Norwegian Retailer Indefinitely Bans 'Violent Video Games,' Even Though No One Asked

As a Norwegian, what offends me here is how people try to trivialize something like this by using it to further their own motives. Anyone who tries to say that games, comics, rock music or whatever else was what turned him into an insane rightwing extremist racist mass murderer are despicable.

Addiction to WoW can cause a lot of issues for the addict's personal life, but aggression isn't one of them.

@Claude said:

@Disease said:

Whatever.. nobody buys their games at a Coop store here in Norway

Are they pretty big or something or are they trying to get their name in the media?

I didn't know COOP sold games even. They are a big brand when it comes to food but nothing else. Perhaps some of their bigger stores sells electronics.

Whatever.. nobody buys their games at a Coop store here in Norway

@Management: It is not just Coop, it's Platekompaniet as well.

This is such a misguided thing to do. It is censorship of one form of culture. As usual it is perfectly OK to make drastic decisions about games without any roots in actual research.

WoW? Really?

Its always lovely to see how easy it is to find a scapegoat.  Fucking lawyers and the justice system in general.  They are allowed to build a completely worthless and fictional (Id said an out right lie) defense over an object or source that is incapable of rebuke.   
 
Its really awful that this stereotype has carried on. Its so worthless and only confuses an already horrible situation, and keeps people in a state of denial ignoring or not even being able to see or deal with the underlying issues, or even blame depending on the situation.

@gale: The science says that games don't increase aggression though. That is why in the supreme court case one of the main reasons video games won was because the studies presented by the anti-video side did not have actual conclusive evidence that games have any real negative effects of the behavior of young people.

@Cherubim: Platekompaniet isn't a major distributor either though, it is really bad, but it won't impact a lot of Norwegian people. If it was Spaceworld or Gamestop I'm sure it would get much more coverage.

Not to be rude to Norway or Norwegians in any way at this point of time in light of recent events, but I consider such a move hypocritical, and reflecting ideology rather than preservation of freedom. As much as I respect how Norway's leader referred to love as his reaction and the continuance of openess of society, it galls me how cushy this asshole will have it for 21 years. He should be the sole one deprived of any computer access, as well as violent games. None other. The only things that guy should have had in a civil society is the necessities and access to media such as books, again sans anything political or inflammatory. And no conjugal visits, he doesn't get those, either. I can understand Norway going for a high standard, and all the power to it. But don't use it as an excuse for an agenda that restricts. Remember both social and personal ideals of freedom and acceptance.

@Management: Platekompaniet sold their last game to me at least, that is for sure. They used to sell launch titles a bit cheaper than EBgames and Gamestop, but I rather pay extra than support this nonsense.

@Knight244: I'm trying to figure out what your angle is, but nothing you've said so far make any sense whatsoever. Science is evil and no-one that kills anyone can possibly identify themselves as christian?

@Cherubim: They sell launch games cheaper because EBgames and Gamestop are overprized as fuck. If you have a spaceworld og GAME nearby, they sell their games just as cheap as Platekompaniet.

@bybeach:that was in fact quite rude, and also, it's NOT a political decision. It's entirely in those companies right to pull games if they so choose.

Fear is such a great emotion, people make the best decisions when under the influence of it....

Reminds me exactly of what happened in Germany after the killing sprees.

@Knight244: I'm trying to figure out what your angle is, but nothing you've said so far make any sense whatsoever. Science is evil and no-one that kills anyone can possibly identify themselves as christian?

As sad as I am for our norwegian brothers , this moves are foolish in my books , videogames had nothing to do with the man's actions , it were other factors.

@Knight244: And I guess it's for you to decide what is psudoscience? Which would include anything you don't like? Is Evolution on that list as well? Also, you can't say that someone isn't christian just because they don't agree with you. If that was the case then the same would be true for Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans and so on as well. It's like saying someone isn't an American because he was born in Texas and you don't like those Texans.

This just in: people are stupid. News at 5.

To Shimakaze, I differ and I differ bigtime. Not on that technical point (that part's probably true) but it does smack suspiciously like a political agenda of sorts . And you can take this as rude if you wish, the decision frankly lacks courage or the idea of preservation of freedoms after such a tragedy

@bybeach: I assure you this has nothing to do with the government, and I think most free market follower will agree that any company should be free to carry the products they wish. And whatever lack of courage that decision shows has no relevance to our government or the Norwegian public in general.

@Artie said:

@Dany: How is that a leap? Do you know the origin of Piracy Dany? It came from countries that wanted to play games that were unreleased in their territory. That's also why South America and Russia have the highest piracy rates.

If some joe is going to the store and can't buy games, they would just go to another store down the street.

@Knight244: And I guess it's for you to decide what is psudoscience? Which would include anything you don't like? Is Evolution on that list as well? Also, you can't say that someone isn't christian just because they don't agree with you. If that was the case then the same would be true for Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans and so on as well. It's like saying someone isn't an American because he was born in Texas and you don't like those Texans.

@Scifikai said:

@CosmicQueso Uhm, the Norwegian government is not behind this.

