14 DAY TRIAL // Do you love to grab a rocket launcher and blow some monster's head off? Do you like Manhunt's gameplay? Or maybe you are thrilled when you sneak behind somebody and cut their throat open with a knife? Well... psychotherapists in Germany say that's not right. Of course, for the few that didn't realize it yet - it's all about video games.
The German Society for Scientific Person-Centred Psychotherapy, GwG, recently declared that the so-called shoot 'em up games (where players are rewarded for killing and torturing people) should be banned - this would be the only way to "maintain the fundamental consensus of a humane society", they say. And they are the largest professional association of psychotherapists in Europe, so they might know something.
Eleke Ostbomk-Fischer, GwG member, said that video games are "landmines for the soul" and continued: "In the past few years, the exposure of young people to dangerous media has reached such a shocking level that politicians need to act immediately before an entire generation of children and adolescents are taken in by this whirlwind of violence."
The only way to solve the problem? Ban the games! They say that young people are "losing their innate sense of compassion " because they spend hours in worlds where brutality dominates and killing is the fun.
"This is clearly not the case for traffic lights, theft, and a murder", GwG said when told that a ban would make those very violent video games they are talking about even more attractive for everybody. But playing video games has very few things in common with what they said.
So, after reading their report, we're wondering: if these so-called ultra violent games are to be banned and, until then, parents shouldn't allow their children to play them, would games like Lula: The Sexy Empire be better? There's absolutely no violence there, is it?