Finally: Doom Is Legal in Germany Now

Well, it is relevant if it's on the index, because you can't order it from Amazon.co.uk for example. I tried. Left 4 Dead for example won't be shipped to Germany. But for anything which is just 18+ and cut in germany amazon.co.uk works very well and is often cheaper :)

you know what would be even better?
Dropping retarded video game laws. Seriously, Australia dropped that retarded crap some time ago, so Germany's the only civilized country with retarded video game laws. Seriously, get your shit together Germany. Adults have a mind of their own, so let them play whatever they want. Video games don't turn people into murdering machines. Stop believing those "experts" and use your brains!

But there was nothing stopping an adult buying Doom in Germany (or any other game on the list).

You make it sound like Germany bans anybody from buying any video game that isn't about my Little Pony.

Personally, I agree with age ratings. In fact, I think more countries should have legally enforceable age ratings.

I know the Nazi regime was around only 60 years ago, but I don't get why Germany still seems so damned uneasy with it. I mean, we still mistreat blacks in America, and we don't get our panties a bunch when...oh wait, Resident Evil 5.

17 years? German people sure are slow on their thinking, and there's time value in every product, even it's a really great one. I'd be surprised if Doom goes big in Germany in this time of age....unless German people have never played FPS games EVER before, which I doubt. So obviously, there was no good reason to hold grudge against Doom all these years.

GoatLord said:

I know the Nazi regime was around only 60 years ago, but I don't get why Germany still seems so damned uneasy with it. I mean, we still mistreat blacks in America, and we don't get our panties a bunch when...oh wait, Resident Evil 5.

Germany doesnt want to bring back up the whole Nazi schema cuz' its generally labeled as a bad piece of their history and they wanna protect for their image, just like how the Japanese doesnt wanna admit their wrongdoings back in WW2 :p

well, f*** that, f***ing posers

999cop said:

17 years? German people sure are slow on their thinking,(...)

WRONG. It took those american slowthinkers at zenimax so long to get the idea torequest the german authorities to remove doom from the index.
:-)

DoomGater said:

WRONG. It took those american slowthinkers at zenimax so long to get the idea torequest the german authorities to remove doom from the index.
:-)

Probably because they had better things to do than appease a foolish law that serves no purpose other than thought control.

the whole discussion about the german index system is kinda hyped. as the price policy of games in germany is very immoderate, many gamers import their games especially from the uk (since it's in the EU so there are no customs to pay and the prices are very low). so as an adult gamer it's absolutely irrelevant if a game lands on the index or is even confiscated. it only affects the press coverage about the specific game.

It should be relevant to you, why do you accept the fact that your Government does not believe adults can make proper decisions on what media their child consumes? Why do you accept that the Government has a hand in censorship / control of content allowed in media?

proff_fs said:

Well, it is relevant if it's on the index, because you can't order it from Amazon.co.uk for example. I tried. Left 4 Dead for example won't be shipped to Germany. But for anything which is just 18+ and cut in germany amazon.co.uk works very well and is often cheaper :)

well, but this has nothing to do with the german index system but with amazons own sell policy (or with agreements with the specific publisher). you can easily import indexed or confiscated games from almost any uk online shop legally.

Naked Snake said:

It should be relevant to you, why do you accept the fact that your Government does not believe adults can make proper decisions on what media their child consumes? Why do you accept that the Government has a hand in censorship / control of content allowed in media?

It isn't relevant to me, cuz I'm adult. The german youth protection doesn't prevent adults from buying violent games for themselves or for their kids. And it also does not forbid specific media, censor itself or forces the publisher to do it. Actually the german constitution prohibits governmental censorship of any kind of media.

Hmmm... I did a forum search for this. I guess the title didn't match the article's content, nor did I expect it to be front page news...

It was an age ban lifted, not a made 'legal' to sell issue.

Thing is, outside of germany nobody understand what that index stuff means. So they assume, that indexed games are illegal in germany, which is in fact not true.

But it is a known fact in germany, that it brings problems. You cannot buy indexed games in one of the big consumer shops, they do not sell those. Amazon do not send indexed games to germany. You cannot buy indexed games via Steam, an in some cases, you cannot activate an indexed, non german version of a game in Steam.

cybdmn said:

You cannot buy indexed games in one of the big consumer shops, they do not sell those.

Well, in some cases they do -or at least- did. I bought indexed games at "Schaulandt", "Mediamarkt" and "KDW Kaufhaus Des Westens".

It is not forbidden to sell indexed stuff. It is only forbitten to display it and sell it to non-adults. But if you're 18 and you ask for it - well sometimes you'll get it ;-)

No rule without an exception. I even found the PEGI version of Stranglehold, in the shelves in an ProMarkt. I guess, they don't know, that this version differs from the USK version, and ist indexed.

Took friggen forever to get this crap sorted out, those sensitive German politicians.