Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Germany Removes Doom Sales Ban After 17 Years

By - Source: BBC | B 55 comments

A German commission that evaluates potentially harmful media to youths (BPjM) decided that the historical value of the FPS Doom is greater that its potential negative effects that may promote violence in teenagers.

While media, including video games, can only be removed from the "potentially harmful games index" after 10 years and only upon request, the commission also concluded that the original evaluation that resulted in a sales ban in Germany may have been flawed.

As a result of the decision, Doom (released in 1993) and Doom 2 (1994) can now be freely distributed. The U.S. version of Doom 2 - Hell on Earth was excluded from the decisions as it includes two levels of Wolfenstein 3D, which includes "unconstitutional" symbols such as the swastika used by the Nazis. Wolfenstein 3D is listed as a "confiscated" video game in Germany.

According to the commission, the graphics and animations in Doom and Doom 2 are considered antiquated and not realistic. As the game has been generally considered as one of the most significant game titles in video game history and the U.S. Library of Congress decided to accept that game in its catalog of historically important media, the German commission argued that the game is historically significant.

The opinion that Doom and Doom 2 glorify violence by using realistic graphics and sound effects is no longer supported by the commission. They argued that neither the setting in an extraterrestrial world nor enemies that do not resemble realistic opponents promote violence. Strangely enough, the commission now argues that the task of saving humans from hostile extraterrestrials may reflect the opposite of thoughtless violence.

Wolfenstein 3D is unlikely to be removed from Germany's "index" at this time. According to German law, the index on a title will automatically be lifted 25 years after its ordered ban - which means that Wolfenstein 3D's ban will be lifted in 2017.

Discuss
Ask a Category Expert

Create a new thread in the News comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

This thread is closed for comments
Top Comments
  • 26 Hide
    aaron88_7 , September 4, 2011 8:10 AM
    We need a worldwide ban on stupidity
  • 24 Hide
    aznshinobi , September 4, 2011 7:03 AM
    I'm sure they've torrented Doom by now.
  • 23 Hide
    ojas , September 4, 2011 9:08 AM
    I kind of feel bad for the Germans, the Nazi legacy causes them a lot of problems.

    At the same time,
    Quote:
    Wolfenstein 3D's ban will be lifted in 2017.

    Which means that they can play it at 1000fps with 32x super-sampling AA on a 1080p screen. \m/ :D 
Other Comments
    Display all 55 comments.
  • 24 Hide
    aznshinobi , September 4, 2011 7:03 AM
    I'm sure they've torrented Doom by now.
  • 14 Hide
    bugo30 , September 4, 2011 7:28 AM
    I'm pretty sure it's been open source for more than ten years.
  • -7 Hide
    el33t , September 4, 2011 7:39 AM
    ............the historical value of the FPS Doom is greater that its potential negative effects..........

    Hmmm... so it seems the world can unban porn magazines after 17yrs cause by then it's historical value would supercede its harmful effects. Sounds so sensible to me.
  • 3 Hide
    back_by_demand , September 4, 2011 7:58 AM
    This is very progressive for the Germans, I reckon we only have to wait for another 100 years before they teach kids that there was a WW2.
  • 26 Hide
    aaron88_7 , September 4, 2011 8:10 AM
    We need a worldwide ban on stupidity
  • 23 Hide
    back_by_demand , September 4, 2011 8:20 AM
    aaron88_7We need a worldwide ban on stupidity

    6 billion people would be affected, making it unenforcable.
  • 6 Hide
    Andrei24 , September 4, 2011 9:00 AM
    unban carmagedon
  • 23 Hide
    ojas , September 4, 2011 9:08 AM
    I kind of feel bad for the Germans, the Nazi legacy causes them a lot of problems.

    At the same time,
    Quote:
    Wolfenstein 3D's ban will be lifted in 2017.

