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Judge rules games "harmful to consumers' health"
Counter-Strike and EverQuest have been banned in Brazil after a judge ruled them "harmful to consumers' health".
As reported by AFP the judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes, made his rulingin October 2007 - but the ban is only coming into effect now.
Simoes stated the games encouraged "the subversion of public order".He also ruled they were "an attack against the democratic state and thelaw and against public security".
Counter-Strike and EverQuest were first released in 1999. One moddedmap for the former game saw players taking on the role of either apolice officer or drug dealer in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.
According to Brazilian readers of Kotaku, the game has been accused of teaching players war strategies.
It's alleged EverQuest is harmful because players are asked toaccept both "good" and "bad" quests, the psychological burden of whichis said to cause problems. The game was never officially released inBrazil.
The South American nation famous for its ability to create greatsoccer players, attractive swimsuit models and land that used to berainforests has brought the banhammer down upon two of the world's mostpopular online games. Both Counter-Strike and EverQuest,each now nine-years old, were said to promote "the subversion of publicorder, were an attack against the democratic state and the law andagainst public security" by the judge enacting the ban.
According to the AFP report on the matter, the prohibition on selling CS and EQwas actually passed in October of 2007, but was only recently enforcedby PROCON, the national consumer protection agency. Good work, Brazil.Glad all of your problems are sorted out now that the video game policeare tackling the tough issues!
Members of the Kotaku Brazilian Connection wrote in to let us knowabout the ban. Their letters are after the jump and provide someinsight into the local video game market.
From Pinguin:
Quote:
Since 01/17, Counter Strike and Everquest are banned inBrazil. The decision came from a federal judge, based in the ConsumerRights, saying that it puts in danger the life of buyers. You can seethe full decision in this site. (in Brazilian portuguese)
The counter strike was banned because, in experts opinion, teachs war strategies.
Everquestwas banned because of their quests. The Brazilian judge, claims that,some quests ask for the user do good things and bad things, leading theuser to pscicological problems.
In Brazil, those games were rated to 18+, by the Justice. In thepast, before those rates exist, games like Carmagedon, Grand Theft Autoand Postal were banned too.
But, we still can play Postal 2, Manhunt (the complete version) and all the other games. Everquest isn't even [sold] in Brazil!
From Romulo:
Quote:
Since 17/01/2008 the games "Counter-Strike" and"EverQuest" are been confiscated in the Brazilian state of Goiás by thePROCON, an organism created to defend consumer rights. The decision isextended trough all brazilian territory, the games were considered"[improper] for consume" and "nocive to the consumer health" offendingsome articles of the brazilian "consumer defense and protection code",a law that is usually used to protection the consumer against bigcompanies.
Here in Brazil a single judge can make a decision that is valid inthe whole country, this is the case, but other states are notconfiscating the game as they think there may be something wrong withsuch a decision. The judge also classify CounterStrike and Everquest asbeing "nefast".
Acording to procon and the judge, Counter-Strike is described as "agame where drug deales sequestram and take to a morro thre UNrepresentatives. Police invades the place and is received withbullets", the text also affirms, without showing names ou researches,that "in the vision of specialists that game teaches war techniches".Thats not counter strike´s but user generated content, CS_rio is a verypopular map and played a lot in Brazil.
The reason to justify the ban, "violent games ou that bring violeceare capable of forming agressive individuals, its evident is strongpower of influence, reforcing agressive atitude on some individuals andsocial groups.", they go even farther when justifying everquest ban,[everquest] "takes the player to total nonsense and heavy psicologycalconflicts, because the quests he receives may be good or bad."
EA Brazil released a note claiming the content cited is not fromcounter strike but user generated, and say it´s waiting for a judicialnotification to take legal action.
cs_rio:
From Hank:
Quote:
This is kotaku user HANK-SP, from Brazil, reporting thatthe brazilian state of Goias has banned the games Counter-Strike andthe RPG EverQuest. The decision, taken by a court in Goias, is extentedto all Brazil. The federal police IS already taking away copies fromthese games, altough EverQuest is not officially released in Brazil.Procon, brazilian governmental foundation for consumer defense, argued,on its website, that Counter-Strike is a game where "Rio de Janeirodrug dealers kidnapp and take to a slum three UN representants. Thepolice invades the place and is welcomed with bullets. (...) In thevision of experts the game teaches war techniques". As for EverQuest,Procon states that it "takes the gamer to complete moral conflict and'heavy' psychological conflicts; for the tasks that are given to themcould be bad or good. (...) Violent videogames that use violence arecapable of forming agressive individuals, making it evident that isstrong its influence on psyquism, reinforcing aggressive attitudeagainst certain individuals and social groups". The web site alsostates that anyone who sees these games being sold, that they shouldcontact Procon for the arrest of the games. All this information hascome from UOL, Brazil's biggest web portal, owned by Brazil's biggestnewspaper "Folha de Sao Paulo".http://jogos.uol.com.br/pc/ultnot/2008/01
/18/ult182u7954.jhtm Inanother news, UOL reports that EA has already answered thatCounter-Strike doesn't have any Rio de Janeiro, any slums, any funksoundtrack, neither UN comissioners.http://jogos.uol.com.br/pc/ultnot/2008/01
/18/ult182u7956.jhtm
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) — Brazil this week imposed a ban on popularrole-playing computer games "Counter-Strike" and "EverQuest," claimingthey incited violence and were "harmful to consumers' health."
Thefederal prohibition on the sale of the games was being applied acrossthe country, the official consumer protection agency in the centralstate of Goias said on its website Thursday.
Both games allowplayers, typically teenage boys, to connect online to fantasy worldswhere they interact with other players, form groups and carry out jointmissions usually involving combat.
"Counter-Strike," afirst-person-view shoot-'em-upper based on the motor powering thepopular "Half-Life" game, requires participants to choose a role aseither a masked terrorist or an anti-terrorist officer before goingforth with an ever-sophisticated array of weapons.
An adaptedversion in Brazil permitted players to take on the perspective ofeither a police officer or a narcotrafficker in Rio de Janeiro'sinfamously crime-ridden slums.
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