Evil Genius

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil on Friday imposed a ban on popular role-playing computer games "Counter-Strike" and "EverQuest," claiming they incited violence and were "harmful to consumers' health."


The federal prohibition on the sale of the games was being applied across the country, the official consumer protection agency in the central state of Goias said on its website.

Both games allow players, typically teenage boys, to connect online to fantasy worlds where they interact with other players, form groups and carry out joint missions usually involving combat.

"Counter-Strike," a first-person-view shoot-'em-upper based on the motor powering the popular "Half-Life" game, requires participants to choose a role as either a masked terrorist or an anti-terrorist officer before going forth with an ever-sophisticated array of weapons.

An adapted version in Brazil permitted players to take on the perspective of either a police officer or a narcotrafficker in Rio de Janeiro's infamously crime-ridden slums.

"EverQuest" is a swords-and-spells game in the mold of "Lord of the Rings" in which human or elvish or other imaginary characters go on joint adventures to gain treasure and increase their avatar's abilities.

Both began in 1999 and have since developed huge worldwide followings.

Some psychologists have described them as addictive as drugs. A few players have turned professional, earning money from powerful characters they sell, or from the auction of hard-to-win virtual items.

The ban was ordered in October 2007 by a Brazilian federal court, but was not immediately implemented.

The judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes, ruled that the games encouraged "the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security."

(AFP)

Sounds ironic... coming from a country with more violence than the police can handle, outside of video games and all!

War Machine wrote:And Femto, they speak Portuguese, not Spanish.

War Machine wrote:I hope this trend of banning video games doesn't propagate to more countries.

And Femto, they speak Portuguese, not Spanish.

War Machine wrote:The "la" part gives you away, they use different prepositions in Portuguese. So you basically wrote "viva la" in Spanish.

Femto wrote:

War Machine wrote:The "la" part gives you away, they use different prepositions in Portuguese. So you basically wrote "viva la" in Spanish.

And what exactly made you believe that it was my intention to write that in Portuguese?

Was it the "3rd world" part?

Hey.

I'm from Ecuador.

I know the differences between Spanish and Portuguese.

The presumptuousness of thinking that I was attempting to do something I wasn't and then trying to correct me about it is laughable.

Next time, don't assume things about me or what I write.

Thanks in advance.

LordMune wrote:A good deed. (Not the owning but that was good too, but the banning)

LordMune wrote:A good deed. (Not the owning but that was good too, but the banning)

Femto wrote:

Femto wrote:

War Machine wrote:The "la" part gives you away, they use different prepositions in Portuguese. So you basically wrote "viva la" in Spanish.

And what exactly made you believe that it was my intention to write that in Portuguese?

Was it the "3rd world" part?

Hey.

I'm from Ecuador.

I know the differences between Spanish and Portuguese.

The presumptuousness of thinking that I was attempting to do something I wasn't and then trying to correct me about it is laughable.

Next time, don't assume things about me or what I write.

Thanks in advance.

Owned.