Bavarian Interior Minister says violent video games on same level as child porn and illegal drugs

Last month’s school shooting incident in Winnenden, Germany, opened the floodgates for German government officials to fire criticisms aimed at violent video games. Some have called for tighter restrictions, while others have even demanded for outright bans. Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann, a frequent critic of violent games, falls in the latter category. In fact, according to GamePolitics, he think that violent video games are pretty much the same as drugs and child porn.

Last month’s school shooting incident in Winnenden, Germany, opened the floodgates for German government officials to fire criticisms aimed at violent video games. Some have called for tighter restrictions, while others have even demanded for outright bans.

Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann, a frequent critic of violent games, falls in the latter category. In fact, according to GamePolitics, his argument is that violent video games are pretty much the same as illegal drugs and child porn.

Hermann made this claim in a press release (Google translation here) that was sent out, interestingly enough, on the same day as the German Games Award. Here’s a better translation of Hermann’s statements from GamePolitics:

The statement contains the usual accusations that “such games are one of the causes for youth violence and also for school shootings, where images from killer games become reality”,and that “more and more children are getting mired in this virtual world of violence”, so that “they have no time left for school or job training, and are lost to our society”.

However, this time, he’s taking it a bit further. The last sentence states: “In regards to their harmful effects, [violent video games] are on the same level as child pornography and illegal drugs, the ban on which rightly is unquestioned”

Hermann faced some fallout due to his statements. GamePolitcs notes that all important German game associations demanded an apology from Hermann. Thomas Jarzombek, the Commissioner for the New Media, also blasted Hermann, saying that his statements are “completely inappropriate” and that “anyone making such statements is unqualified to participate in any further debate [regarding the] protection of minors from harmful media.”

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Via GamePolitics