Another anti-killer game campain in Germany...

[David J.]

At my old job, I worked with quite a few sluts, and I really wanted them to KEEP it ON.

That and the shit I found out about them was pretty damn scarry. Who cares, all but one (?) are now fired/quit/gone/banned.

[Necrocheese]

so what's to lose for the government banning it? It's not some huge travesty to ban the sale of some violent video games.

There's plenty to lose. You give a government the idea that it can take away a very, very simple freedom like that, its only inevitable that more significant freedoms are taken. Things like this have happened throughout history. Give the government the idea that its ok to take away rights, however small, they're bound to take even more.

[108 Stars]

So, I´m just waiting for my gory Mortal Kombat 1 now. I´ve paid 10,10 € including shipping from France. At least there are no customs within the EU...

[Rusty Venture]

The latest PC Gamer had an article about this proposed law for land of Germany.

The best part about it was when they asked a guy who was pushing some video game legislation here in the US how he felt about the idea of making it illegal to own a game. His response was basically "How would anyone know if you own it, and how do you police something like that?" that and he wasn't in favor of government meddling in someones personal home life.

But the other (silly) laws they mentioned were even more interesting.

Buchpreisbindungsgesetz - Other than being a word that is a half an hour long, the idea that books can never go on sale sounds a tad odd.

Mittagspause? Sounds nice but also sounds impractical.

[108 Stars]

Buchpreisbindungsgesetz - Other than being a word that is a half an hour long, the idea that books can never go on sale sounds a tad odd.

Mittagspause? Sounds nice but also sounds impractical.

The Buchpreisbindungsgesetz is a law about pricing (German) books, and about taxes and price reduction for schools. What´s so odd about it?

Mittagspause...do you not have a break to eat your lunch at work? It´s important not to let employees work all day without a break I think. So the law states that every worker has to have at leat x minutes of a break in x hours.

The best laws I know are from the US. In certain places kissing under the age of 21 is not allowed or oral sex is entirely forbidden. Mini-skirts too. Those laws are old of course, but they are still officially intact.

[Rusty Venture]

It just seems odd that there would be a law saying that books cannot go on sale. I guess I'm just used to idea of things going on sale.

And yes there are lunch breaks, but the article made it sound like something other than that.

From PC Gamer:

"Mittagspause: Quaintly translated as "domestic midday peace" landlords and local governments have a legally protected right to forbid any activity that might be considered noisy or disturbing during the early afternoon, typically noon or 1 through 3. Mittaspause regulations can shut down everything from jackhammers to swimming pools."


The best pointless American law I can recall was something about "not being able to walk down the street with an ice cream cone in your back pocket".

I'm more curious as to what lead to the making of that law than why they made it into one. Was there a rampant gang of kids who placed ice cream cones in their back pocket and walked down the street?

[108 Stars]

Well, books are on sale here, we don´t get any of them for free or anything...
that law is about price-dumping and what books are allowed to cost (usually they are a bit more expensive than in the US) and so on...

And now I know about the Mittagspause you mean...yes, you should not do noisy work during that time (theoretically), although many people ignore that. You should avoid hammering nails in your wall or having Techno-parties for that time. I guess it originates from the children´s midday sleep. Good neighbours try to avoid being loud at that time of day, but it has about nothing to do with public life. It´s the German Siesta-time. It´s the same like when you are partying all night in your appartment. I suppose your neighbours can call the police to stop it in the US too if it´s in the middle of the night. It´s not like anyone gets arrested or anything, but you can call a police officer or two to come and ask the party-folks politely to be a little more quiet.

[David J.]

Not everyone in the US has lunch breaks. I know there's some shifts where my mom didn't get a lunch, and when I was at BK, the managers would work 10 hours with no break -- they worked 50-80 hours a week.

[Mr Smith]

Mittagspause

I recognise that word!! Four years of studying German has finally paid off.

[TheGZeus]

There's plenty to lose. You give a government the idea that it can take away a very, very simple freedom like that, its only inevitable that more significant freedoms are taken. Things like this have happened throughout history. Give the government the idea that its ok to take away rights, however small, they're bound to take even more.

Exactly why I'm against anti-smoking legislation, despite having quit.

[Rusty Venture]

I'm alright with anti-smoking laws.

The local laws doesn't say "you can't smoke" they just say "you can't smoke in a resturant".

Which is fine by me.

2nd hand smoke gives me a headache and having my grandmother smoke right next to me at the dinner table + put out her cigs on her plate has made eating+smoking one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen.

[Necrocheese]

I'm alright with anti smoking laws too, as it still allows people to smoke. If they tried to ban it all together, well that would be a problem, despite how I dislike it.

[108 Stars]

I recognise that word!! Four years of studying German has finally paid off.

This is the only thing you remember? Have you even forgotten the insults? That´s what most people tend to remember best from other languages...

Come on, Herr Schmidt, say something to me in Deutsch!

[Mendicant]

This is the only thing you remember? Have you even forgotten the insults? That´s what most people tend to remember best from other languages...

Er... all I remember from two semesters of French is "Je comprends du fromage."

[Mr Smith]

Come on, Herr Schmidt, say something to me in Deutsch!

Ich habe Kopfschmerzen. It's the only thing I can think of without rooting out my old schoolwork. It's not true either.

And I'm all for laws banning smoking from indoor areas as it's nicer to be in places without having a smog of cigarette smoke. Although places like stadiums banning smoking seems a bit too far.