Thai government bans list of games

Posted by Dan on September 4, 2008

According to Gamepolitics.com, the Thai government has banned 5 “dangerous” games. The list includes Hitman, Hitman: Blood Money, 50 Cent: Bullet Proof, 300, and Killer Seven. Interestingly enough, it does NOT include things like the Grand Theft Auto series or Manhunt, games that have seen legal trouble in the U.S. and Australia, nor does it ban the entire Hitman series. Gamepolitics, quoting Cnet’s Thailand correspondent, hints of an impending police crackdown on internet cafes and unlicensed game sellers (the black market for games is significantly more widespread in the physical world in Asia than in the West, where it tends to be found more on the internet).

The [government and law enforcement] conference, held at the Queen Sirikit Convention Center on August 21, had an audience of over 1,500 people, mostly public officials and the police. The main focus of this conference was to find solutions to unregistered gaming stores (basically an Internet cafe like a setup where people can go in and game all day long on computers, not the traditional arcade) and “dangerous games”. Their aim is to eliminate the “dangers” associated with said problem within 90 days of the conference.

Gameslaw.net as an journalistic policy stands against censorship of any kind, especially in the game industry, and while our voices may not carry weight with the Thai government, we urge our readers (especially those in Southeast Asia) to keep themselves aware of the situation.

Then the first thing will be to establish a censorship of the writers of fiction, and let the censors receive any tale of fiction which is good, and reject the bad; and we will desire mothers and nurses to tell their children the authorized ones only.” ~ The Republic, Book II by Plato

“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” ~ Potter Stewart

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