Bavarian TV station reacts to Munich shootings by banning eSports tournament coverage
News on 1 Aug 2016
News on 1 Aug 2016
Early reports by Bavarian officials investigating the Munich shootings on July 22, in which an 18-year-old German-Iranian man killed nine people and wounded over 30 others at a McDonald’s restaurant, have noted that shooter David Ali Sonboly was fascinated by such massacres, and was a fan of the favoured eSports game Counterstrike Global Offensive.
That suggestion had repercussions for eSports when the local television network ProSieben MAXX subsequently decided to drop its planned coverage of an ELeague Counterstrike Global Offensive eSports tournament, according to the publication TSN.com.
A spokesman for ProSieben MAXX, Michael Benn, said the channel had decided not to broadcast any more first-person shooter games “for the moment.”
Commenting on the decision, ELeague host Richard Lewis said he personally disagreed with such a measure, but could understand why it was necessary at a time so close to the tragedy as this.
“In Germany they have some of the most stringent censorship laws when it comes to videogames in the world. This is a place that bans Mortal Kombat and removes blood from games,” Lewis observed.
“That in itself should perhaps raise some questions that if one of the places that has the most censorship and they are still looking to pin it on video games.
“But right now I think that everybody can understand the decision at what is a sensitive time. You’ve got to take into account the affected families.”
ESPN revealed that ProSieben MAXX was originally set to broadcast ELeague’s semifinals and finals on Friday and Saturday in a competitive tournament that would include a German eSports team.
German officials described the Munich gunman as a withdrawn loner obsessed with playing “killer” video games who had been treated for depression and psychiatric problems.
Witnesses said the gunman shouted slurs against foreigners during the shooting spree – the area around the shooting scene has a high population of such individuals.
The television ban has triggered debate on German social media on the perennial question of whether constant exposure to violence in modern life through television news and drama, movies and video games influences the actions of murderous individuals.
