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theoutriderfp
fp_theoutrider29
Oct
Video Game Censorship in Germany: How it works, how it doesn’t
Since I keep seeing horrendous misconceptions pop up about how game censorship, ratings and the like work in Germany, I felt the urge to clarify matters hopefully once and for all. This should be a fairly comprehensive explanation of how games are rated, “banned” and banned in Germany and how the entire “robots for blood lol” thing comes about.
In this article, I will detail how video games are rated in Germany, going from simple age ratings step by step to an actual ban. I wrote something like this a few months ago, but it was far less structured and harder to follow. If you can’t be bothered with the details, just skip right ahead to Part 4, wherein I quickly summarize things and then point out the biggest misconceptions about how the whole thing works. Part 5, finally, will list a few fun examples of the system.
Part 1: Age Ratings
Games released at retail in Germany are required to go through a rating process by the USK. The USK is the German equivalent of the ESRB or the BBFC - it gives out age ratings for games based on their content; the organisation is being funded by German video game industry associations (previously by an NPO for social work focusing on youths). The USK ratings are Everyone, 6+, 12+, 16+ and 18+ and are legally binding - that is, it is illegal to sell a 16+ rated game to a twelve year old. Parents can of course still buy a 16+ game for their twelve year old kid if they feel like it; stores are just not allowed to sell games under rating directly.
Part 2: The Index
The Index is a list of games that certain restrictions apply to; this is extremely commonly mistaken for games being “banned” in Germany. The Index is maintained by a government-funded organisation called BPjM. If a game is refused classification by the USK, the BPjM may go about and examine the game for content that’s “endangering the development of minors”. If they find this kind of thing, the game is put on the Index. If not, the game is simply considered to be rated 18+.
Now, the thing about this is: games on the Index are not banned. They can be, and are, perfectly legally sold to adults anywhere. However, they are subject to certain restrictions - they may not be sold to minors, but they may also not be displayed or advertised publically. This of course means that publishers don’t want games to end up on the Index, because it means they can’t market them properly, which results in a sales hit.
Or so they think. Games that are on the Index frequently sell perfectly fine. Quake 3, for example - but I’ll get to the actual examples later on. After 20 years, games are automatically removed from the list; they may also be re-evaluated and taken off the list before then.
Part 3: Banning
This happens very rarely, if during its examination the BPjM finds a game’s content is to be in violation of German criminal law, such as by displaying Nazi propaganda outside of historical context - this means you, Wolfenstein - or denying the Holocaust or similarly dubious things. In these cases, the BPjM will forward the game’s title and their evaluation of it to an attorney of state, who examines the game to decide whether or not its content does indeed violate criminal law. If the attorney of state agrees with the BPjM’s evaluation, he will then request a judge to formally declare the game “seized”. This act, finally, makes the sale and purchase of the game in Germany - even to adults - literally illegal.
If someone purchases a game before this happens, however, they’re perfectly fine to keep it; they just can’t resell it. An actual ban like this has only happened to a small handful of games so far - most of them for slapping a swastika on everything that holds still for more than two seconds. There are few exceptions to this, usually games that have an underlying philosophy that glorifies acts of extreme violence against humans - glorifying such things is a violation of §131 of German penal law. As an example, Manhunt was banned for this reason; however this was a fairly controversial decision simply because there’s no real hard definition of what constitutes “glorification”. Bans like this are generally a rare occurrence though, as evidenced by the gap of literally ten years between Manhunt and the last previous game to be banned, Mortal Kombat 2 in 1994.
Part 4: The Lowdown
Now, let’s have a quick summary. All games to be released at retail must be handed in to the USK for rating. If a game gets a rating, it can go on sale all it wants. If a game is refused classification, it may be put on the Index, which restricts its advertising but still keeps the sale and purchase of the game to adults perfectly legal. If the BPjM disagrees with the USK’s evaluation and does not add the game to the Index, it is treated like any other 18+ game.
Games which actually violate German laws, however, may be actually banned from sale and purchase in the country, involving a formal declaration of this ban by a judge after investigation of the title by the USK, the BPjM and an attorney of state. The reason this happens to extremely violent games occasionally is that §131 of German penal law prohibits the glorification of “cruel” violence or its display in a way that “injures human dignity”; however most commonly it happens to games which use Nazi propaganda outside of genuine historical context.
Conclusion A: there are no “German authorities” that force publishers to censor games. Removal of blood and gore is a decision publishers make on their own, usually to achieve a lower USK rating and thus higher sales.
Conclusion B: most violent games are not actually banned in Germany and can perfectly legally be sold to adults. Even many of the ones that are often referred to as “banned” by the non-German gaming press.
Part 5: Example Cases
What fun would something like this be without some real-life examples? Here’s a few.
Left 4 Dead was rated 18+ by the USK and can thus not be put on the Index. There was no reason for the box art to be censored; this is extremely likely to be a decision made by Electronic Arts (who publish the game in Germany) with no external pressure.
Quake 3 was put on the Index fairly quickly after being released, in spite of receiving an 18+ rating by the USK. Before a change of youth protection laws on July 1st, 2003, the BPjM (back then called BPjS) could still add games to the Index that had received USK ratings. Its sale to adults is and has always been perfectly legal.
Unreal Tournament, conversely, was not put on the Index when it was released, in spite of it being conceptually identical to Quake 3 and released at roughly the same time. The BPjS stated that the game’s cartoony way of depicting violence led them to conclude that the game does not endanger the social development of minors. Almost a year later, the game was re-evaluated and added to the index. They probably saw that Angry German Kid video.
Prey received an 18+ rating from the USK and was released entirely uncut. It was never added to the Index and is perfectly legal to sell, buy and advertise in Germany.
Wolfenstein 3D was - and still is - banned. Its sale and purchase in Germany is illegal due to its merry use of Nazi propaganda that’s entirely designed to distort historic facts. We do have a sense of humor, just not about Nazis (well, some of us do).
Gears of War was denied a rating by the USK and subsequently examined by the BPjM and added to the Index, but not banned. It was not released by Microsoft in Germany; however the other European versions are available as imports in gaming stores (on request by adults, of course). Microsoft could have released it in Germany (under the regular Index restrictions) if they had wanted to but decided to not bother and just skip the German release altogether. [Update 2008-10-31: corrected again - the game was not released; however the non-German EU versions are on the Index.]
Dead Space, contrary to rumors that popped up a few weeks before its release, was not refused classification by the USK. It received an 18+ rating and can be sold to adults and advertised at will.
Doom 3 received an 18+ rating. It is not on the Index and can be sold, purchased and advertised freely.
Doom 1 and 2 were and still are on the Index. They may be sold in Germany, but only to adults and may not be publically advertised. The Gameboy Advance ports, however, both received a 16+ USK rating and can be advertised as well as sold to anyone over the age of 16. The Xbox Live Arcade version is not available in Germany.
Golden Axe was put on the Index, then later re-evaluated and taken off the list again. The game received a 16+ USK rating and can, since its removal from the list, be advertised and sold to anyone - although since 2003 only to people 16 or older. Sorry, kids!
Tetris - at least the iconic Game Boy version - is technically considered an 18+ game. Since the change of laws in 2003 that made application for an USK rating mandatory, all games that were not previously put forward for rating - or were just released before the USK came into being - are considered to be “adults only” until rated; the Game Boy version of Tetris has never received such a rating. I genuinely doubt anyone would be taken to court over selling it to a twelve year old though (and even if they were, the case would be swiftly dismissed due to the fact that the Game Boy version of tetris is near-identical in content and gameplay to the countless others which have received “Everyone” ratings).
