New Swiss Game Restrictions Only To Affect Certain Games

A new piece of Swiss video game legislation will likely ban only certain games, and not all games with violent content as previously assumed, according to statements by a member of the National Council. The legislation is comprised of two proposals, one of which seemingly called for legally restricting minors from purchasing games rated PEGI 16+ or PEGI 18+, and the second of which apparently would have entirely banned such games from sale in the country. The guidelines have yet to enter law. While their proposals passed with significant majority votes, the specific legal terms of their restrictions must still be constructed. Now Evi Allemann, a member of the Social Democratic party and the sponsor of the latter resolution, has said the newly-ratified law banning violent games entirely will actually only affect specific games deemed to portray particularly cruel acts of violence. In an interview with 20 Minuten Online (German-language link), Allemann said the end result will be a system similar to Germany's under which roughly a dozen games are banned for extreme violence. As an example, she pointed out that Germany bans Manhunt and Mortal Kombat, but not Counter-Strike. Alleman admitted that there is no conclusive correlation between violent games and violent behavior, but said consumption of violent media may be a contributor to aggression. The PEGI system, which is used to classify game content in Switzerland and numerous other European countries, is insufficient because it is a self-regulatory game industry body, Alleman contends. She believes an industry-independent federal agency is necessary to determine what games will be subject to the impending restrictions.