A Message from the german players to the rest.

[MeFirst]

It would be really great, if some people would stop to write certain comments about what german players should do to solve the problems they have with censored games. I obviously dont mean comments like: try to get the game gifted from somebody else. I mean comments that go into that direction:

Move somewhere decent outside of germany.

Vote a different party at elections.

Moving out of germany for some video games is pretty much unrealistic and a lot of people simply cant afford it. I dont think that is a good alternative. The suggestion to vote a party that is against censoring is not that bad actually, but the problems is there is no poltical party in germany that will care about that at all that is in a good enough position to change the current way things are being done in germany.

I think some people again need to understand how and why games are censored in germany. If you want to release a game in germany you have to get a age rating from the so called USK (Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle). They give out ratings for games between free for 0 years, 6 years, 12 years, 16 years and 18 years.

If a game has a +18 Rating that DOES NOT mean that the game has to be uncut. There are a lot of games that got this rating but are still censored and have cut content. A examples for that are the german versions of left 4 Dead 1 and 2. If a developer or publisher is refusing to cut content from the game that the usk demands to be cut the usk will eventually refuse to give the game a age rating. When this happens the game can and eventually will land on the german index of the BPjM (Bundespr

 

[Shakermaker]

.... but if you're gonna move, come over to the Netherlands. You're more than welcome here. We might even still have a bike your grandfather used.

 

[MeFirst]

Thanks for the offer.

Actually a friend of mine still has a bike in his basement that probably belongs to somebody in venlo but that is a different story.

 

[Feuer76]

.... but if you're gonna move, come over to the Netherlands. You're more than welcome here. We might even still have a bike your grandfather used.

Don

 

[SheepShaver]

MeFirst, still the same old ranter.

 

[JohnnyRaygun]

How would the game get cut content wise? If someone explodes their limbs aren't strewn about? Big deal. I am sure the game mechanics, the reason you enjoy the actual game, would still be intact and you can enjoy it like everyone else. Granted, edited/cut games would be lame in a way, the fundamentals of the game and why it's enjoyable are still in play.

 

[MeFirst]

@SheepShaver
You still shaving the sheeps?

No information from TW how the game will be censored, gut I guess it will be like the normal RO in germany. Players cant loose limbs and the blood is reduced to a few splatters. Of course the game still works an I had plenty of fun with RO and I still have fun with it. But it is not really acceptable if 1-2 organizations are telling adults in germany what they are allowed to see and what not. Especially when thhose 2 organizations are far from being transparent and sometimes dont even finish a game they give a rating out for. Also it seems to be pretty strange in the last months. Looks like big publishers like EA etc can get games released uncensored that are far more violent like the latest example gears of war which wont be censored at all.

 

[-Chaotic-]

Have you ever tried contacting a local MdB?

Change is never an easy thing but if there is enough support within a country then it can happen.

It's a little odd that they don't have higher certification such as Adult Only if they're censoring games rated 18.

 

[MeFirst]

18+ is the adult rating. (In germany you are an adult when you reach the age of 18, not 21)

 

[Panzerklein]

After reading this you feel comfortable in Russia,where nobody cares what games you play and how many nude parts or blood is in

 

[Shakermaker]

Don

 

[Golf33]

Germany is the only western democracy that has something like that.

What, has a classification board that can refuse classification so a game cannot be advertised, sold or bought?

Australia has that too. In fact I'd be astonished if any functioning democracy didn't have an equivalent.

 

[BlackLabel]

Germany is the only western democracy that has something like that.

Wrong...talk to peeps from Australia ( if you consider that a "western democracy" even if on the other side of the world ).

Moving out of Germany for some video games is pretty much unrealistic and a lot of people simply cant afford it. I don't think that is a good alternative

Indeed and i only stated that for comical reasons since the topic you talk about is beaten to dead...tenthousandgazillion times. OFC you are right with what you are saying basically but i swear if get only 50 cent for every time this topic comes up i could stop going to work my entire life.

I can only GUESS that, since steam do sent wants your german ID card to identify you as an ADULT under german law, whom has the RIGHT to buy uncut versions of whatever game he might desire, they take the "easy" way out and outright "cut" certain titles based on IP Addresses.

Eventho, my KF works fine and is uncut, who knows if that is diffrent with RO:HOS.

Also lets not try to make 1000 topics about that issue. As you said yourself, it dosent take much away from the experience that is RO, it merly an anoyance that is based on a certain law in germany. ( And yes they should ****ing acnowledge computergames as ART and not as TOYS, as how it is now )

Have you ever tried contacting a local MdB?

That is a good idea, albeit you would be turned down or labeled "gamer lunatic who wants his killer-games even bloodier than they already are". I guess it takes another generation of politicians, who grew up with games and understand that such laws are only a anoyance, to change that.


*edith*

I think there is a scale on which they deem violence unlawful in the sense that the "person/avatar/monster" that looses digital life and limb must be not human or look close to human. ( imo that was where gears got through...but don't quote me on that )

 

[Frostedfire]

but most have an equivalent adults-only rating, hell even new zealand does (not that that does anything, seeing as they bundle anz in the one shipping destination lol) but that at least gives somewhere for the more mature games to go to, instead of the opinion-based debacles where very graphic games get in fine and others with bugger-all violence get considered more in-your-face and get hit with the banstick

 

[Baine]

What i don't get is this:
Alien vs Predator (2010) got an USK rating 18+ i believe and wasn't allowed to be advertised in germany, but i could still get it uncut. I want the same with RO2. Don't bow down before USK, don't take a 16 rating, stick to 18+, you will get more happy customers this way, as there are enough online stores where you can buy it then.

 

[MeFirst]

Well about Australia that is fact not really true. as far as I know australia just dont has a adult rating and germany has 2 departments that decide what game gets which rating and when they have to cut something from it. I think there is a small difference there.

There are in fact a few things going on that try to organize things about the current way things are right now in germany with those censoring. There are people who want to use the PEGI Rating in germany since this would wotk for the whole EU Zone but the polticial partys in germany already said that they are against it (this would basically kill the usk). Actually there is probably no poltical party exept the Piraten Partei in germany that is against the way things are today. Sad but true.

 

[-Chaotic-]

18+ is the adult rating. (In germany you are an adult when you reach the age of 18, not 21)

In the UK - 18 makes you an adult however there are certain games/films that don't even meet that requirement.

Instead of them being cut however they are given a rating higher than 18. One to distinguish that parents should not be buying this game for children.

It is known as AO in the ESRB rating.

It's an odd one - we seem to have games that are either given an ESRB, PEGI or BBFC rating or a combination of the three.

 

[Moyako]

@SheepShaver
You still shaving the sheeps?

Boring. I like me sheeps hairy

 

[Harb]

I'm glad we have the BBFC in the UK. Whilst it has refused classification for games this is very few and far between. The last few big games that were denied classification were Manhunt 2 which was refused for it's 'unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying' and Carmageddon which had this overturned on appeal by changing red blood to green.

The difference is the BBFC has evolved into a responsible organisation that gives sound reasoning behind their decisions in comparison to how it used to act in the 80s. This has of course spread to games now they are becoming more advanced. A good example would be the classification for MW2, they didn't act on the moral panic created by parts of the media who wanted it banned and instead gave a balanced and reasoned argument for the uncut 18 classification it was given.

Spoiler!

 

[The Masta]

i swear if get only 50 cent for every time this topic comes up i could stop going to work my entire life.

Even if you'd get 1 cent, you'd be a billionaire at the end of the day.