Stuttgart Gaming Tournament Canceled

[Andy Chalk]

Stuttgart Gaming Tournament Canceled

A videogame tournament scheduled to take place in the Germany city of Stuttgart this Friday, near the town of Winnenden where 15 people were killed earlier this month, has been canceled by the city.

The Heise Online [http://www.esl.eu/], the organizers were "not even willing to accept a minute's silence for the victims" of the shooting. As a result, the city shut down the tournament entirely.

Ibrahim Mazari of Turtle Entertainment said that while the murders of 15 people by a crazed gunman left gamers "horrified," there was never any question of canceling the tournament voluntarily because there is no actual connection between the murders and videogaming. He compared "e-sports" to the German Bundesliga [http://www.bundesliga.de/en/] soccer league, noting that while injury-filled riots have been common in that sport for years, "not one solid punch" has been thrown in all the hundreds of e-sports events that have taken place in the country.

Despite that perfectly reasonable stance, the backlash against violent videogames continues to swell in Germany: Yesterday, German President Horst Koehler threw his support behind an all-out ban of "killergames" in the country. "Games, whether on the Internet or on the PC, in which the goal is to kill as many people as possible deserve to be forbidden," he said [http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jLWSQJw_RHxt2Dc85ZOImYYiERbw]. "The same goes for all violent games which are, in their structure and presentation, very realistic and very bloody."

via: GamePolitics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/03/25/wake-shooting-rampage-stuttgart-gaming-competition-nixed]


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[karmapolizei]

Do you really need to give these idiots such a buzz? Sure, German community politicans sure as hell don't read the Escapist, but still..

Besides, Turtle Ent. has been majorly fucked with. When the city asked them to do a minute of silence or anything else, they apparently didn't even bother telling they were considering to shut it down. Assholes.

Besides, befor the Nazi comparisons get out of hand: The city can shut down the event because the arena it was set to take place in is theirs, not because of any legal means given to them.

 

[TheBluesader]

No Nazi comparisons. Just noting that grand and great grand children of the people who started two world wars with a combined death total of something like 50 million people are now talking about banning digital shooter simulators.

I mean, I guess they'd be in the best position to make that kind of decision. But it still tickles my very dark funny bone.

 

[oliveira8]

Then if the president really believes violent games should be banned then he will have to cancel the following sports and games in his country.
Football
Tag
Martial Arts
Self-defense classes
Baseball
Football(american)[if they play that sport]
Hockey
The Olympics

Pretty much anything that requires physical contact setting up 2 teams against each other. The whole point of these games originated out of war based alternatives. All violent and should be banned right along with video games.

In Europe its Rugby and not American Football(which doesnt require almost no contact with the feet...)

But Rugby and AF are pretty diferent but the spirit is the same thing. And Baseball never really catched on in Europe(I think)

 

[johnman]

Well i hope that kids happy, he fucking up the only thing that seemed to give him anyenjoyment in his life. Why does one attention seeking prick have to ruin it for the entire country?
And the famlies and friends of the people he killed of course.
ARGR i need to go clam down, shit like this really pisses me off (the shooting not the cancellation)

 

[Nikita89]

I actually live near Stuttgart and I couldn't believe this when I've heard it... The only thing the city and its officials are concerned about is their public image.

I mean, what were the organizers supossed to do? Force the players to play Blobby Volley...?

 

[GyroCaptain]

No Nazi comparisons. Just noting that grand and great grand children of the people who started two world wars with a combined death total of something like 50 million people are now talking about banning digital shooter simulators.

I mean, I guess they'd be in the best position to make that kind of decision. But it still tickles my very dark funny bone.

Sorry, this is kind of my thing.
"German Government Bans Video Game Tournament, 'Nothing like the Nazi's at all,' Residents Claim Uneasily."

Yep, it's the German hypersensitivity-spawned Bizarro world Nazism again.
"So, to prevent a closed society of violence from rising again, we're going to curtail freedoms every time someone might think of relation to violence?"
"Yes! Why is this so hard to understand?"

I know the tune for the Horst Wessel Lied (as a lark, because I'm a terrible person), and were I to whistle that in public there it would be Go Directly To Jail: Do Not Pass Go. Every other country got over the whole Nazi thing much better than Germany did. Partly that's due to a minor oneupmanship game that the East tried to play, viz "We have fewer Nazis in office still than you, we're better at policing our ranks for former Nazis!" It's just interesting to think that the Brits/US had recovered enough from the problem to make fun of them almost nonstop within 30 years.

