Unfortunately, the controversy comes at a time when Germany holds the reins of the EU presidency. Germany’s justice minister Brigitte Zypries recently opened the debate by showing European decision-makers a two-minute clip of Manhunt. Uh-oh. “A certain degree of linkage between the growing violence among the younger generation and the growing diffusion of violent games exists,” said Franco Frattini, the European Justice commissioner.
So the killerspiele panic has seeped across German borders, leaving all sense of reason and sanity in its wake. “I think we’ll have the same discussion every time some confused young adult gets a gun and decides to take it with himto school,” laments Ralf Marczinczik. Unfortunately, there are no simple causes to random acts of real-life violence: not Marilyn Manson, not Quentin Tarantino and certainly not videogames.
