Klaus
First Post
Not QUITE the end of the world...
Last year a girl was killed in Ouro Preto. It is a small, historical town some 300 miles from Rio (in another state called Minas Gerais). She played DnD with a bunch of guys (I don't know if there were other girls). Of course, the "misterious" RPG being involved, some eyebrows were raised. The district attorney (a guy who managed to ban Carmageddon from sale) mounted a crusade to find out if RPG lead youths to murder.
Some RPGers, a while later (in another town), asked the police for protection, claiming that the group they gamed with wanted to kill them, since they stopped gaming with them!
In Vila Velha (a town in yet ANOTHER state, some 400 miled from Rio), the local coucil prohibited stores from selling RPGs. A local RPGer heard of this and contacted one of the 3 council members who voted against such prohibition. She said that the motion to ban RPGs had to be vetoed by the mayor, and then the council had to approve the veto. Then the motion would be cancelled. She suggested that the RPGer gathered his friends and came to th next open session of the council, to represent RPGers in general. And so he did.
When the coucnil met again, he was there with over 50 friends who played or were simply sympathetic to the cause. He talked to all 3 members who originally voted against the ban, and then went to each of the other member (some 20 or so) who voted for the ban. Most admitted that they had never even heard of RPGs before voting the ban, so they voted out of ignorance. By the end of the day, that RPGer managed to sway over 15 of the members into voting against the ban after the mayor vetoed it. His next step would be a meeting with the mayor to exlain what RPGs really are and convince him to veto the ban.
Which by the way is against the Brazilian constitution, since it is censorship, and we down here have a historical dislike for censorship (you know, military dictatorship will do that to a country...).
And no, we don't want to ban the Simpsons. But a government official expressed his desire to sue Fox for it, and revert all profits from that episode to support welfare-related social projects in Rio. To be frank, the episode haven't even been aired here (only in October). The media, in general, thinks this official is being silly and making a fool of himself by wanting to sue a CARTOON!
To learn more about the struggle to keep RPGs in good light in Brazil, check out the site http://www.eujogorpg.com.br/ . It's in Portuguese, but Babelfishing it may be worth it.
Last year a girl was killed in Ouro Preto. It is a small, historical town some 300 miles from Rio (in another state called Minas Gerais). She played DnD with a bunch of guys (I don't know if there were other girls). Of course, the "misterious" RPG being involved, some eyebrows were raised. The district attorney (a guy who managed to ban Carmageddon from sale) mounted a crusade to find out if RPG lead youths to murder.
Some RPGers, a while later (in another town), asked the police for protection, claiming that the group they gamed with wanted to kill them, since they stopped gaming with them!
In Vila Velha (a town in yet ANOTHER state, some 400 miled from Rio), the local coucil prohibited stores from selling RPGs. A local RPGer heard of this and contacted one of the 3 council members who voted against such prohibition. She said that the motion to ban RPGs had to be vetoed by the mayor, and then the council had to approve the veto. Then the motion would be cancelled. She suggested that the RPGer gathered his friends and came to th next open session of the council, to represent RPGers in general. And so he did.
When the coucnil met again, he was there with over 50 friends who played or were simply sympathetic to the cause. He talked to all 3 members who originally voted against the ban, and then went to each of the other member (some 20 or so) who voted for the ban. Most admitted that they had never even heard of RPGs before voting the ban, so they voted out of ignorance. By the end of the day, that RPGer managed to sway over 15 of the members into voting against the ban after the mayor vetoed it. His next step would be a meeting with the mayor to exlain what RPGs really are and convince him to veto the ban.
Which by the way is against the Brazilian constitution, since it is censorship, and we down here have a historical dislike for censorship (you know, military dictatorship will do that to a country...).
And no, we don't want to ban the Simpsons. But a government official expressed his desire to sue Fox for it, and revert all profits from that episode to support welfare-related social projects in Rio. To be frank, the episode haven't even been aired here (only in October). The media, in general, thinks this official is being silly and making a fool of himself by wanting to sue a CARTOON!
To learn more about the struggle to keep RPGs in good light in Brazil, check out the site http://www.eujogorpg.com.br/ . It's in Portuguese, but Babelfishing it may be worth it.
