
It seems like my anti-scapegoat shirts will never get old.
It appears that Brazil has banned Counter-Strike and EverQuest “claiming they incited violence and were “harmful to consumers’ health.”"
I don’t agree with the banning of these games, however I do wonder why they were singled out. For instance, why EverQuest and not all Fantasy based MMORPGs, I imagine that Lord of the Rings may not be played as much by Brazilians but surely World of Warcraft, with its 10 million players, has players there.
Here is a letter from the Kotaku Brazilian Connection that sheds some light:
From Pinguin:
Since 01/17, Counter Strike and Everquest are banned in Brazil. The decision came from a federal judge, based in the Consumer Rights, saying that it puts in danger the life of buyers. You can see the full decision in this site. (in Brazilian portuguese)
The counter strike was banned because, in experts opinion, teachs war strategies.
Everquest was banned because of their quests. The Brazilian judge, claims that, some quests ask for the user do good things and bad things, leading the user to pscicological problems.
In Brazil, those games were rated to 18+, by the Justice. In the past, before those rates exist, games like Carmagedon, Grand Theft Auto and Postal were banned too.
But, we still can play Postal 2, Manhunt (the complete version) and all the other games. Everquest isn’t even [sold] in Brazil!
Full AFP article.
More letters and information on Kotaku