Brazil Bans CS and EQ

Brazil has recently banned Counter-Strike and EverQuest, with the state of Goiás already confiscating copies of the games, helped by PROCON, an organization that was created to defend consumer rights. The reason for the games being banned are (badly translated by Google):

Counter-Strike is described as a game where "traffickers in Rio de Janeiro seqüestram and lead to a hill three representatives of the United Nations. Police invade the place and it received the shots." The text also states, without names or cite research that "in view of specialists the game teaches techniques of war."

This doesn’t sound like Counter-Strike, but it does sound more like a description of the map cs_rio. Great idea to ban a game in an entire country based on one user created map.

As for the "EverQuest", according to the text RPG online "takes the player to total distortion and psychological conflicts’ heavy ‘; because the tasks that it receives, can be good or bad."

Romulo from Kotaku reports that a single judge can make a decision that is valid for the entire country, but so far no other states are confiscating copies of the games, indicating that they may feel this was the wrong decision.

GotFrag is also reporting that LAN Centers must delete the game or face a daily $3,000 fine.

Procon is already investigating several LAN centers in the state, and starting yesterday, seventeen have been notified. According to Procon, these games have to be deleted from every computer, otherwise the owner will have to pay a daily fine of almost $3,000 USD and may have his establishment being closed. In stores, all Counter-Strike and EverQuest copies have been removed from the shelves and sent to the Ministry of Justice.

The South American nation famous for its ability to create great soccer players, attractive swimsuit models and land that used to be rainforests has brought the banhammer down upon two of the world’s most popular online games. Both Counter-Strike and EverQuest, each now nine-years old, were said to promote "the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security" by the judge enacting the ban.

According to the AFP report on the matter, the prohibition on selling CS and EQ was actually passed in October of 2007, but was only recently enforced by PROCON, the national consumer protection agency. Good work, Brazil. Glad all of your problems are sorted out now that the video game police are tackling the tough issues!

Members of the Kotaku Brazilian Connection wrote in to let us know about the ban. Their letters are after the jump and provide some insight into the local video game market.

UPDATE: GotFrag is now reporting that only the distribution of the games has been stopped, they haven’t prohibited playing them if you have them, and LAN Centers are not being forced to delete the games.

Tags: gaming