affront to human dignity<\/a>. At least according to the German government and the European Court of Justice.<\/p>\nEven before Omega opened the “Laserdrome: — a Dr. Evil-sounding invention, complete with quotation fingers — in August 1994, there were public protests. Early that year, Bonn police asked Omega for a precise description of the planned activity, and warned that it would issue a ban in case of a game that simulated killing. Omega responded that the game merely involved hitting fixed sensory tags installed in the firing corridors.<\/p>\n
In mid-September ofthat year, Bonn police issued an order against Omega forbidding it from allowing or tolerating games that involved firing on human targets. The order, accompanied by a 10,000-deutsche mark fine for each game played thereafter, was based on the argument that such activities trivialize violence and contravene fundamental values prevailing in public opinion.<\/p>\n
Omega appealed the order up through the German courts, and eventually to the EU’s European Court of Justice, which ruled last week, upholding the ban. <\/p>\n
“The prohibition on the commercial exploitation of games involving the simulation of acts of violence against persons, in particular the representation of acts of homicide, corresponds to the level of protection of human dignity which the national constitution seeks to guarantee” in Germany, reads the seven-page judgment.<\/p>\n
Who’da thunkit? I feel so … undignified. And self-affronted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve played Laser Tag. In fact, I used to spend a decent sum of money going to a big Laser Tag outlet and whiling away a few hours. 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Doctor says: \"I am sorry, I don't follow you\" ...bada BOOM # Not quite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9565,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/06\/03\/x_men_last_stan.html","url_meta":{"origin":7140,"position":5},"title":"X-Men: Last Stand","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 3-Jun-06 10:18pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Went tonight with Doyce, Kate, Lee, De, and Stan ... There's nothing about X3 that a movie or two more wouldn't have solved. 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