Wow, no kidding. You mean the part in the article that pointed out the retailer? Yeah, I read that. GG Norway.

@Knight244: You just called millions of Christians liars... are you sure you don't want to retract that statement?

I can't remember the last time I saw Counter-Strike: Source on a store shelf.

@Knight244: Not unless you're an insane murderous lunatic with visions of world domination.

edit to reply to the edit: You don't have to believe anything but you should be careful with claiming that someone is lying just because you disagree with them. And, why do you have to defend yourself anyway? So what if he was a christian? No-one is suggesting that's the reason he did this. However if you want to get into the definition of what a proper Christian is then you'll have a flame war on your hands because every grouping has different ideas of what a proper christian is.

PANIC!

@shamanultra said:

@gale: The science says that games don't increase aggression though. That is why in the supreme court case one of the main reasons video games won was because the studies presented by the anti-video side did not have actual conclusive evidence that games have any real negative effects of the behavior of young people.

Hey wait a minute?  Could it possibly maybe be?  Could what the so called scientists put forth as "Science" actually completely in fact be pseudo science?  Is there a possibility that the scientists are making mistakes?  I mean was it not science that invented the lobotomy?  Could scientists potentially be human beings and not gods incarnate that reap the complete truth from the experiments that are done in a vacuum that having nothing to do with actual human experience?  Maybe possibly yes maybe yes...?  Maybe?   It would also be cool to find out at what day and time Pseudo Science become the official religion of the world?

While I sympathize for what happened, I think this is really unnecessary.

Just wanna say, no Norwegian gamer will be affected by this. Nobody buys games from a COOP store. Seriously, nobody. And only their largest stores even have games available. Most of them dont. I know the Americans aren't aware of this which is why it's been getting coverage. But this will not affect Norwegian gamers one bit. Not at all.

@Knight244: Dude, what the fuck are you talking about? What the fuck are you even arguing about?

Its a sad state of affairs.  But to be expected.  I'm sure the blaming of videogames  will become more and more common the more mainstream videogaming becomes.  It seems that a large percentage of people I (and perhaps you) know that play games. So it only makes sense that when the next tragedy happens,  chances are high that the people who commit these acts have been, or are gamers.
 
Shit,  it's easier to find a scapegoat then it is to find the actual root of the problem isnt it?

@LOUISE_CYPHRE: Again, they're not blaming games. They're just of the opinion that it's in bad taste to sell games like that this close to the tragedy.

I'm norwegian, and I can say that this does not resonate well with our people. It's this kind of panic indused behaviour that son of a bitch wanted to invoke, and Coop pulls their games, they let him win. Generally we've stood strong through this awful time, but as we get som perspective, I'm curios to see what happens. 
 
That being said, Coop's primary business is groceries, so it's not like their a major seller of those kinds of games. More noteworthy is the fact that Platekompaniet, which is a major games retailer, have started to remove some violent video games.
 
And last but not least, I hope you fine folks over at GiantBomb can do a grieving norwegian a favor. If in the future you're going to write an article where his name comes up, don't mention him by name. Call him a motherfucker, cocksucker, asshole, anything but his name. It's important that although we never will, and never should, forget this awful event, this evil man's name should not go down in history. That will only make him an idol among his crazy, right-wing sympathisers, and that is one thing that we will never let happen!

Shmiakaze said; And whatever lack of courage that decision shows has no relevance to our government or the Norwegian public in general. My (Bybeach's) response; and I was not saying as much either. But now that that door is opened, I do hope the resultant policies of the present Norwegian gov't will be wise, and preserve both social and personal freedom. There seems to be a balance missed both in my own country and in some European societies. I'm most worried for my own, to tell the truth, for restriction of personal freedom comes easily from the Right as the left, I'm not fooled at all. And for all the noise about socialism, that (recently determined) so-called evil is really not much evident here. But again, there must be balance and true fairness, and not neo-com or unrealistic social ideologies as a replacement for reality.

I think you can still buy them, but they just remove them from the shelves.

So if I blame misspelled words on my pencil or keyboard does that mean that they will start to ban those too?

PR moves. Don't be surprised if you find these games again on the shelves in a few weeks.

This isn't that bad. From my limited knowledge, this is the first type of "video games kill people!" incident they've encountered. America has had to deal with numerous of these, and have basically turned it into a non-issue. They have a few of these before it's time to start questioning them.

Good on you GB Community. These comments helped and made me not overreact. The company Coop, a grocery store chain, decided to pull certain games not the Government.

See, if you take away the violent images from video games, the only violent images the psychopaths have are the fantasies they design in their own head. So... well, it'll probably work. DON'T QUESTION IT!

Yeah, I think it's not quite clear - but Coop is a minor retailer when it comes to games - it's primarily a grocery store, where non-gamers and families shop. They did it because the potential for upsetting customers is greater than the income obtained from selling games. 
 
I don't think most Norwegians really blame video games for the acts of terrorism committed by Breivik, and it takes a huge lapse in judgement and common sense to consider Call of Duty or World of Warcraft to be "training" for anything beyond a video game tournament.