Brazil Go Crazy

I've just seen this over on gaming hyper-blog Kotaku: Brazil has banned Counter-Strike and Everquest, as if to demonstrate how behind the times their judiciary system actually is. Okay, be insane, but ban Bioshock and Manhunt 2 or something, I mean get with it, angry legislation types! Other brain-poxed judges around the world are laughing and talking about how they wanted to ban that Doom game, last week.

There's a bunch of game-witness reports:

This is kotaku user HANK-SP, from Brazil, reporting that the Brazilian state of Goias has banned the games Counter-Strike and the RPG EverQuest. The decision, taken by a court in Goias, is extented to all Brazil. The federal police IS already taking away copies from these games, although EverQuest is not officially released in Brazil. Procon, brazilian governmental foundation for consumer defense, argued, on its website, that Counter-Strike is a game where "Rio de Janeiro drug dealers kidnap and take to a slum three UN representants. The police invades the place and is welcomed with bullets. (...) In the vision of experts the game teaches war techniques". As for EverQuest, Procon states that it "takes the gamer to complete moral conflict and 'heavy' psychological conflicts; for the tasks that are given to them could be bad or good.

Heavy psychological conflicts. Could be bad or good. You know, I've found that the psychological conflicts that games deliver are light, or medium.

While my mocking is also light, or medium, it's probably worth mentioning that the problem isn't really with Brazil as such, but with the fact that they've allowed their judges to make decisions that are valid across the entire country, once judged. It's that whole checks and balances thing that Mr HistoryFace talked about at school. I shouldn't worry kids, Uncle Electronic Arts will probably sort the whole thing right out by dinnertime. Probably.