A Brazilian court bans EverQuest
by Michael Zenke 
Jan 18th 2008 at 11:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Politics, Legal, Education, Virtual worlds
In a classic moment of governmental insanity, word has gone out that a court in the Brazilian state of Goias has put a ban out on Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest. The consumer protection agency for the country has apparently picked up on the ban, and is noting it on its official website.Kotaku readers have been writing in to that site, expanding on this decision and a similar one that has been handed down on the tactical shooter Counter-Strike. This ban technically applies to the whole country, as decisions made in one court system are technically the law of the land throughout Brazil. A reader noted that at the moment only the state of Goias is applying the ban, as other court leaders seem to think the decision may be flawed.
Fascinatingly, EverQuest isn't even commercially released in the country of Brazil. Even more interesting, reader comments seem to indicate this is a forced ban: copies of the game reported being 'taken' by the police. The ban (on EQ, anyway) seems to stem from the moral ambiguity of many of the quests:
As for EverQuest, Procon states that it "takes the gamer to complete moral conflict and 'heavy' psychological conflicts; for the tasks that are given to them could be bad or good. (...) Violent videogames that use violence are capable of forming agressive individuals, making it evident that is strong its influence on psyquism, reinforcing aggressive attitude against certain individuals and social groups".
Further commentary is available at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hollywood Ron said on 1:37AM 1-19-2008
Next thing you know they'll ban Pong for encouraging violence against circles.
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Ghen said on 7:57AM 1-19-2008
not to mention space invaders.. Oh the humanity! (alienity?)
Axela said on 9:55AM 1-22-2008
That sucks, but please correct your post as there is no state in Brazil called Golas. It's Goias. My family is from Brazil and I have a cousin who lives in Goias.
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Michael Zenke said on 10:36AM 1-22-2008
Thanks Alexa! Sorry about that.
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