"Rule of the Rose" banned in Europe ?

[Soldat_Louis]

I've just read a recent article (http://www.videoludica.com/news.php?news=566) by Matteo Bittanti on VideoLudica website. It's in Italian, but with a google translation you can understand the essential.

So, a coalition of Italian representatives made a proposition to European Parliament in order to ban Rule of the Rose, and they plan to go further. They want to ban other games, and they also want to create an "observatory" for the protection of children, in charge of verifying "preventively" the content of games and replacing PEGI ratings system by another one.

(note: Matteo Bittanti is the one who revealed the truth about the moral panic that surrounded Rule of the Rose)

[KN]

This is why the Dutch destroyed the European constitution ;)

[Soldat_Louis]

This is why the Dutch destroyed the European constitution ;)

Hey ! Don't forget us !:p

[KN]

Hey ! Don't forget us !:p

Oh yeah, you too. ^_^

[kurisu7885]

Looks lie kthe kiddies therie better start practicing Elmo's Letter adventure, wait, no, Elmo is nude, BAN BAN BAN BAN!!!!

[ZeRu]

Again, the same old idiotic story about protecting children comes as an argument to ban games that aren't intended for children (not only because of content, but because of gameplay as well) in the first place! Is it possible that almost every politician is unaware of how many voting adults play video games today, or they are doing this on purpose to show us how values such as tolerance, human rights and freedom of choice, which European Union supposedly protects, exists only to form a curtain of lies?

Isn't the situation for gamers much better in the USA than in Europe? They have only one Jack Thompson (who first gets massively ridiculed and now even sued), they have ECA to stand for their rights, and games are not getting banned there. What troubles me is what we in Europe can do to stop this? Politicians don't like changing their opinions, as this could lead to their loss of popularity. But, for each politician like Bittanti there must be an opposing politician - perhaps there's hope in contacting such opposition and perhaps they would take our arguments seriously.

Have you read this:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1512&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

An independent evaluation finds that the EU’s Safer Internet programme, which promote safer internet use, particularly for children, has been very effective in tackling illegal and harmful internet content, whilst respecting people’s freedom of expression. The Commission is taking into account the recommendations of these experts, in its implementation of the “Safer Internet plus” programme in 2007-2008. Meanwhile, the current programme is being used as a model by other regions of the world.

So,
protecting children-yes
censorship-no

Shouldn't games have the same treatment as the internet? I think I'll e-mail Mrs. Reding next, even though politicians and even game companies don't respond to my mails about protecting adult people's rights to play video games...sooner or later I will find someone who values my opinion.

[nightwng2000]

This is why the Dutch destroyed the European constitution ;)

I knew there was a reason I love Dutch Apple Pie.

Now if only Ancillia came on top. :: sigh ::

[Soldat_Louis]

(...) But, for each politician like Bittanti there must be an opposing politician - perhaps there's hope in contacting such opposition and perhaps they would take our arguments seriously. (...)

Be careful : (Matteo) Bittanti is not a politician. He's a researcher, defender/theoretician of videogames, and owner of the website VideoLudica. When I said that he was "the one who revealed the truth about the moral panic that surrounded Rule of the Rose", it's because he revealed that the moral panic was generated by an article full of prejudice and mistakes written by Guido Castellano for Berlusconi's weekly magazine Panorama.

If there is a "bad guy" here, it's Franco Frattini, the EU Commission's vice-president, who protested publicly against Rule of the Rose on behalf of the Panorama's article, and inspired the idea of this "observatory" that would replace actual PEGI rating system.

[ZeRu]

Sorry, I haven't tried translating Bittanti's article, so I assumed this proposal was his idea...guess that's why the last sentence from your first post confused me yesterday.

Btw, anyone can contact Frattini through this online form:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/frattini/online_form_en.htm

I have used it in my tries to explain him how banning games would not only mean attacking values EU usually protects, but also couldn't stop people from downloading such games illegally over the internet, unless he plans to ban the internet as well.
While he never responded (not that I had much expectations, but I think it's still better to contact him than to do nothing at all), few days after I sent him that message, I've read on his news page how he expressed concern over what harmful contect on the internet could do to children.

[Soldat_Louis]

Here is the English translation of the article (http://www.videoludica.com/news.php?news=566)

And here is the English version of the mention (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+B6-2007-0023+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN) presented to European Parliament in order to ban Rule of the Rose.

"(...)
A. whereas nowadays in Europe a lot of violent video games for children are on sale, and a new video game called ‘Rule of Rose’, which features children and perverse, violent and sadistic images that are harmful to human dignity, was recently released in Europe,

B. whereas the aim of the video game is to bury alive a girl who has undergone psychosexual and physical violence bordering on perversion and sadism,
(...)"

Oh my...

[sephy26946]

You expected nothing to happen? There two 9 year old lesbians for gods sake.

[Soldat_Louis]

You expected nothing to happen? There two 9 year old lesbians for gods sake.

You want to know what I expected ? In fact, I expected these guys to, at least, verify if their accusations were justified ("the aim of the video game is to bury alive a girl", yada, yada). They obviously didn't have enough intellectual honesty to do so, and they immediately called for a ban.

[IonD.]

You want to know what I expected ? In fact, I expected these guys to, at least, verify if their accusations were justified ("the aim of the video game is to bury alive a girl", yada, yada). They obviously didn't have enough intellectual honesty to do so, and they immediately called for a ban.

These people thrive on the shock value and populistic imagery they can conjure up with their superlatives and oversimplification of complex issues. They have little or no integrity in these matters, and asking them to modify their statements will most likely be completely futile.

Rule of Rose is merely their target because, for all its hoo-ha, it's a relatively low-key title which has achieved notoriety only because of its subject matter.

Infuriating as it may be, there's not much that can be done about the factual inconsistencies in their writing.