How to Get Adult Games in Germany?

[Shiemy ツ]

Is there a Legal Method or a Workaround to get the "Banned" Games somehow? Via Gift? or something?

[Chompman]

Originally posted by ZanyScum:

I have no idea if that still works for some (all?) games? I once got one game I REALLY wanted via Austria. It was a weird combination where I could buy there and activate it with Steam without any problems, no tricks needed, all I needed at that point was a shop in Austria that was willing to send the game to Germany. But this was a long time ago and I have no idea if that still works somehow.
Does anyone know?

That can backfire as many games can be region restricted and the games you buy in one region will not work in other regions many times.

Plus relying on third party sites that are not authorized to resell games for steam is called the "grey market" and this is always a major risk.

[Iceira]

Originally posted by Iceira W10:

Have anyone read this. ( im sure i dont need to tell anyone anything on the subject. )
https://store.steampowered.com/online_conduct?snr=

That is Germany own ppl that need to deal with this. ( dont help them ) other ppl might not want it. its actual a hot topic, and that not about game alone, and yet part of it.

you might think im rude, what if this was the revesed, its still same reply let them deal with it themself in what they think is right in own country.

[м]

Originally posted by Chompman:

Originally posted by ZanyScum:

I once got one game I REALLY wanted via Austria.

That can backfire as many games can be region restricted and the games you buy in one region will not work in other regions many times.

Last time in checked Austria and Germany were both in the same region.

[Zoopy]

Originally posted by Iceira W10:

Originally posted by Iceira W10:

Have anyone read this. ( im sure i dont need to tell anyone anything on the subject. )
https://store.steampowered.com/online_conduct?snr=

That is Germany own ppl that need to deal with this. ( dont help them ) other ppl might not want it. its actual a hot topic, and that not about game alone, and yet part of it.

you might think im rude, what if this was the revesed, its still same reply let them deal with it themself in what they think is right in own country.

What? Make some sense, will you.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by ZanyScum:

I have no idea if that still works for some (all?) games? I once got one game I REALLY wanted via Austria. It was a weird combination where I could buy there and activate it with Steam without any problems, no tricks needed, all I needed at that point was a shop in Austria that was willing to send the game to Germany. But this was a long time ago and I have no idea if that still works somehow.
Does anyone know?

As another user said, this is what's known as grey market goods. You're buying stuff outside the norm and what you agreed to.

It's risky, not just for scams, but you're doing activities which may break the agreement here, and may even break the law.

Really not recommended at all.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by HikariLight:

You could risk it on a third party grey site and wait for the restrictions to wear off after 30 or 90 days(can't remember which one).
But otherwise no.

It doesn't have to be "grey"; there are plenty of legitimate stores.

What exactly do you mean by "restrictions wearing off"?

The reason I've stayed away form anything (not just "porn") that was outright blocked on the Steam store is because I'm not particularly good at interpreting SteamDB to even guess whether a given key would redeem or not.

Because, yes, I have keys from bundles that did not redeem due to censorship, while I also have redeemed keys for games that the German store page warns me about. As far as I'm concerned, the entire situation is completely unclear -- while it is obvious whether you can or cannot buy a game on the Steam store, you can't tell whether they'll refuse redeeming a perfectly valid key purchased from a perfectly legitimate store.

This is one of the things that was much easier in the old days. I have frequently bought games on Amazon UK -- mostly to avoid the German dub, but as a side effect it also avoided the German censorship on certain games. And that was retained in some cases -- when I ran the Steam tool to register my non-Steam copy of Borderlands with Steam, I actually got the UK license, not the German one -- the tool was smart enough to actually look for the contents on the disk, not just the copy-protection, and register THAT instead of just going by region.

In a similar fashion, and something more applicable today since my parents have moved to a place near the Austrian border so I'm occasionally in the area anyway, would be to just drive across the border and get things there. Of course, with Steam, getting things elsewhere means nothing -- Steam can still refuse to redeem the key, and you're screwed.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by crunchyfrog:

As another user said, this is what's known as grey market goods. You're buying stuff outside the norm and what you agreed to.

It's risky, not just for scams, but you're doing activities which may break the agreement here, and may even break the law.

Really not recommended at all.

I dont remember a game on steam that was breaking the law by you possessing it.

The law would be "possession prohibition".
I tried to find one game as example with google. Could not find any.

Laws have the tendency to be searchable so you can know they affect you before they affect you. They are not hidden and suddenly someone says, "ha got you!"

[kitt]

you can possess confiscated games (beschlagnahmte Spiele) but you can't show them in any way or form.

