First off let me preface this by saying the horrific tragedy that occured in Norway defies any attempt at logical thinking, my heartfelt prayers go out to the Norwegian people as a whole.
That being said, I saw this article and couldnt' help but think of this knee jerk reaction for what it is...the blame game. An entire country is going to let the ramblings of one madman dictate policy to them. And once again, you and I as gamers are painted as sociological psychopaths because we enjoy a hobby that this one sick person decided to use as one of the "reasons" for his madness.
"Following the terror attacks in Norway two weekends ago, retailers in that country have begun to pull major shooter and role-playing games from their shelves.
Gaming business site Gamasutra has compiled reports from Norwegian gaming and IT news sources showing that retailer Coop Norway made the first move by stopping carrying 51 gaming and toy brands. The stoppage mostly includes shooters such as Homefront, Counter-Strike Source, Call of Duty titles, and Sniper Ghost Warrior, but also World of Warcraft.
Anders Behring Breivik, who committed the attacks in Oslo and the island of Utoeya and killed 77, had posted online a rambling 1500-page manifesto prior to the attacks mentioning WoW and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and painting the author as part of a modern Knights Templar.
Coop Norway director Geir Inge Stokke said in a Norwegian newspaper that the company moved to remove the games once “we realized the scope of the attack.” He added that it was appropriate at the moment to take the games down and mentioned the “negative effects of games like these.” Continuing, Stokke mentioned that the company will carefully consider when to put the games back on shelves, that the business involved is “of no importance,” and that he wouldn’t be surprised if other retailers followed suit.
In fact, others have begun to fall in line. Norwegian entertainment seller Platekompaniet has pulled the same games from its shelves as well.
The practice of removing games after a violent tragedy has a precedent in Europe. German store Galeria Kaufhof pulled all mature-rated games from its shelves following a 2009 school shooting."
Sadly, they don't mention that personal gun ownership is nearly unknown in Norway...and that thier Police aren't even armed except in extrordinary circumstances (like a madman killing nearly a hunderd people).
If there is no sheppard, who protects the sheep? If you gather alot of sheep in one place, a wolf will come eventually...and a wolf is a wolf because that's what he is...not because he plays video games.
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