In France too...

[Soldat_Louis]

Until then, video games news from France were quite positive, thanks to some politicians (especially Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres) who seem supportive of game industry... and then there were Rule of the Rose and the German School Shooting.

It was enough for three French representatives to call for a ban of "very violent" video games. The representatives are Bernard Depierre (http://www.bernard-depierre.com/), Lionel Luca (http://www.lionnel-luca.org/) (who had already proposed video game legislation in the past) and Jacques Remiller (http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/tribun/fiches_id/267662.asp). They belong to the same party as Culture minister. In order to obtain a total ban of what they call "very violent video games inciting to barbaric behavior", Bernard Depierre proposed an amendment (http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/amendements/3338/333800354.asp) to an existing juvenile delinquency law.

In his amendment (that he proposed on november 17th), Depierre used the Italian controversy around Rule of the Rose. Here is an excerpt (translated from French by myself) of what he had to say about this game and other violent ones :

"You randomly shoot people, you slaughter children in schools, you run down pedestrians, you rape, you torture, you slaughter... Here are the games our children play on their computers.

The action of the game Rules of Rose [sic] is located into a British boarding school in the 1930's. The goal of the game let appear an unacceptable sadism and perversion : it is about raping a little girl in the most horrible conditions, then killing her with the worst pain. The one who shows the vilest, the most repulsive ignominy, wins the game"

And in their yesterday's press release (reported by the AFP (http://hosting.afp.com/clients/assembleenationale/francais/assnat/061123174612.bu038yci.html)), the 3 reps. explained that the recent German school shooting "reinforced [their] conviction that the only solution against proliferation of very violent games is to ban them".

Sorry folks, it's a bit too soon to move in France :(

[KN]

What IS the game actually about? I am unusually interested o-o

[MachShot]

Lets see.... 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10 made up statements about the game.

First of all, the 'little girl' described in the game is the character you play as.

Second, I've seen the previews for the game, she is not little. More than likely an adult.

Third, there were no guns ever in the previews.

Fourth, The builing is abandoned.

Fifth, Your runing away from two things: the creepy demented childeren and a shadowy figure.

Sixth, the first paragraph about the games' evils is inconsistent with the second.

Seventh, Its a survival horror game.


I could go on.

[Ace_ofspade]

The following quotes are rated GL, for "Good lord I'm having an aneurysm from the stupid".

You randomly shoot people, you slaughter children in schools, you run down pedestrians, you rape, you torture, you slaughter... Here are the games our children play on their computers...

...it is about raping a little girl in the most horrible conditions, then killing her with the worst pain. The one who shows the vilest, the most repulsive ignominy, wins the game


If the game was actually ANYTHING like that, HOW in the name of Jenova would they be able to publish/market/sell/anything to it?

What IS the game actually about? I am unusually interested o-o
It actually looks like (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_the_Rose) an interesting take on the survival horror genre.

[Soldat_Louis]

I have some news about it... and finally, there's some progress ! :)

A lot of French gamers were shocked when they read and heard what our 3 reps had to say about Rule of the Rose. Lionnel Luca (with 2 "n"), in particular, gave an interview to French channel LCI (http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/high-tech/0,,3360677,00-lionnel-luca-face-jeu-rule-rose-.html) where he bashed the game in very violent terms. Excerpts (translated by myself) :

Raping a 5-years-old little girl, performing torture scenes, it's ordinary nazism (...) "Raping a 7-months-old baby", that's what you read as if it was nothing. And I think that we crossed a new scary threshold in barbarity, and I call it nazism. A nazism that doesn't say its name... but we tolerate it... and there's no freedom for barbarity and shameful acts.

As someone said on the webzine RPGMag : "My name is Luca, I see nazis everywhere..." (http://rpgmag.free.fr/index.php?2006/11/29/45-my-name-is-luca-i-see-nazis-everywhere-air-connu)

On the same webzine, you can read (http://rpgmag.free.fr/index.php?2006/11/29/46-news-l-interview-de-monsieur-luca-decortiquee) the full transcript of the interview, followed by a debunk, point by point, of Mr. Luca's statements. It's French-speaking, unfortunately, but with a google trranslator, I think you can understand the essential.

So where's the progress ? In fact, some French gamers wrote to Bernard Depierre, the representative who wrote the amendment. In particular, they alerted him on the fact that he seriously misinterpreted the content of Rule of the Rose (note that 505 games, the distributor of the game, also slammed the 3 reps (http://www.gamekult.com/articles/A0000053218/) and talked about an eventual lawsuit for libel), and they asked for precisions about his amendement, saying that it was a bit illogical to ban "ultra-violent games" while doing nothing for movies or TV.