I own Hatred, Manhunt, RTCW etc on Steam which are all confiscated aka beschlagnahmt.

an older article (in german though) about the difference of the various age ratings and rulings

https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/jugendschutz-in-deutschland-indiziert-beschlagnahmt-verboten,3083170,seite3.html



Is always a bit weird when people from other countries try to argue law etc for a different country.





I personally get some games via keys or ask people if they could gift me the game, hence I have games such as Hatred or Manhunt

[Mr Fantastic]

Originally posted by Shiemy ツ:

Is there a Legal Method or a Workaround to get the "Banned" Games somehow? Via Gift? or something?

Get games that can be patched after purchase, there's a lot of them.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by kitt:

Is always a bit weird when people from other countries try to argue law etc for a different country.

Especially when they summarize their impression as the content of the law,
telling that their impression is the law and it has to be followed,
followed by the suggestion
to vote someone who does it better.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Originally posted by crunchyfrog:

As another user said, this is what's known as grey market goods. You're buying stuff outside the norm and what you agreed to.

It's risky, not just for scams, but you're doing activities which may break the agreement here, and may even break the law.

Really not recommended at all.

I dont remember a game on steam that was breaking the law by you possessing it.

The law would be "possession prohibition".
I tried to find one game as example with google. Could not find any.

Laws have the tendency to be searchable so you can know they affect you before they affect you. They are not hidden and suddenly someone says, "ha got you!"

Except that's not what I meant at all.

I didn't mean the ownership of games being illegal. I mean that the grey market and use therefof is risky because you're getting games which may break the agreement and if they're using stolen credit cards, you can be complicit and may even be investigated for receipt of stolen goods. Admittedly an extreme example, but that's the point - it CAN happen.

That's the exposure you risk.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by crunchyfrog:

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

I dont remember a game on steam that was breaking the law by you possessing it.

The law would be "possession prohibition".
I tried to find one game as example with google. Could not find any.

Laws have the tendency to be searchable so you can know they affect you before they affect you. They are not hidden and suddenly someone says, "ha got you!"

Except that's not what I meant at all.

I didn't mean the ownership of games being illegal. I mean that the grey market and use therefof is risky because you're getting games which may break the agreement and if they're using stolen credit cards, you can be complicit and may even be investigated for receipt of stolen goods. Admittedly an extreme example, but that's the point - it CAN happen.

That's the exposure you risk.

You should buy games in safe shops. Thats right.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Originally posted by crunchyfrog:

Except that's not what I meant at all.

I didn't mean the ownership of games being illegal. I mean that the grey market and use therefof is risky because you're getting games which may break the agreement and if they're using stolen credit cards, you can be complicit and may even be investigated for receipt of stolen goods. Admittedly an extreme example, but that's the point - it CAN happen.

That's the exposure you risk.

You should buy games in safe shops. Thats right.

Which was my point....

[ZanyScum]

Originally posted by Chompman:

Originally posted by ZanyScum:

I have no idea if that still works for some (all?) games? I once got one game I REALLY wanted via Austria. It was a weird combination where I could buy there and activate it with Steam without any problems, no tricks needed, all I needed at that point was a shop in Austria that was willing to send the game to Germany. But this was a long time ago and I have no idea if that still works somehow.
Does anyone know?

That can backfire as many games can be region restricted and the games you buy in one region will not work in other regions many times.

Plus relying on third party sites that are not authorized to resell games for steam is called the "grey market" and this is always a major risk.

I think there is a misunderstanding about German laws here.
Many games in Germany are not forbidden to buy, sell or own, but they are forbidden to tell THAT they are selling them. So a shop would have to have the product and the customer would have to ask if they have it, then - if the customer is old enough - the game could be sold legally and owned legally.
WHAT is forbidden for certain games is: the shop getting it and having ads about it or even having it in the shop in a way people can see it without asking explicitly for it.

I am sure the exact law definition is very complex and not understandable but what I described is from the sight of the customer. Ask the shop if they have it.
This means that many shops will not have it. I am not sure there ARE still shops that sell PC games in Germany... could anyone tell us? I am always buying online since 15 years or so.

The difference between Austria and Germany is, that the same game would probably not be under the same restriction in Austria, so the shop CAN have it and have ads for it and show it in the shop. But Germany and Austria are in the same region for Steam.
Then I - from Germany - can just buy it. Nothing black or grey or whatever about it.
I am not doing anything against German laws, not against Austrian laws and not against any other laws.

So, nothing shady here. Just not sure it still works.

[Zoopy]

You can still find pretty big collections of PC games at many big box stores like Media Markt and Saturn. It's actually surprising how much many PC games can still be bought physically here. In my home country nobody was left selling PC games by the time I left in 2017.