 

[scotth266]

I see this from both sides of the wall, but the tourney guys should have had the moment of silence, just to get the government off their back. And since Germany is now acting like Australia, might I say the same thing that I just did about Australia?

All that you do when you ban violent videogames in your country is encourage people to stop supporting local buisnesses in favor of Ebay.

That's all.

 

[TheBluesader]

No Nazi comparisons. Just noting that grand and great grand children of the people who started two world wars with a combined death total of something like 50 million people are now talking about banning digital shooter simulators.

I mean, I guess they'd be in the best position to make that kind of decision. But it still tickles my very dark funny bone.

Sorry, this is kind of my thing.
"German Government Bans Video Game Tournament, 'Nothing like the Nazi's at all,' Residents Claim Uneasily."

"German Government Says No to Violent Games: 'World War II shooters are embarassing!'"

"German Government Bans Violent Games as Cause of Crime, cites "Probable Russian Plot to Undermine State."

Ha ha. I know just enough about everything to be a jerk.

 

[Brotherofwill]

I mean, what were the organizers supossed to do? Force the players to play Blobby Volley...?

Holy shit, if they'd do that I would sign up immediatly. Still consider myself to be world champion in that game.

Anyway, the cancelation is pretty ridiculous; I think it's good that the hosts took a strong stance and denied any connection instead of mourning for something that they aren't in the slightest responsible for.

 

[KDR_11k]

Hey, it's not even 20 dead people, a random plane crash will kill ten times as many and doesn't get the whole nation into a panic. If a school shooting every two years is enough to ban something, why are tobacco and alcohol still legal? Oh right, because the politicians and their voters actually use those so demonizing smokers and drinkers would actually mean demonizing someone you know or care about while demonizing gamers is convenient as they know none personally anyway and a distant minority is always easy to treat as subhuman.

 

[Fenring]

That really seemed uncalled for unless the city plans to hold a rememberance thing in the stadium for the victims it seems like they just needed an accuse to shut the whole thing down. Shame on you city.

 

[Ronwue]

I worry for the future... Really really much. If my country is the only one who will never give a shit about this kind of thing, I will think twice about leaving this place...

 

[scape]

I've always played games, and largely not gave a fuck about most of the things in them. But sometimes, when I think about it. We are simulating killing a person, for entertainment. Now even me, a gamer, still draws a blank for understanding why this is entertaining. Ok, maybe it's just instinct. But if someone doesn't take a stand then games will proceed largely unregulated. And for one, I don't want my kids playing a quick time event on raping someone.
(and yes that's quite elaborate. But I bet the developers of pong didn't expect us to be where we are now)

 

[I III II X4]

Hey, it's not even 20 dead people, a random plane crash will kill ten times as many and doesn't get the whole nation into a panic. If a school shooting every two years is enough to ban something, why are tobacco and alcohol still legal? Oh right, because the politicians and their voters actually use those so demonizing smokers and drinkers would actually mean demonizing someone you know or care about while demonizing gamers is convenient as they know none personally anyway and a distant minority is always easy to treat as subhuman.

Right on, right on the money.

 

[Andy Chalk]

But if someone doesn't take a stand then games will proceed largely unregulated. And for one, I don't want my kids playing a quick time event on raping someone.

So my first reaction to that statement is... don't let your kids play a Quicktime event that simulates raping someone.

I agree, there are a lot of games I wouldn't want my (hypothetical) kid playing either. The nutshot [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90460-Shoot-Opponents-in-the-Nuts-in-Combat-Arms] game, for one. What I would do, therefore, as a (hypothetical) parent is say to my kids, no, sorry, you're not allowed to play that kind of game. Why not? Because I fucking said so, that's why not.

(Like most kids, I hated that answer when I was young. Now that I'm older I see its value. If people spent less time trying to negotiate and compromise with their children and instead just acted like parents now and then - which includes exercising arbitrary, "for your own good" parental authority now and then - there would probably be a lot less twattishness in the world.)

You're also assuming that because violent games are popular, more violent games would be more popular, but that's clearly not the case. Case in point is RapeLay, the infamous rape game that came to light a couple months ago. Aside from a small number of curiousity seekers, idiots and people who just like to do things they're not supposed to, gamers were revolted by the game or at the very least had zero interest in playing it. There is a line, and games like that very clearly cross it.