GEEKS throughout Brazil are expected to flee the country after its nanny state government decided that their favourite games Counter-Strike and Everquest should be banned because they are too violent.

The popular role-playing games were accused of inciting violence and were "harmful to consumers' health". It should be pointed out that while the government says that cigarettes are harmful to Brazilian health, it has never attempted to ban them.

Both games have been on the streets in one form or another since 1999 and are popular amongst the tech community.

According to AP, the federal prohibition on the sale of the games was being applied across the country.

The ban was ordered in October 2007 by a Brazilian federal court Judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes reckoned the games, encouraged "the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security." At the time most people thought he was joking.

It seems that the judge listened to psychologists who told him that the games are more addictive than drugs. Since stopping people from playing Counter-strike is a lot easier than dealing with Brazil's drugs problems, the Brazilian law enforcement seems to have decided to try for a battle it thinks it can win.

What the Brazilian authorities do not understand is there is a little thing called the Internet and Judge Simoes has just made it more likely to be illegally downloaded.

There is no indication if the government is going to try to expand the ban to other titles. Anyone who can find things subversive about Everquest is going to have a lot of trouble with anything short of a Wii-sport package.

More here. µ