    Which means that they can play it at 1000fps with 32x super-sampling AA on a 1080p screen. \m/ :D 
  • 6 Hide
    Anonymous , September 4, 2011 10:42 AM
    back_by_demand In truth they're taught little else.
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , September 4, 2011 11:02 AM
    Ah Doom...the seminal FPS...the one that spiritually started it all(although not technically). If PC gamers would carry a banner it would be DOOM.
  • 4 Hide
    cookoy , September 4, 2011 12:09 PM
    Doom and Wolfenstein with Sound Blaster at full blast, those were the good old days
  • 8 Hide
    Anonymous , September 4, 2011 12:15 PM
    @Back_on_demand: I am pretty sure in German, Austria and other very much affected countries of WW2, that there is more and a tougher, deeper view into WW2 in historylessons than in any other country.
    Or did u mean that with sarcasm...
  • 8 Hide
    Archean , September 4, 2011 1:00 PM
    I don't think WWII was totally Germany's fault, in fact prevalent point of view before the WWII was that Versailles Treaty unfairly treated the Germans. Hence before the German march into Czechoslokia most British opinion thought the German claim to take back Danzig was reasonable and that the corridor was an anomaly of the Versailles Treaty, widely considered to be unjust. I mentioned Brits because they were the ones who on insistence of the Pols ended up escalating the war. So the blame can't squarely be placed on Germans, but they can however be blamed for many other things which weren't so humane.
  • 1 Hide
    nforce4max , September 4, 2011 1:42 PM
    It will be centuries before Europe ever gets it's mental issues sorted out about that period in time. The older generation has dealt with it well but the younger folk now days need a lot of help. Then again the rest of the world isn't any better but there is nothing to fear about the past. Time to heal those wounds and cover those scars and try to move on.
  • 5 Hide
    back_by_demand , September 4, 2011 2:05 PM
    ArcheanI don't think WWII was totally Germany's fault, in fact prevalent point of view before the WWII was that Versailles Treaty unfairly treated the Germans. Hence before the German march into Czechoslokia most British opinion thought the German claim to take back Danzig was reasonable and that the corridor was an anomaly of the Versailles Treaty, widely considered to be unjust. I mentioned Brits because they were the ones who on insistence of the Pols ended up escalating the war. So the blame can't squarely be placed on Germans, but they can however be blamed for many other things which weren't so humane.

    After WW1 we made them pay war reparations, which they were able to fund because of huge loans from America. Hitler tried to grab power once and was thrown in prison for being a loony. Of course when the Great Depression hit in the USA the loans stopped and all money for rebuilding and war reparations dropped off to nothing.
    Hitler grabbed for power again but this time was able to point at a weak administration coupled with scapegoating immigrants and Jews.
    Anger against the Government, setting up the Communists and rigging some votes got him in power.
    The rest is history, so to speak.

    The short version is that Hitler would have been thrown in prison a second time if the Government hadn't been undercut by the USA, so really youy could say that in terms of setting up dominoes to fall the second world war was caused by the Great Depression in the USA.

    I expect to be heavily thumbed down, but before you do think for a second about why you now pump so much money into nation building after wars finish in places like Iraq, to try and avoid trouble flaring up again a few years later which ultimately would start another war which would cost more money and lives than the first one.
  • 6 Hide
    JimmiG , September 4, 2011 2:16 PM
    drwho1Not sure if you are serious.Germans cause WWII and if they would have gotten away with their evil intentions we would be in a very different world right now.


    I think you need to take another look at the world. What happened in Germany has happened many times since, in many different parts of the world. The western world often chooses to not see, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

    Speaking of "evil", those antisemitic and racist ideas were not unique to Germany at the time. They existed throughout Europe and the US. Nazi Germany might as well have been Nazi Hungary or Nazi USA, under the right (wrong) circumstances.
  • -3 Hide
    Archean , September 4, 2011 2:16 PM
    A fair argument I'd say. But Iraq was a false war, and Libya is a typical imperial smash and grab adventure. Anyway, that is another debate for another time.

  • 5 Hide
    back_by_demand , September 4, 2011 2:39 PM
    ArcheanA fair argument I'd say. But Iraq was a false war, and Libya is a typical imperial smash and grab adventure. Anyway, that is another debate for another time.

    That's not true either, all the Western nations had big lucrative oil contracts and had been buying relatively cheap oil from Libya for decades even after they blew up people over Lockerbie and shot Police officers dead in the streets of London.
    After Gaddafi has gone we will still buy oil for Libya, but now we are all down a few billion dollars for the effort.
    Not exactly a smash and grab is it...
Display more comments