My incredibly long title should get you primed to reading this long, powerful, and scathing personal account of the recently passed legislation banning violent videogames in Venezuela. After the jump you’ll find the essay in its entirety. I’ve taken the liberty of inserting some pictures lest you find yourself wandering.

If I get fined for writing this (Article 13, promoting the use of violent videogames), so be it. If I go to jail because I carry rooms in my hard drive or in an R4 card for my brother, next time I return to the country, so be it. But I’d rather go to jail than betray the gamer culture, partially responsible for making me the person I am today.

[BoingBoing]

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Germany’s Interior Ministers are requesting the Bundestag (German Parliament) to enact legislation forbidding the production and distribution of all videogames, "where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or unhuman acts of violence against humans or manlike characters." Seen as a response to the rise in youth related violence, politicians hope to present a number of reforms before national elections take place on September 27th.

Earlier German efforts had included a ban on war-like game scenarios such as paintball and laser tag, where the current age requirement is 18 or older, only to be scrapped when the measure was seen as immensely unpopular. IF this were to become law, limiting the cash flow of an already troubled German economy may send local developers like Crytek to neighboring countries.  

Soapbox please…
The greater issue is the lengths to which politicians are willing to go under the guise of maintaining social order. Videogames are often labeled as the correlation between minors and juvenile violence, until said minor reaches 18 and other factors such as depression, social anxiety and a bevy of other reasons may play into the perpetrated crime. Generally speaking, Germany is sensitive to realistic violence, often having developers change blood color, remove Third Reich imagery, or completely omit game scenes, and understandably so in the context of their war torn history.

However, an outright ban will cause more harm than good, especially when you consider the practical uses for videogames as a teaching tool for real world simulated experiences, particularly military uses (this includes aviation style games). Granted, I don’t live in Germany so I do not have the same perspective nor have I read any real proposed legislation. I understand the goal motivating those who want to ban violent videogames, but I do not believe this is the proper way to reduce violence in minors.

[Chip Online]
[Spiegel]

“Sin” taxes are state-sponsored taxes added to products or services seen as vices, such as alcohol, tobacco and gambling. State governments favor sin taxes because they generate an enormous amount of revenue and are usually easily accepted by the general public because they are indirect taxes only affecting those who use the products.

As the global recession worsens US lawmakers are looking to levy videogames as a creative solution to help fill the budgetary gap. Videogames are not typically seen as the traditional vice, however the gaming industry as a whole has been very resilient during this modern great depression and cash strapped local governments have trained their sights.

There have been multiple attempts to increase taxes on “violent games” like Gears of War or Dante’s Inferno, as well as videogame and television equipment. Thankfully, most legislation seems to be dead on arrival. However this doesn’t mean we should sit idly by while lawmakers, who the majority of whom have never played the next generation of games, propose unfair taxes.

It’s time to join the movement. I’m not going to take it anymore, and neither should you.

[Video_Game_Voters_Network]

[Reason]