Article by Brian "Karpov" Johnson


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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- On January 17th, Counter-Strike came under fire in Brazilian federal court by judge Carlos Alberto Simoes.

Acting on a law passed in October 2007, Simoes instituted a national ban on the distribution of Counter-Strike and popular MMORPG title EverQuest.

Simones charged the games with encouraging “the subversion of public order” and deemed them as “an attack against the democratic state and the law against public security.”

The ban called for the immediate removal of both titles from stores, and prohibited online vendors from selling either title in Brazil.

Although the ban applies to the entire country, only the state of Goiás is actively taking measures to observe it.

Patrons that currently own the games in question are still entitled to play at their leisure.

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A statement issued by PROCON, Brazil’s consumer protection agency, directly linked Simones’ Counter-Strike ban to a group of “specialists” interpretation of the user-created map cs_rio.

In their report, the “specialists” deem the map as a Brazilian adaptation of Counter-Strike that promotes violence with the police and teaches users guerilla warfare tactics.

Rio Sinistro General Manager Paulo Velloso -- who in every respect is a gaming expert -- questions the knowledge and integrity of the “specialists” responsible for the report on Counter-Strike.

“The ‘specialists’ don’t understand the relationship between the game and a map, so it’s hard for me to believe that they are ‘specialists’ in Counter-Strike, or for that matter gaming,” said Velloso, who went on to issue a call to action from Brazilians to prevent the brunt of the ban from expanding outside of Goiás.

“We need to show the bureaucrats that they cannot unjustly make a law based upon the uninformed speculations of ‘specialists’,” he said.

As a proponent of professional gaming, Velloso believes that Counter-Strike -- and for that matter gaming in general -- is a viable form of positive entertainment for today’s youth. He feels that research of accredited gaming specialists (as published in various academic articles and journals) would defend his position, and not that of Simoes and PROCON.

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Currently, there has been no distinction if the ban extends to Counter-Strike spin-offs such as Counter-Strike: Source, the title featured at Championship Gaming Series.

Nevertheless, CGS’s Latin American General Managers are still concerned about the impact the ban will have.

“After the initial announcement stated the game should be banned from the country I was in total shock,” said Velloso. “The ban is making us [the Rio Sinistro] very uncomfortable. All of our Counter-Strike: Source players are worried that they will not be able to represent Rio if the game is completely banned from the country.”

Mexico City Furia General Manager Augusto Zapata, who is a native of Peru, has not ruled out the possibility of the ban expanding beyond Brazil’s borders.

“From a gaming point of view, Brazil is the ‘first country’ in Latin America,” said Zapata. “The other countries generally mimic Brazil’s actions, so the potential for negative repercussions in other areas exists.”

He continued, “Still, I do not think it will affect Peru, because we have dealt with a similar situation with the map cs_peru that recreated the military operation in the Japanese Embassy some years ago, and there were no negative side effects observed.”

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Despite their concerns, Velloso and Zapata are equally optimistic that the ban could be dissolved if the government admits the errors in their logic.

“One day after the first announcement, PROCON retracted their original statement and declared that only the distribution of the games was banned,” said Velloso. “This illustrates to me that they realize their mistakes.”

Zapata continued, “We are hopeful that the government will revoke this prohibition in the next few days.”