Bloodpatch
Bloodpatch (also blood patch or uncut patch , UCP for short ) is a generic term for the possibility of partially or completely reversing local adjustments made in computer games . This is mostly a distant or weakened representation of violence, which contradicts legal conformity .
causes
In order to do justice to the protection of minors , games are classified and checked for brutal content as well as unconstitutional symbols. To do justice to this or to get a lower rating, developers and publishers are making changes to the games in order to increase sales of the game. This is why people often mistakenly speak of self-censorship . An explicit representation of violence would result in a high age limit. In the case of the classification of no youth approval, indexing or confiscation and theoretically up to a possession ban would be possible. A corresponding application to the BPjM and the associated procedural decision would be necessary for this. The adjustments mostly affect specific language versions or the general retail version of a game.
Because of its strict youth protection law , Germany is most frequently affected by the adaptation of computer games worldwide. Accordingly, most of the users and developers of Bloodpatches come from Germany. Consumers in Austria and Switzerland are also often affected, as publishers often use the German, modified version despite loose youth protection laws. Therefore, the blood patches either reactivate content that has only been hidden by the measures or insert content from other language versions that have been removed in the present version. The legal situation is unclear in both cases.
definition
The use of the term “ patch ” is often incorrect because it generally describes an official change or improvement on the part of the developer or publisher. Blood patches, however, come from users (see Mod ). Often it is just a script or installer that overwrites the game's existing files; In some places only the changed files are available, which the user then has to manually copy to the appropriate locations. Even pure instructions in text form are sometimes referred to as blood patches.
Depending on the necessary adjustments, the scope of the blood patch also varies significantly. It can actually be a small patch in the true sense of the word, an entry in a configuration file or a registration file that is only a few kilobytes in size. In other cases it may be necessary to exchange a large part of the game content, which can result in up to several gigabytes of data.
Subcategories
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Blood patch (English "Bloodpatch") |
An adaptation that raises the representation of violence to the level of other versions of the game. The term is often used to represent all modifications of this type. |
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Bloodmod (English "Bloodmod") |
A modification that increases the standard display of blood within a game by changing content or increasing values (e.g. the number of blood splatters). |
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Violence Patch (English "Gore Patch") |
Increases the representation of violence in a game by allowing body parts or manipulation of figures in addition to blood. |
| Uncut patch | Describes the correction of other changes, such as the removal of National Socialist symbols, which in Germany generally results in the game being confiscated. |
|
Nudepatch English "Nude Patch" |
Generally leads to a restoration or insertion of nudity and / or sexual representations into the game. |
Examples of local adjustments
Over the years several typical forms of adjustments to the respective sales markets have been developed, which are preferably reversed by Bloodpatches. Examples would be:
- Display of blood splatters in unnatural colors (green instead of red) or complete removal of blood
- Removal of the appearance of injuries
- Removal of the possible decomposition / destruction of bodies
- Distance dramatic script or cutscenes
- Removal of particularly controversial victims of violence (for example children or animals)
- Removal or defusing of visual depictions of suffering (e.g. death animations)
- Removal or defusing of acoustic portrayal of suffering (especially death screams)
- Replacement of human or animal characters with fantastic characters (such as robots or aliens)
- Reduction of the authenticity of the physical behavior of lifeless bodies (see ragdoll effects )
- Removal of sexual content
- Removal or replacement of National Socialist or other extremist symbols
- Changes to the scenario
Well-known examples
Below are some examples of well-known games that have been adapted for the German market. Corresponding unofficial patches have been released for the named cases.
In the German versions, all human soldiers have been changed to cyborgs ; Their blood was colored black to suggest oil. Death screams have been replaced by explosions or by grinding metal when the cyborgs are run over by vehicles. Furthermore, some video sequences have been shortened or changed. The course of the game was hardly affected by this, but the plot of the game was then heavily modified in Germany.
Only the National Socialist symbolism was removed in the German version, as the original version of the game series also relies on relatively little violence, which is limited to unrealistic plumes of blood from soldiers who have been hit and primarily serves to confirm hits. However, it is precisely this that has led to the CoD game series becoming a popular object for "modders" who expand the games with additional violence. Exceptions are the series offshoots Call of Duty: World at War and Black Ops , with the zombie mode being weakened or removed.
In the German and an American version for teenagers, the depiction of violence, which in the original extends to the dissection of bodies, has been reduced to puddles of blood. In addition, children were replaced by homeless people. The result of the changes is the illogical appearance that by killing these homeless people one can attain the status of "child murderer". In addition, some of the side quests cannot be solved in the German version, as a conversation with one of the distant children would be required to solve them.
In the German version of Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2, all blood effects (i.e. puddles of blood and blood-colored tire tracks) were removed, only in the first part the option to play a female character was removed (which was no longer available in any language version in the second part). In the European version of Grand Theft Auto 3 and all games based on it, blood effects and the possibility to behead people have been removed, as has the possibility of beating / kicking people lying down or dead. In addition, killed people do not lose money, so killing innocent passers-by no longer has any direct practical benefit.
In the German version, the entire dynamic representation of blood has been removed, death animations of human characters have been replaced by a less drastic animation (in which the characters sit gently on the floor and shake their heads) and the human enemies from the original English version have been replaced by robots. The result was that the friendly characters spoke of soldiers, but they did not appear in the form, so that the plot could initially seem incomprehensible for German players.
In the German version of Soldier of Fortune, the representation of blood and the possible decomposition of people have been completely removed. In addition, real place names have been replaced by similar-sounding fictional names (New York in New Fork). In the second part, the story was also rewritten so that the game is set in a kind of android world, for which u. a. faintly visible welds were placed on the skin textures and metal noises were generated when the opponent was hit.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article on Bloodpatch in the online magazine Giga
- ↑ Protection of minors on ForUncut.com
- ↑ Instructions about the change to No One Lives Forever on replaying.de
- ↑ Configuration adjustment of Jedi Outcast on Cheat-Database.com
- ↑ Section report on The Tiberium Conflict
- ^ Cut report from Call of Duty
- ↑ Schnittbericht of fallout 1 at schnittberichte.com
- ↑ Schnittbericht of fallout 2 at schnittberichte.com
- ↑ Schnittbericht of Grand Theft Auto in schnittberichte.com
- ↑ Schnittbericht of Grand Theft Auto 2 at schnittberichte.com
- ↑ Schnittbericht of Grand Theft Auto 3 at schnittberichte.com
- ↑ censorship report of Half-Life at schnittberichte.com
- ↑ Schnittbericht Soldier of Fortune 1 at schnittberichte.com
- ↑ Schnittbericht Soldier of Fortune 2 at schnittberichte.com