5 Video games that are banned around the world

Video games tend to have at least a little bit of violence — that's just how it's been since we first figured out how to arm pixels with swords and BFGs. That, coupled with their growing popularity and influence, has made them incredibly controversial. While public outcry might lead to nothing more than a warning label and some publicity in some countries, others have banned titles in their entirety.

Bully

Bully (also called Canis Canem Edit, or Dog Eat Dog, in the European market) is Rockstar Games' take on bullying in schools. The player controls Jimmy, a 15-year-old student who has to navigate his way through the social networks of his school. Based on that description alone, it's a clear disaster, right? You play as a bully and gain a level every time you swirlie some poor nerd, right? Not so fast. Even though it was condemned by infamous anti-game-crusader Jack Thompson, it has some pretty powerful supporters, including Bullies2Buddies, an organization that teaches kids how to deal with bullies by utilizing the Golden Rule.

That's because, as anyone who actually bothered to play Bully would know, it has less to do with being a bully, and more to do with uniting the factions of students. Jimmy is rewarded for helping factions complete side quests, and he's punished for things like staying out past curfew and picking on girls. There's no guns, the only violence is fistfights, and if you continue to try to break the rules, you'll find yourself mowing lawns. That wasn't enough to keep Bully from being banned completely in Brazil, however. Major retailers in the UK also pulled it off shelves, even as they released statements that they would continue to stock other Rockstar titles … including Grand Theft Auto, the "heroes" of which are more bullyish than poor Jimmy could ever hope to be.

Fallout 3

The idea of a world without Fallout? We don't like that. Not one bit. But that's exactly what Australia was facing when Bethesda's Fallout 3 was slapped with a nationwide ban.

It's surprising for a country renowned for its seemingly endless wildlife that wants to kill you, but Australia has some pretty draconian laws about violent video games. For a long time, the strictest rating a game could be given was MA15+, which means it's been found suitable for anyone 15 and older. Anything that doesn't meet the criteria doesn't get rated, and that means it doesn't get sold. Fallout 3 went unrated, because of its chems being deemed as references to drug use. So, shoot a Deathclaw in the face while it's making a good attempt at pulling your intestines out through your ears? Perfectly fine. Want to jab some Med-X in your arm beforehand, or shoot up with a Stimpak afterwards? Not so fast.

It wasn't just the drugs that were the issue — it was how they were presented. See, not only did Fallout 3's chems look like real drugs, but they had positive and negative qualities and were addictive. Bethesda went back to the drawing board and fictionalized their chems enough to get an MA15+ rating, and an unbanning.

Mass Effect

Singapore is definitely not down with girl-on-girl action in a video game. Or, for that matter, human female on female-looking mono-gender alien action. NSFW? Not the most LGBT-friendly country in the world, Singapore banned BioWare's Mass Effect for allowing players to trigger a love scene between a female human — if the player has chosen to play as a female Commander Shepard — and a female-looking alien. Officially, the Board of Film Censors stated that due to "a scene of lesbian intimacy … the game has been disallowed."

But is it really a scene of lesbian intimacy? The problem is, the feminine alien in question is actually an Asari, which is technically an alien race with only one gender. It's hard to say what label or classification of love should be attached to this potential romantic encounter. Gamers in Singapore didn't love being the only ones in the world unable to play the much-anticipated RPG. The board ultimately reversed its decision and unbanned the game but slapped it with an M-18 movie-rating and announced plans to create a rating system for video games. Look, the sex scenes in the Mass Effect series are definitely cringey, but they're a few relay jumps from ban-worthy.

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 includes a major assault on Tehran, the capital of Iran. Needless to say, that didn't go over well with the powers-that-be in Iran, and the game was banned. Newspapers like the Lebanon Daily Star reported that authorities were taking the ban very, very seriously. Stores that sold games were raided, copies were seized, and there were even reports of people being arrested just for having copies of it. The FARS news agency claimed that the game's fictional US-Iranian conflict did nothing more than increase hostilities and fears that were already present, and online petitions gathered thousands of signatures.

EA, the giant behind the juggernaut, released their own statement regarding the ban, and it can best be summed up in a single word: "Cool." See, Battlefield 3 was never actually, legitimately released in Iran, and EA has no distributors or direct retailers in the country. The copies that were seized by authorities were all pirated, meaning the ban was actually cracking down on the same people who have been a thorn in the gaming industry's side since its inception. Cool, indeed.

Everquest

When you think of "subverting public order," do you think of nearly 20-year-old MMORPGs? Probably not.

Put into effect in 2008 according to AFP, Brazil banned the sale of Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest on the grounds that it encouraged "the subversion of public order" and served as an attack against the democratic state, the rule of law, and public security. And just to be clear, we are talking about the incredibly successful high-fantasy MMORPG — released in 1999 — where users can play as bards, paladins, wizards, and druids while exploring magical lands and varying planes of existence. That includes the Plane of Knowledge, in which all races and classes exist in harmony. (Right … that's what messed up Brazil's uber-corrupt government.)

Brazilian EverQuest fans need not feel singled out, however. The sale of Counter-Strike was also banned for the same reasons. One is a first-person shooter with terrorists and the other has a busty high elf princess named Firiona Vie. Neither seems particularly democracy-destroying. But the best part of the banning of these games is the fact you're still technically allowed to play them. You just can't sell them. Because it's the act of selling games that destroys a free society, of course.