German teenagers finally Doom-ed

[Corakus]

Wait, so you can't have blood and gore in video games or movies in Germany?At all, or just with some of them?

[ThomasAccount]

Mostly in some of them. It depends on how bloody they are, and what sort of Game it is.

The Witcher: Bloody as hell, but no Problem (USK 18, The Witcher 2 USK 16, perhaps because it is a fantasy rpg)

Shooter: Allways a little bit problematic here

Shooting Ennemies: no Problem

Shooting helples people only for fun: No Go. (In COD MW Ger. Version shooting on hostages means Game Over)

Shooting Humans to pieces: No Go.

Shooting Aliens or Mutants to Pieces: (Dead Space 1+2) USK 18

 

So to say what goes an what not is not easy because there is no checklist, every game has to be handled seperatly.

In the links in my last post all is explaind, but all in german. If someone knows were to find the stuff in english please tell me.

Edited September 2, 2011 by Thomas_hx

[ThomasAccount]

Deleted: Doublepost. Edited September 2, 2011 by Thomas_hx

[SauntOrolo]

Stabbing cliffracers in Morrowind is NOT violence, its justifiable manslaughter....or er, lizard bird slaughter... :P

 

There was also the problem with DOOM of the special levels you could unlock, which were basically Doom battles with Wolfenstein style Nazis running around and the like. In contravention of German laws against exhibitions of Nazi paraphernalia. The versions sold were ones were, if I recall, one where that content had been removed.

 

Handling the situation on a game by game basis is really the sane approach though, given how silly Hollywood standards were about blanket statements of what could be portrayed at what rating level. Didn't matter if it was softcore porn, art films or popular fare....certain things automatically granted say, an X rating even though the movie was far from X in intent or content taken as a whole....

 

cheers

[Vagrant0]

So this begs the question, what was Germany's policy on similar game titles/franchises?

Generally, any depiction of violence towards a human was usually censored, often to the point of being ridiculous, and had been in effect since the 90's. One example off the top of my head is Half-life.

[TheUnperson]

Doom has always been big in germany, Christoph "Doom"Schneider(Rammstein Drummer) chose his nickname based on the game several years ago.

[Volek]

The OP got something wrong: Doom was never banned in Germany. A ban means that no-one, including adults, are allowed to sell or buy it, and if someone sells or buys it on the black market, it's considered a crime.

 

Doom, and later Doom 2 and Final Doom (they are essentially the same game) have been put on the so-called "index" list by a state institution called BPjM (a bunch of old guys with little knowledge of reality, at least that's what I've heard :rolleyes: ).

 

Being on this index list means that any kind of public advertising for the game is forbidden. Selling and buying the game itself is not.

So if you wanted to buy Doom, you had to ask for it in the shop and show a valid ID proving you were over 18. Or you could purchase it via mail-order from foreign websites, but this was not entirely legal since the versions sold outside germany had swastikas in them (Doom 2 secret maps). You were definitely not allowed to re-sell these versions.

 

Anyway, my point is: there was never a ban that was lifted. Doom was removed from that index list and received an official rating. This was requested by Bethesda Softworks to make the Doom 3 BFG edition (which includes the old Doom games) publicly available in Germany.

So the BPjM had to decide wether to wipe Doom off the index list or not. The committee consisted of 12 people, of which at least 8 had to vote for keeping it on the index list, otherwise it would be removed. They had two conferences until they came to the decision to remove it.

The explanation of their decision included a statement that Doom's graphics are now too old to be seen as realistic depictions of violence, when compared to recent games.

 

 

A little bit off-topic:

Anyone remember Rise Of The Triad from 1994? ROTT is still on the index list in Germany, and that means that any sequels by the same name are automatically put on the index list as well (just like it happened to Doom 2).

So the ROTT remake that was announced last year is going to be renamed to "Hunt" for the german market, to avoid any restrictions. However, if someone (can be any person or institution) thinks that "Hunt" is a threat to german youth, they can report it to the BPjM and those guys will put it to the test.