Do you know if it is possible to get your hands on banned games here in Germany without breaking the law?

As far as I know you can bypass censorship/regional locks when you receive gifts from Steam.

Well, you could place you trust in wikipedia, in this case I think they're right:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games#Germany

Basically, it's unusual to be breaking the law for owning something. Possession is the more common way to break the law (drugs, firearms etc.). So the law in Germany would need to actually criminalize possession rather than distribution (distribution appears to be the target).

So it looks like they haven't gone after possession, so you're safe. However I don't live in Germany, I just clicked anyway because I was curious.

there are two types of games that people see as "banned"
"indizierte" games, ad "beschlagnahmte" games

you can own, sell, buy, play, indizierte games no problem, you only break the law by advertising them to people under the age of 18

Beschlagnahmte games you may own and buy no problem, the only one breaking the law is the one who sells the game

Hmmm. My link contradicted this. It suggests sale is distribution, which you can't do. Where are you getting your info from?

Aren't you allowed to own certain games in Germany or are retailers just not allowed to sell them?

edit: according to the wikilink posted earlier you currently are allowed to purchase and own those games. So I suppose you could try buying them over the internet.

What I mean by banned is games like Dead Rising, Gears Of War etc that are not indexed but really banned.

So I can buy banned games from outside of Germany, have it delivered to my home, no problem with the law? And if the store is located in a different country, then nobody is breaking the law, right? And is there a website I can look at that tells me which games are indexed and which games are banned?

your link doesnt talk about "indizierte" games at all, only "beschlagnahmte"
EDIT: sorry, ok the wikipedia link talks shortly about "indizierte" games, but by "restrictions" it means you may not sell them to people under the age of 18 the store delivering to germany is still breaking the law, but customs wont be a problem if you buy from a eu state (amazon.co.uk) or a shop that routes wares through eu states (axelmusic.com)

"In December 2006, Bavaria and Lower Saxony proposed legislation, to be presented to the national parliament, that would make even playing games that feature "cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters" an offense punishable with fines or jail time of up to 12 months."
This part from your Wikipedia link scares me...... People in prison for a year because they played Left4dead 2 or having to pay thousands in fines....is that the future of Germany?

If it's a physical copy of the game, it would not clear customs if inspected.

If it's a download from a vendor who does not observe German restrictions, there is nothing to stop you.

There's a reasonably up-to-date list of the indizierte/beschlagnahmte games and films at this location (which may present you with an annoying captcha page)

I see, thankyou. Language gap had me confused. So yes, you can resell them. Thanks for the update.

Let's hope they don't try to enforce that on other EU countries. German laws for German people only.

How do you know if a game is indexed or banned on that website?

no it isnt, some politicians always try to make an elefant out of everything as are news, and those politicians and news are always those that get the most attention, so based on this perception it seems like there are only those extremists politicians, but those proposals always run into a brick wall and dodnt even clear the first hurdle of the way to become a law

germany may seem one of the most restrictive country, but thats not true at all, there ar eonly a handfull of extreme games that are "beschlagnahmt", games that are "indiziert" as movies that are in the same state may be sold no problem (of course with their restrictions), its just that publishers censor games and movies voluntarely to sell them to more people (younger audiences or people that only care about movies and games that are advertised)