Blood / Gore in German video games?

[medierra]

Hi,

I was hoping some German members of the audience could fill me in on what passes for blood and gore in video games. Is it acceptable if the enemies are not human? I noticed there is a German trailer for Left 4 Dead on Steam that does show blood. Although I'm not sure if this is included in the game. What happened with Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege 2? They feature dismemberment and blood in the U.S. versions. Is this cut in the German version or was it allowed?

Thanks,
medierra

[sbach2o]

Lets start with some concrete game observations:

I played Dungeon Siege 1. For the German market it was rated 15+. Dismemberment and Blood spatters can be en/disabled via game options. I fired the game up yesterday for a quick round against Krug and Krug Dogs. The blood spatters dissolve very quickly and aren't too prominent. The flying monster bits are also looking abstract and not really gory. I'd be very surprised, if that differs in any way from the US version.

I have the us-demo of Sacred 2 and played it some (the us version of the demo is more recent and I assume more stable than the German one). My machine cannot handle it well, it plays very choppy, or I'd probably have bought it. There is blood and gore in the game, though no dismemberment, as far as I recall. Enemies are often human like (elven bandits) and probably human as well (not in the demo). It is rated 16+, and again I'd be surprised if there were differences between German and international versions of the game in the gore department. There's also sex in the game, so the US may the more problematical market for this.

Finally, we all should know Diablo 1/2. Rated 16+ for Germany and no market-specific mitigation of the blood factor. Very graphic imagery of torture and whatnot.

And for the record, TQ received the same 12+ rating over here as for the US, but you probably know this

Regarding non-human enemies there were probably some changes implemented for the first Command & Conquer, I've been told, where specifically for the German market the factions were labeled 'robot armies' or some such. I do not remember whether the graphics were altered to match that by removing or rather recoloring blood, but something tickles my memory about this. I only ever played this on a friend's computer and cannot check.

Of course, since the last school shooting things may still be in flow over here. Some tightenings on the restrictions are being discussed, I just do not know were it is leading right now. The primary focus seems to be on first person shooters.

[yerkyerk]

I wanted to reply to this, but I forgot. I'm not from Germany, (I live in Holland actually), but I know something about this in relation to Carmageddon. I used to have several copies of the game (from some 3-1 deals and such ) and one of them had the pedestrians changed into zombies, and the blood color from red to green. I think this was both the case for English and German games. So, as long as it weren't humans, heh, you could dismember and splatter them all around.
In some countries the game was completely banned ofcourse..
That was years ago and SCi certainly tried to make it as controversial as possible (lots of free advertisements). So I'm not sure if the same rules apply. Ofcourse, games have become a lot more realistically since than..

Incidentally, the only videogames from German producers I played, the Gothic and Spellforce series, if I remember correctly, do not contain gore or blood...

EDIT; actually, JoWood (Spellforce and Gothic) appears to be an Austrian-based developer. Not too much difference I think, since the main market would still be Germany (as well as Austria resembling Germany in many ways).

[Kir4]

I do live in Germany, and my experiences vary from game to game.

The German Sacred 1, for example, lets you decide whether gore should be displayed or not. If "yes", you'll be rewarded for critical-hit-kills with dismemberment (loss of arms, legs etc)(!) and tons of blood (!!). Seriously: The enemies look like mannequins that are completely filled up with that red stuff. Rating: 12+

On the other hand, some games get censored on a ridiculous level. I remember Turok (don't remeber if 1 or 2, though): In this game, every human-like enemy was replaced by a robot...

Can't say how hard up-to-date-games are cut down, since I started playing US-editions only. Rule of thumb: Germany hates violence, the USA ban nudity.

[medierra]

Thanks for the info everyone!

Can't say how hard up-to-date-games are cut down, since I started playing US-editions only. Rule of thumb: Germany hates violence, the USA ban nudity.

Yes, it is rather silly isn't it? In the US - violence, no problem! Sex?! OMG!!!

[yerkyerk]

I would've thought there would be general guidelines for each country, rather than a developer creating a game only to have it banned/censored because of certain of its features..

[sbach2o]

At least regarding the ARPG genre it seems that for the titles I mentioned above there are no differences between German and US markets. The games are most likely the same regarding blood/gore depiction in all cases.

I made a quick check on Amazon.com, and the ESRB ratings are 'Mature' for Sacred2 and Diablo2 and 'Teen' for TQ. I am assuming that 'M' roughly corresponds to the 16+ over here.

The differences are probably more pronounced in first person shooters and 'realistic' war games, take Counterstrike (I didn't check this, however). there may actually be different game versions here and there, but are they the norm?

The current risk for game developers may lie more in how unplannable the outlook for Germany currently is, and I canot help here.

That last school massacre in Winninden triggered a lot of political actionism. The rules regarding weapons ownership etc. were under massive scrutinity (the murders were done with an improperly stored registered weapon), yet it lead almost nowhere. The German arms lobbyists or what you'd call them, seem to be every bit as influential as their US counterparts. But seeing this as a portent for changes in game ratings may be premature - it is possible that the tightening of rules may turn out the harsher to compensate.

Just let me point out that I didn't follow the disussion closely and don't know about its current state. The gaming segments I care for seem to be relatively safe (this includes ARPG).

[Kir4]

The German arms lobbyists or what you'd call them, seem to be every bit as influential as their US counterparts.

Word!

Winnenden resulted in "countermeasures" that are, I'll try not to become impolite, questionable.

Ban of shooting as sport? No way. Instead ban on Gotcha. Hahaha. And, to come back to videogames, major stores voluntarily stopped selling games that are rated 18+ (I'm not kidding- they really did). Populistic scapegoat-massacre, in my humble opinion.

[Oldsoul]

I wanted to reply to this, but I forgot. I'm not from Germany, (I live in Holland actually)

dude your dutch ik ook!

[yerkyerk]

Yes... not something I'm particulary proud of.