European Parliament Member Calls for Mafia 2 Ban

[Erana]

Her father was murdered....
And that is really a terrible, terrible thing. Can we stop yelling, "Overreacting *****!" and look at her perspective for a second? I mean, if there was true tragedy in your life, then a game comes out that romanticizes the same things that cause it, you'd be upset, too.
I mean, imagine if someone you loved was emotionally destroyed by sexual abuse, and then Rapelay became a huge hit, with people finding such acts a source of mild amusement?

I'm not trying to justify attempted censorship here, I'm just pointing out that when terrible things happen, nothing makes sense, and you just try your hardest to try to make something right.

 

[Ldude893]

Did they even play the game before forming their opinion?

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Her father was murdered....
And that is really a terrible, terrible thing. Can we stop yelling, "Overreacting *****!" and look at her perspective for a second? I mean, if there was true tragedy in your life, then a game comes out that romanticizes the same things that cause it, you'd be upset, too.
I mean, imagine if someone you loved was emotionally destroyed by sexual abuse, and then Rapelay became a huge hit, with people finding such acts a source of mild amusement?

I'm not trying to justify attempted censorship here, I'm just pointing out that when terrible things happen, nothing makes sense, and you just try your hardest to try to make something right.

I agree with this guy, just about everyone on the thread seems to have skipped the part where it says the her father was MURDERED by the mafia, and shes not just trying to get it banned for herself, but for everyone whos life has been affected by organized crime

 

[Treblaine]

Ok, Appalling. I can understand that.

How is that a justification for a ban? What about freedom of expression? I find most modern art appalling, should Europe AGAIN go down this path of censorship of expression, have we all forgotten the LAST time Europe went that route?

I too fins Mafia 2 pretty crappy but it is not obscene, no one has any right to censor works for sensitivity or political reasons.

 

[brodie21]

how long ago did this game come out? august? that is forever in video-game-land

 

[Treblaine]

So we should ban the Godfather book and films as well then?

Oh no, because it is an obvious cliché to censor books and film, they couldn't get away with it because journalist would instantly pick up on that and spin it as "oooh censorship is bad".

But video games are "trivial" apparently. They aren't played much by those in positions of power and influence, so they are a soft target.

Plus they have no relevance to journalism. If you can censor books then that's a step closer to censoring newspapers.

 

[BenzSmoke]

No! Your wounds are still too fresh.

 

[Treblaine]

"indoctrinate a new generation into directly associating Italians and Italian-Americans with violent, murderous organized crime."

Movie's and T.V did that way before video games did.

To further emphasis the point:

contrasted with

Yet as per fucking usual, video games are somehow "the problem" here.

Mario is THE ICONIC video game character, an Italian plumber, hard working, helpful, joyful, loved by children and adults alike the world over. I suppose that's gratitude for you.

 

[Superior Mind]

It trivialises the violence of the Cosa Nostra in a way that books, films and pretty much every other form of media wouldn't?

:/

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

So we should ban the Godfather book and films as well then?

Oh no, because it is an obvious cliché to censor books and film, they couldn't get away with it because journalist would instantly pick up on that and spin it as "oooh censorship is bad".

But video games are "trivial" apparently. They aren't played much by those in positions of power and influence, so they are a soft target.

Plus they have no relevance to journalism. If you can censor books then that's a step closer to censoring newspapers.

Buuuuuuuuut, they are not sotrivial because they can still cause minors to sympatize with fictional characters inspired by real-life murderers and criminals....

Wait for it.... Wait for it...

Nope, the realization of hypocrisy will never strike these types of people. We can play this same sort of thinking with anything, and yet, it is always the snuffed at video games that become the greatest threat. And yet movies that have become downright pervasive in our society like Saw depicting torture are by no means equally dangerous? What if one person sympathizes with Jigsaw and thinks about committing physical and psychological torture on another human being? Censorship is censorship is censorshit.

By no means is this woman's personal hurt regarding the Mafia to be discounted, but should society ban everything that offends a group of people? By the time we're through the checklist, baby seals and power cords won't even be "safe" anymore. It is easy enough to say that Mafia II in this case is glorifying the real life Mafia, but is she really just asserting a baseless accusation due to her own bias, no matter how legitimate it may be? I've never seen the Godfather part III; is it right to say that it is criminal propaganda when it could very well end up being a repeating message overall against the Mafia?!?

 

[BabyRaptor]

Gods, I wish people would spend more of their lives minding their own freaking business and less of it trying to tell others what they can and cannot do. You don't like the game, lady? Don't play it!

 

[stabnex]

Soo... she's up for re-election and looking for campaign ammunition?

 

[Islandboy2]

I would be sad if mafia 2 was actually good, but its kind of late to call for a ban of a game. Its just really sad that games are huge targets for people who want to get elected.

 

[Kitteh]

They don't have to ban it because it's a shitty game anyway.

 

[Spawny0908]

Then don't play the fuckin game! What's the matter with people? Why do they feel the need to tell other what to do with their free time? Fuck this *****! Why don't you try to ban movies about the mafia?! Damn, this is so irritating. All these people see is a title and video game and they immediately jump to conclusions. Why can't for once someone actually play the game before they try to ban it?!

I think it's the fact that instead of WATCHING someone do all of these things your playing as the person and MAKING them do it. When a movie comes out (regardless of topic) it's considered as art and given awards. But as soon as it becomes interactive and made into a "game" all that "it's art talk" turns into "Won't someone think of the children?!" Hypocritical I know but we live in an imperfect world...full of morons...

 

[nathan-dts]

I thought 2K Czech handled everything well. There were consequences for being a mafioso and they were clearly shown. By the end of it, pretty much everyone was dead and that doesn't really glorify the mafia lifestyle in my eyes.

 

[nathan-dts]

They don't have to ban it because it's a shitty game anyway.

It was a great game. I hated the demo but the full game was just fantastic.