Following a 17-year-old boy's violent rampage that resulted in manslaughter charges, politicians in Germany are having a field day with the violent video games issue.

Seems the government is seeking to place firmer constraints on video game sales in order to protect minors.  Studies conducted within Germany have everyone in a panic over the adverse effects of addictive gaming, as 14,000 9th graders are said to be addicted currently.  Go figure, that number comes from a criminal research institute in Lower Saxony.

The study surveyed 44,610 9th graders.  15.8 percent of boys and 4.3 percent of girls were discovered to have "excessive" playing habits with more than 4.5 hours spent on the computer each day.  While 14,000 of these kids were labeled as gaming addicts, more than 23,000 other participants were considered in danger of becoming addicted.

Minister for Social Affairs Mechthild Ross-Luttmann is suggesting that a general age restriction be placed on addictive computer games.  She specifically named World of Warcraft, stating that such a game should (and might) be sold to adults only. 

“Parents must know what danger potential exists in their children’s bedrooms,” stated Ross-Luttmann.

PC game expert Andreas Rosenfelder, on the other hand, feels that such measures are too drastic, stating, “I don’t see a connection between digital role playing games like World of Warcraft and shooting sprees."

Instead, he proposes worried parents and politicians focus on violent games like Counter Strike, which he calls an "Ego Shooter."  Rosenfelder believes too much time with these games are likely to have side effects, but he insists violent behavior and actions -- like going on shooting sprees -- are attributed to a person's aggressive character, not learned from violent games.