And Mr. Depierre replied very politely and respectfully to gamers. First, he retired his bashing of Rule of the Rose from his press releases (which no longer mention the game). Second, he explained that he didn't expect his amendment to pass : he just wanted to create a debate, and he declared he was satisfied about the public interest that his initiative encountered. And third, he agreed that the problem of graphic violence didn't concern only video games, but also movies or TV.

He also blamed UE commissionner Franco Frattini for misguiding him, thanked gamers for alerting him, debated respectfully with them, and accepted an interview to RPGMag in order to clarify things (the interview will be published tomorrow).

So I may not agree with his amendment and his will to ban some games, but I praise him for recognizing his errors and being respectful of gamers who emailed him.

[Soldat_Louis]

And here is a translation (by myself) of Mr. Depierre's apology about Rule of the Rose that he posted on the "last minute" section of his official website (http://www.bernard-depierre.com/) :


I wanted to officially point out that the statements about the game RoR were, actually, partially wrong, and consequently I sincerely regret them. There is actually no direct call to rape a teenager in this game.

I wanted to precise that I retired all the mentions I had made about it when the information , that contradicted the one given by the EU Commission and its vice-president Mr. Frattini (who gave a particularly alarming description of this game), was confirmed to me.

I actually believed that the EU Commission was a serious caution. I was apparently wrong. This being said, you will agree that the ambience of the game was particularly insane and requires the greatest attention and scrutiny, in a context of the protection of the youngest and the most vulnerable people.

Our goal was to open the debate on the subject of ultra-violence, and alert public opinion, parents, editors, media... about the explosion of very violent messages and images especially in video games (but not only games, as it is necessary to ask the same question about movies, cartoons, television, or some magazines...), and on this, I think we reached our goal.

The amendment was, of course, rejected. (...)

We expected it because we were touching the principle of freedom of creation and speech (present in the intellectual property code); however, we are convinced that today, in a pacified atmosphere, it may be possible to supervise a bit more, or a bit better, or a bit differently, really violent games, in order to restrict their accessibility, especially from younger people.

In that sense, the propositions made by the AFJV (*) are very interesting.

I contacted 505 Games (**), as well as the SELL (***) and the AFJV, in order to progress on these subjects.

I wanted to inform you about our will to discuss... Yes, it would have been preferable to begin by that... But would our voice have been heard ?

In that sense, every proposition is welcome."

Bernard Depierre
Representative from Côte-d'Or


(*) The AFJV (Association Française du Jeu Vidéo, or French Video Game Association) is an association dedicated to the promotion of video games in France

(**) 505 Games is distributor of Rule of the Rose in Italy

(***) The SELL (Syndicat des Editeurs de Logiciels de Loisirs) is the French equivalent of the ESA. They were in charged of the classification of video games (a bit like the ESRB) until the PEGI ratings were adopted.



Some little remarks :

First, I appreciate that Mr. Depierre is honest enough to recognize his errors and act in consequence.

Second, I'm glad that he's open to dialogue and respectful of gamers and video game industry. I know some politicians who aren't.

However, I'm a quite perplex about the fact he called for a ban, knowing that his amendment would be rejected, only in order to "open a debate". He talks about a "pacified atmosphere", but the problem is that the atmosphere isn't pacified at all, and what he did would be considered on an Internet forum as trolling. But it's finally the only reproach I still make to him. Finally, he isn't such a bad guy ;)

One last note : if you want to contact him, go to this web page (http://www.bernard-depierre.com/contact.asp)

[beemoh]

What are the proposals the AFJV made?

[Beacon]

I have a little more respect for this man now, for two reasons
1) He admitted he was wrong.
2) He acknowledged that violence isn't just in video games.

[Soldat_Louis]

What are the proposals the AFJV made?

In fact, I don't know. I saw nothing on their page, and what Mr. Depierre had to say about it is that he contacted them and is trying to work with them. No more.

Well, I'm glad this story ended promptly (at least, in my country). Mr. Depierre apologized again in an interview to RPG magazine (http://rpgmag.free.fr/index.php?2006/12/05/61-article-l-interview-complete-du-depute-bernard-depierre-a-notre-magazine) (in French, unfortunately), and there haven't been too many articles in mainstream media. But I'm still scared about the conjuction of moral panics in Italy and Germany.

[ZippyDSMlee]

creating a debate by passing a bill that even they think is stupid? what if they damn thing passed?