Why don't Germans like video games? That's the question on everyone's minds in Leipzig, Germany
as Europe's largest video games exhibition opened its doors to the public earlier today.
German citizens tend to play less and spend less on games than their peers in other industrialized nations because of a widely held public perception that games "make young people stupid" according to a Reuters news piece on the issue. EA spokesman Gerhard Florin says that that attitude may result in Germany missing out on a chance to influence what is sure to be a major part of popular world culture.
In his keynote address to the conference, Florin called for a public education campaign, presumably one that would extol the virtues and benefits of games. Tax dollars to support video game ads? That's crazy!
Or is it? The government here in the States subsidizes tobacco production. Games are surely better for kids than cigarettes.
