Venezuela is moving to ban the sale of violent games and toys in a bid to tackle widespread crime in the country.
While there’s little evidence to show that violent games are a cause of real violence, that hasn’t stopped the Venezuelan National Assembly from approving a bill on the ban of such games in an initial round of voting.
The bill must now pass another round of voting and be signed by President Hugo Chavez to become law, according to Reuters.
Opponents of Chavez claim that 100,000 people have been murdered since his appointment in 1999, although his government says the figure is an exaggeration.
Venezuela is not the only country to move to impose a ban on violent games. China’s Ministry of Culture recently banned online games featuring mafia-like gangs because they "undermine morality and Chinese traditional culture,” while in Germany, lawmakers are also seeking to outlaw the production and distribution of violent games, prompting prominent developer Crytek to threaten to leave the country should the government’s efforts prove successful.