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Games Politics/Government

German School Shooting Blamed on Video Games

ZDNet featured a news story titled Violent games blamed for German school attack. A man stormed his school, wounded 27 people, and then committed suicide. Due to this fascination with war simulation and video games, government officials are now calling for a ban on “killer games”. GamePolitics.com has also covered this news story.

Apparently it extends beyond video games. Banning paint ball and laser tag is also under consideration.

One official, however, seems to have a more rational opionion:

The opposition Greens warned against banning violent computer and war games.

Volker Beck, a leading Greens member of parliament, said it would be better to focus the debate on the proper use of computers and not jump to conclusions before it was clear what motivated [the killer].

Not jumping to conclusions? I wonder how many people will oppose this time around.

One reply on “German School Shooting Blamed on Video Games”

Greetings everyone.

I am from Mexico, and I just recently read about this story. I have to say, that I feel I am a little involved in the subject. Here in Mexico, there are no Internet laws or regulations. Everyone can do pretty much whatever they want with it. Still, only about 2% of the whole population has access to the Internet, and a very shabby to say the least.

I am honestly getting sick and tired of hearing all of this nonsense about banning the symptoms instead of attacking the roots of the problems. You see, here in Mexico there hasn’t been an attack because of videogames… yet. But still, a clear example of moronic behaviour which leads to even more absurd regulations is the one about Julio Castrillón.

This guy murdered cold-bloodedly a female teenager, pretty much with his bare hands. He was reported as highly unstable, and trust me on this, they searched EVERYWHERE for dumb excuses as to why he did what he did. The one they found was the best, was that he used to listen to Metal music. In order to plead for insanity, he gave in and said that Metal music made him do it, that it was evil. And so, all the simple-minded good for nothing media and politicians took it to the heart.

They BURNED Metal CDs, people… entire collections of them that angry parents who didn’t know what the hell they were doing gathered. Entire collections from my friends were burnt to ashes just because that idiot pleaded for insanity on a whimsically founded argument. I saved my collection, as I listen to Metal music, but still it was a very, very sad time.

I guess my point is, I don’t want to see this happening to Videogames. I play CS, and I really enjoy it, just as much as I like Metal music. The problem, I believe, is that people with no criteria, people who believe everything they see or hear, commit mistakes, and now everyone else pays the price.

It is this kind of behaviour that does not grant us the ticket to a next phase. I mean, let’s face it, this debate has gone over for too long and not a single action has been taken to solve the issues at hand. Not a right one, at least. What I propose, if someone with the power to make it happen out there is reading, is that they start asking the people involved, instead of asking so-called “experts”… it’s the people who play the videogames who know what they can do, who can really assess their potential, and who know their influence in daily life experience.

As Stetsonblade said before, it’s lack of information what’s been tugging us into the ground, and, sadly, uninformed people in high stratus of government are even worse. Whenever they open their minds to development, whenever they start breaking paradigms instead of reinforcing them, then we can truly coexist in an healthy non-violent environment.

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