Hey,

With the competition wrapped up, I’m sorta fired up about VB development again. Every time I think about things that should be made, I think of ports that almost all systems have… like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, etc. I mean… even the old Kodak digital camera runs Doom! ( http://itrunsdoom.tumblr.com/post/65262904544/lumpy-old-kodak-digital-cameras-yeah-they-run )

Anyway, every time I think of these, I think about how this is a German site, and how some of these games are/were banned… but I can’t find any reliable information on whether we’d be affected (if at all).

A lot of sites say that Wolfenstein 3D is banned… Wikipedia says that the ban expires after 10 years ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games#Germany ), though has no citation for that. And even if the ban was expired, would that mean the game is good to go (as is), or does the ban still hold because of the references? Could a Wolfenstein port be legally hosted on Planet VB? I assume it’d be legal if the graphics were changed?

Anyone know? KR155E?

Not that I’m necessarily planning to work on any of these, and not that I’d really change plans if I couldn’t host the game here (I could post them on my site)… it’s just one of those things that I’ve been wondering for a while.

DogP

Doom used to be on the list that files games as “inappropriate for children/teenager”. Due to that it was forbidden to advertise it in any way. You were still allowed to sell and buy it though. Since August 2011 it has been removed from that list. Everyone older then 16 can legally buy it now and it can advertised.

Wolfenstein is an issue because of the swastikas. It is illegal to use a swastika as it advertises an illegal organization. You can go to jail for up to 3 years when you use/publish it. There are excuses when it comes to documentations/movies though. However, in games it is still a no go. Thereby Wolfenstein was illegal in it’s original form and could not be sold. Actually, the american version of Doom II is still illegal as it includes levels from Wolfenstein.

Thereby, swastikas are usually replaced by other symbols. In the newer Wolfenstein games they even changed the whole background story.

Ah… thanks for the clarification. So it sounds like for the most part, it really comes down to keeping the swastika (and related references) out of the games. That seems reasonable, and if I ported Wolfenstein, I’d take them out. I’m not sure it really makes much difference to the game, other than giving it a story of you being the good guy fighting bad guys. The game could probably work just as well where you’re the bad guy trying to escape from Guantanamo Bay (like Harold and Kumar). 😉

I had seen other references that said red blood wasn’t allowed and had to be changed to green, and other weird stuff… and was a bit worried since I can’t change the blood from red for technical reasons. 😉

DogP