The "Index" in Germany (Score 1)

Just to clean upa little bit the informations you've got:

The BPjM (the institute that looks after these things) puts games on the restricted list or 'Index' that could be a bad influence to young people (pornographic elements, extreme (graphic) brutality, content that is extremly disturbing to a young human and influence his growing up process in a bad way (for example: Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' is only allowed to be read if it's in a scientific context and if the book has the scientific annotations), glorifying brutality and or war.

If the game, book, movie or whatever is overall too extreme in one or all of these things it can be even completly banned and it's no longer allowed to sell, buy or even possess it. But banning is used seldom and it has to be ordered by a judge in a trial.

You can go against both the Indizierung (to be put on the index) and the banning, first one per internal trial at the BPjM, second one by court. That's also possible mutiple times but of course there has to be a time difference in the filing of the applications.

For example: On the Index are Unreal Tournament (first and 2003), all the Quake episodes, GTA:Vice City, Soldier of Fortune, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, uncutted movies like Robocop II, Evil Dead 3, Scream I (yes, it too think that's funny ^_^). Counterstrike was interestingly not put on it.

Banned are Wolfenstein:3D (because of the massively used neonarzistic symbols in a not historical context) and some very rassistical games like Niggerbashing, movies like uncutted Braindead, ...

Evil Dead was banned to but got unbanned and now is only on the Index. Of course a distributor or someonle else has to file an application to unban, ... things because the BPjM isn't checking everything every year (counting all the webpages, movies, ... togther there are a several thousand things on the Index).

At the moment an officialy accounted Organisation has to file an application for putting a specific media on the list (like the ministry for family,...) but starting from the first of april they can start at their own will. But the BPjM has not enough people to do more than the ones they get an application for :)

Oh, I forgot: If something is recognised as art (wich are a lot of movies) it is not allowed to ban it or to put it on the Index. But the problem ist that games are at the moment not recognised as to be possibly art (ok, most isn't but they say theay don't have the potential to be it :-( ). For example the "Diary of Josephine Mutzenbacher" (that was a famous prostitute and the book contained a lot of graphical explained sexual situations (for that time after all)) was first put ont he Index but the bookpublisher fought against it and the Bundesverfassungsgericht (highest court over here) said it's art and it has to been put of the list. One year later they've put it on the list again but the publisher had no more an interest in fighting for it and actually no bookstore was ever to be sued for selling it in the public.

But being put on the Index is one thing, getting sued for selling these in public (and other things) is another. In the real life a lot of the small shops doesn't care about selling these products openly and only one or two getting sued for it over the year :)

Or you can drive just in one of our neighbour-countries, buy it and come back. So, today it's in some ways just something on paper (but if you get sued it can get very expensive (for german relations :) )), but the problem ist the front of the conservatives and their point of view of 'saving' the youth (like in most countries it think). If I look at their ideas of an effective youth-protection you only can get really sick :-(