia) now, as of March 21st, to be referred as former South-Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson. No word on whether he will also be retiring from being an insufferable ass, but magic 8balls around the world are suggesting it's Highly Doubtful.

Yakoob on 24/3/2010 at 01:24

Evi Allemann. Sounds like Evil Man. How fitting.

Bluegrime on 24/3/2010 at 05:03

Not quite as great as Idi Amin.

Who was quite the mean, imo.

Thirith on 24/3/2010 at 07:57

And the sad thing is that this is coming mostly from the party that I agree with in 90% of all cases. If only they weren't a bunch of luddite hippies who have no clue how easy it'll be for kids to get cracked versions of all these nasty, vicious, brutal, corrupting games... Sigh.

EvaUnit02 on 24/3/2010 at 09:42

Michael Atkinson is still in power until 2012, unfortunately. ~2 years is plenty of time in which to do damage.

He's to be replaced by Conan O'Brien.

Trance on 24/3/2010 at 10:40

No, Conan's taking over for Finland when Tarja Halonen leaves office.

demagogue on 24/3/2010 at 14:26

Holy shit if that first one passes the only thing you'll be left with are EA Sports games, Race games, the Sims and all those red-neck games like Deer Hunter & Fishing Master. Seriously, no "acts of violence" at all? (You might not even get that much -- you can trip people in sports games, crash into other cars, slap people around in the Sims.) What a nightmare. :erg:

Nameless Voice on 24/3/2010 at 23:15

You'd still get Portal!

I do think it's a shame that there aren't more games that try something more imaginative than violence. Not that violence can't be fun!
Banning violent games certainly isn't the way to encourage innovation, however.

Kolya on 25/3/2010 at 02:11

It might be. Quite often the subversion of restrictions is more entertaining than unrestricted content would be. But violence is a broad term and Switzerland isn't enough of a market to enforce any change in a worldwide industry. It also doesn't have any appealing shores.

Enchantermon on 25/3/2010 at 14:34

Quote Posted by Nameless Voice

You'd still get Portal!

You sure? There's violence against GLaDOS, who is self-aware. She may be considered "human-like" (though that's stretching it)