German Minister Wants WoW To Be 18+?
Germany's recent shooting rampage has sent the country's already blood-wary politicos into a flurry of anti-videogame rhetoric, which is more or less par for the "shooting rampage" course. Germany has a high tolerance for sexy content, but has strict standards for the depiction of blood and violence in games - in contrast to the US, where lesbian aliens in Mass Effect generate horror but war games and shooters get picked up by the military.
And while I'd think it only normal for Germans to be discussing realistic violence in their media right now, the last place I'd expect them to find danger is in World of Warcraft, which Social Affairs Minister Mechthild Ross-Luttmann, Minister of Social Affairs in the German state of Lower Saxony says might one day soon be adults-only:
Ross-Luttmann... aims to achieve a general age restriction for addictive computer games. World of Warcraft, for example - available to minors at the age of 12 - might in the near future only be sold to adults. In addition to this, parents need to be further sensibilized [sic]. "Parents must know what danger potential exists in their children's bedrooms," Ross-Luttmann said.Computer game expert and author of "Digital Paradise" Andreas Rosenfelder is rather skeptical about demands like this. "I don't see a connection between digital role playing games like World of Warcraft and shooting sprees," he said. World of Warcraft is a game set in medieval times in which the protagonists can take on the roles of dwarfs, elves and wizards. There is no shooting in this game.
"In heated debates there can easily be some confusion," Rosenfelder said.
Well it ain't the Great Mid-Missouri Animal Crossing Pedo-Bust, but it's still whackadoodle. Rather more right-headed is Ross-Luttmann's hope to begin a secret shopper program to test how well German retailers enforce game ratings.
Or, of course, they could skip the sacrificial lamb and address the actual causes of murderous rampages.
In Wake of Rampage, German Pol Calls for WoW to be 18+ Rated [GamePolitics]
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany, Video Games on 18 March 2009
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: 18+, germany, mechthild ross-luttmann, social affairs, wow
I did some source-surfing, and the word "sensibilized" that is carried from source to source appears to have originated with an article reporting on the story. I was curious, because I imagined that the original politician would have been speaking German, and that therefore the mangled language probably didn't come from her, and that appears to be the case.
So it's not the politician's language idiocy the person who threw in the [sic] was drawing attention to, but an actual writer, albeit probably a German-speaker writing in English.
They don`t want it to be 18+ ´cause of "shooting" or violence, they want it to be 18+ ´cause of the possible addiction to it, meaning it is supposed to be some sort of "drug", if you wanna say so.
I WISH it was 18+, at least it would mean no 10 year olds running around talking grabage, lol. That makes me sounds so old.
FYI, Ross-Luttmann is Minister for social affairs in the state of Lower Saxony, not the entirety of Germany. Admittedly, this particular state has been the scene of the recent school shooting which, surprisingly and contrary to the article, wasn't blamed on video games for once but on an irresponsible father, leaving his firearm and ammunition unlocked and accessible to a deeply troubled, isolated teen. Even our minister of the interior, Schäuble, who is usually the first to introduce over-the-top measures (against terrorists, of course) played down the significance of anything but social responsibilities.
The ban Ross-Luttmann seems to be going for sounds a lot like she's trying to enforce IRL social interactions without realising that those very interactions can very well take place online (well, kinda...). Other than that, her main agenda is to enforce the existing rules about selling adult-themed games to minors - which in my opinion is totally what she should do, why else would we have a rating system? I like Gamepolitics for what they do, but sometimes they, too, try to bend the truth to their liking...
@darkopiate: I felt superior to 10y-olds, too, when I was your age
Thanks once again Tek Guy, for setting the record straight. I think I should have you proof-read all my German posts!
@ The Tek Guy.
Firstly it was a joke, and second i was referring to the constant use of gay. You sure showed tiny dancer and me. I am sure it makes you feel superior correcting posts all around the internet.
@Tek Guy:
Winnenden, Lower Saxony?! Google it!
The shooting took place in Baden-Württemberg, so this has actually not been in her state.
However in Lower Saxony they have an institute for criminological research, that recently did a lot of controversial studies concerning video games and violent behaviour.
Ross-Luttmann seems to use this campaign for political reasons, maybe to raise chances following her predecessor Ursula von der Leyen (actually the whole idea sounds von-der-Leyen-ish), who now is doing her job on a whole-german level. We have an election year.
Funny thing I read about this here at first, not on any german site...
@denton: Damn, you caught me on that (kinda stupid, where else would Oettinger hold a condolence speech...). Frankly, I couldn't care less where it happened though, because that is not an issue. These kinds of things can and will happen anywhere, my point being that this shooting and gaming violence are not in any way related, and media and politics largely acknowledge that. If Ross-Luttmann is driving this issue to get into federal government, that is a really weak start...
@tiny: yah well, I love me some gaygamer.com in the morning ^^ I don't blame anybody for a little lost in translation, but I do object to gamepolitics misstating facts reinforcing gamers' prejudices towards non-gamers. I find her intention to regularly check if shops ID buyers when selling mature-rated games absolutely sound.