Why do countries like Germany, Australia, and New Zealand censor so much in games?

[U]

So I’m sure we all know about how Germany has to have edited versions of games sold there. They can’t have violence in their games much. And many games are outright banned. (We all know how Germany has always loved to ban books especially during the wars, it’s unsurprising they ban games now.)

But Australia and New Zealand (they copy each other) both ban many games too. On basis of them being too violent or too sexual, usually.

I think that’s pretty dumb. If you think it’s too much then just put an 18+ rating on it.

A good example of a banned or censored game is Postal 2, I think it’s banned in Australia and New Zealand, and banned or edited in Germany.

Do you think the elderly politicians are correct to decide what games their subjects can play? Or do you think these countries should make freedom of speech laws to protect all games?

[permanent name]

Long histories of colonial and migratory racial/tribal tensions giving rise to a repressive and authoritarian power structure designed to prevent conflicts.

Germany hasn’t been a united country for very long, and the tensions between settlers and natives haven’t had a clear resolution yet in NZ and AUS. Although in AUS this often takes the form of Emu and Kangaroo wars moreso than interpersonal conflicts, but that struggle against the environment has a lot to do with aboriginal tensions ultimately.

Japan has gone back and forth on this throughout its history as well.

And the US flirts with authoritarianism a lot too, honestly. Again melting pot cultures tend to have this problem, such as France and modern China as well as during its more expansion-oriented periods.

[Red]

Q-T_3.14.exe の投稿を引用：

TwisterCat の投稿を引用：

A rise in totalitarian mentality.

I thought they stopped doing that after getting their cities blown up to literally nothing in the 40s?

Maybe America needs to declare war on Germany again to forcefully free their speech.

[shoopy]

Gädda 3000 の投稿を引用：

ardiel の投稿を引用：

Lack of individualism. They decide what's "good" for everybody instead of letting individuals decide for themselves.

All those are very individualistic countries though.

Until they come across something where they're told not to be. e.g. censorship.

[Q-T_3.14.exe]

Futsure (Berserker) の投稿を引用：

Q-T_3.14.exe の投稿を引用：

I thought they stopped doing that after getting their cities blown up to literally nothing in the 40s?

Maybe America needs to declare war on Germany again to forcefully free their speech.

And let Russia take the east.

[🅷🅴🆇🅴🅽]

It is fascinating and frightening at the same time how many here think that the Germans still apply the same standards as in the 1990s and early 2000s. But go ahead. Facts are overrated and working into the facts is too much work.

[U]

The Grim Reaper の投稿を引用：

China do the same, World of Warcraft looks different in Chinese.

I didn’t even think to mention China because they censor literally everything. But yeah they’re a big problem too.

Ghost Robertson の投稿を引用：

I live in New Zealand, and I'm a little glad they censor some overly violent or sexual games and such.

Like when a game is over the top violent or when a game aimed at younger audiences is far too sexual.

Why decide that for everyone, though? Why not just make it 18+? I’m sure plenty of people in New Zealand don’t like their games being edited or banned based on the decision of old ugly politicians who don’t even know what a computer is.

[trousers]

The establishment in Germany has a very strong pacifist streak, related to guilt over WWII. So violence in media etc gets censored hard quite often, along with the Bundeswehr being issued with brooms

In AUS/NZ, I think it's more that lots of lobbyist groups a few decades ago saw what the PMRC and similar groups were doing in the US and went "let's do that, except much worse" and successfully persuaded successive governments to save children from the horrors of playing games with imaginary things in that are bad

that's how I conceptualise it anyway, I'm probably either wrong or not right enough

[permanent name]

The UK is pretty censorship-driven as well. Hard to keep those seven tribes and kingdoms together without a central authority deciding what’s what.

[Fluffy BUNNY]

I know one of the reasons for Germany is because of THAT leader of Germany during WW2. so apart of the peace deals after the war was, they couldn't depict him or his party, even referencing. As for other cases as well as Aus & NZ, form what I've been told from people I've meet. The average person in those country's still think they are still just toys for children. Not fully grasping that just like movies, children enjoy them, and adults enjoy them.

[Gus the Crocodile]

Australia likes to tell the world it’s a nation of laid-back “no worries, she’ll be right mate” larrikins. But it’s really a bunch of wannabe cops, which is why we elect such conservative weirdos to run it. Start a society as a genocidal prison colony and you get the knock-on effects of that for a long time.

[Xero_Daxter]

I heard Indonesia has it worst of all when it comes to censorship. Almost everything is blocked from Steam to PayPal to Yahoo!

[Ghost Robertson]

Lovecraft's Neko の投稿を引用：

Why decide that for everyone, though? Why not just make it 18+? I’m sure plenty of people in New Zealand don’t like their games being edited or banned based on the decision of old ugly politicians who don’t even know what a computer is.

Oh i think some games are like that, If it's R18 then it's less likely to be edited thanks to it's classification, I remember when Duke Nukem 3D came out, if it was MA15 the girls and stuff were edited out, But if you got one with an R16 sticker on it then it had the girls.

[Doomerang]

Gus the Crocodile の投稿を引用：

Australia likes to tell the world it’s a nation of laid-back “no worries, she’ll be right mate” larrikins. But it’s really a bunch of wannabe cops, which is why we elect such conservative weirdos to run it. Start a society as a genocidal prison colony and you get the knock-on effects of that for a long time.

Maybe, except now that liberals are in power we have censorship like never before. If you still think censorship is a one party issue I admire your naivety. When will you learn neither party gives a crap about you

[Uncle Sam]

Germany most likely due WW2 (and due the recent attempted coup d'etat during covid), Australia & New Zealand no idea why. Perhaps testing waters in how their censorship apparatus can be implemented in the future specially since they're a part of the Five Eyes countries, as "just in case" type of measure?
Edit: It was an attempted coup d'etat by some ex-military personnel AFAIK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeEr3rQxfdw

[Gus the Crocodile]

Doomerang の投稿を引用：

Gus the Crocodile の投稿を引用：

Australia likes to tell the world it’s a nation of laid-back “no worries, she’ll be right mate” larrikins. But it’s really a bunch of wannabe cops, which is why we elect such conservative weirdos to run it. Start a society as a genocidal prison colony and you get the knock-on effects of that for a long time.

Maybe, except now that liberals are in power we have censorship like never before. If you still think censorship is a one party issue I admire your naivety. When will you learn neither party gives a crap about you

When will I learn? Huh? I didn't say anything about anything being a one party issue.

(Also, "neither party" implies there are only two parties, which isn't the case. This isn't the US.)