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Ban Minecraft? That's jive, Turkey!
The wildly popular sandbox game Minecraft is facing a possible ban in Turkey. English-language Hurriyet Daily News reports that the nation's Family Ministry will soon file a legal complaint seeking to halt sales of the game and ban its playing in Turkey. According to the report, officials are worried that the combat elements …
COMMENTS
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 01:44 GMT veti
YHBT
This has all the hallmarks of a fluff piece by Minecraft's (admittedly, excellent) PR department.
Deals with a game that's been available for a long time and already has a large established base in the country in question, and frankly sales have been flagging lately? Check.
No major Minecraft-related stories in the past two weeks? Check.
Based on one internal government document, not an actual process under way? Check. (How did this news "leak" out, I wonder?)
Instantly picked up by every tech media outlet in the world, including those who have hitherto shown absolutely no awareness that there is even a place called "Turkey", much less its censorship rules? Check.
No mention in any of those sites of what other games are already banned under the same rules? Ayup.
In fact, I can't find that list anywhere on the internet. There's a suspiciously similar story about 'Game of Thrones', but it seems that nobody, in the history of the internet, has ever bothered to compile a public list of things that are banned in Turkey. Which makes me think that maybe, nobody actually cares that much. Except when they're trying to sell stuff.
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 02:08 GMT MrDamage
Huh?
If they are truly worried about something promoting children to be violent towards others, perhaps the regime should back away from its fundamentalist islamic stance.
You know, the same stance that promotes the destruction of Israel, death to jews, christians, unbelievers, apostates, atheists, woman who show their ankles in public etc etc etc.
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 09:09 GMT WraithCadmus
Re: Huh?
Maybe if Minecraft had halal meals.......
Well there was a guy who as an experiment tried to live an Islamic lifestyle inside the minecraft world.
Icon: Haram
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 12:01 GMT Pascal Monett
Re: it encourages the raising of pigs for food
It does not encourage the raising of pigs. You can raise cows or chickens just as easily. There is no in-game bonus for raising pigs.
And, if you think about it, cows give meat and skins, chickens give meat and feathers, whereas pigs only give meat.
So, on a per-effort basis, there is no encouragement to raise pigs, it's quite the opposite.
But hey, they're in the game, that's for sure.
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 13:40 GMT werdsmith
Re: it encourages the raising of pigs for food
"And, if you think about it, cows give meat and skins, chickens give meat and feathers, whereas pigs only give meat."
cows give milk and meat and skins. Chickens give eggs and meat and feathers. Pigs give skins, meat and bristles and a great deal of entertainment.
There's Babe, Pinky and Perky, Pig from Pipkins, Warner Brothers Porky Pig, The Tamworth Two, Napoleon (Animal Farm) etc.
What's not to like?
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 09:19 GMT Avatar of They
This actually a real story?
Turkey want to be part of the EU. Ban free speech like Twitter, Google books and youtube then it is unlikely they will find the EU to their liking. But when your country has a civil war going on with the PKK, its good to concentrate on the little things. Helps distract peoples gaze.
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 16:13 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: This actually a real story?
> Turkey want to be part of the EU.
Actually, they don't.
Some EU members wanted Turkey to be part of the EU, until they realised how much of a bad idea it was to invite a regional power to the party and changed their minds. Turkey's government was mildly in favour at the start but lost all interest a decade or so ago.
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 13:26 GMT dogged
Re: Turkey is a corrupt, filthy, backward shithole
I love Turkey and the Turks are a very welcoming, friendly, generous people. With great food, secular attitudes and a determination to see the bright side of everything.
I don't know where you went. Must have been a UKIP fact-finding trip.
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 11:10 GMT Anonymous Coward
Probably not relevant to the Turkish viewpoint
But I notice there are a lot of mods for Minecraft that move it out of the 9-10 year old gamer bracket.
Various zombie themes eg along the walking dead lines, - I tend to tell my son that he can't have them because the version is incompatible with the version he's got.
At least it's only violent themes they are worried about, and nothing unnatural like sex....
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 13:16 GMT Amorous Cowherder
You couldn't make this stuff up!
One of the best practiced human right's abusers on the planet is banning a simple computer game that involves tasks we have to do on a daily basis, killing animals for food and skin, because those actions in the game are seen as too violent?
ROFL! LOL! Brilliant! Sorry? You're serious? Oh!
I want my kids to understand that food doesn't just arrive on the plate, it has to gathered from crops or got from killing animals. This is taught to young kids in this game in a safe way so when they do find out about industrial level food production, it's no great surprise to them to learn that burger and veggies don't just magically appear down TESCO.
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Wednesday 11th March 2015 16:04 GMT Anonymous Coward
And, as if to prove my point...
...the unedited version of the following comment was REJECTED by El Reg:
« ...if a pair of <part of female anatomy> were shown anywhere in the game it'd have been <expletive> banned in the US and the UK and no <female genitalia> would bat an eye.
Though I do not believe that games actually encourage violent behaviour, I'd rather shun something on the basis of violence than on the basis of offending ridiculous puritan mores.
Give the <expletive> Turks a break.
[ Tip to the game developer: make the enemy characters look vaguely Greek and you're in for a smash. ]
»
Glass houses, etc.