Valve, following on their awesome success with Half Life 2, has recently released Team Fortress 2 to rave reviews. But not everyone is a fan. German censorship required Team Fortress 2 to heavily modify the game to avoid strict anti-gore laws. So when someone is hurt or killed, they apparently explode into a cloud of rubber ducks, unicycles, springs, etc. Give Valve major props for dealing with German idiocy in a clever way which complies with the law while giving it the big virtual finger.
But perhaps it’s unfair to label the German approach idiotic. After all, aren’t we regularly informed that video game violence is the natural precursor to real violence? Since the last time the Germans got interested in real violence, lots of people died, perhaps we can forgive them for worrying about the simulated stuff.
But should they?
- Do violent video games lead to violent people?
- Is video game violence anything like real violence, or is it harmless fun like cartoon violence?
- Wait, is cartoon violence harmless?
- Just when do anti-violence laws cross the line from overzealous into downright stupid?
- What about “zero tolerance” laws in schools? Should a kid face suspension (or, many times, expulsion) for bringing a plastic knife, a Swiss army knife, etc. to school?
- For that matter, given “zero tolerance” shouldn’t the whole Physics class be expelled after pulling that Van De Graff “experiment” where they shock random kids in the hall?
As always, discuss amongst yourselves.
The 12 Angry Men Blog 
October 29, 2007 at 11:20 am
IMO “zero tolerance” is sneaking in bureaucratic CYA via the back door. Rather than making a decision based on a set of general guidelines and the specific facts of the case at hand, zero tolerance has lead to plastic knives leading to expulsion or four year olds being listed as sex offenders for kissing their teachers:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101901544.html
Of course, the fact that we’ve surrendered much of our discretion to the legal system—which renders most decision makers utterly paranoid—does not help.
As to the rubber ducks, unicycles, etc., that’s just damn funny. I bet there’s a big market in Deutschland for non-censored cuts of video games, or for mods that alter things.
October 29, 2007 at 11:29 am
Thanks to AFL there’s this video which (if it is indeed real and not a BS fake like nearly everything else on the intraweb), shows that there are at least *some* Germans who probably need to stay away from video games:
My money is that it’s a setup, like good old Andrew Meyer.
October 29, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I think zero tolerance is an evil synergy of the CYA mentality, ever present lawsuits in our litigious society, and the insane demand for “safety” common in modern America. As PJ O’Rourke pointed out long ago, the desire for what he called “the whiffle life” and what Rush Limbaugh (in a great turn of phrase) calls the “chickification of America” has produced horribly poisonous fruit.
When I went to high school I carried a pocketknife every day (as did many others), a few gangbangers and crazies carried combat knives (I knew one), there was no metal detector, there were no armed guards, and probably 20-30% of the students possessed firearms (quasi-rural Maryland). There was no concern or worry that one or more students would shoot up the place, and I never saw anyone brandish a weapon.
There were fights, some people did brandish weapons (and get arrested), etc. And bullying and vicious high school pecking order bullshit happened all the time. But our lack of police-state security and zero tolerance brutality did not, in fact, lead to anarchy and terror.
But, Hell, maybe we were just lucky.
December 29, 2007 at 10:18 am
Happy Christmas !
I like your blog articles !
I will be also making a blog about the video game releases and would like to exchange links with you if you like the idea.
Thanks a lot ,
Have a great day.
Your friend,
Mike