Killer games and constitutional law *Update

Since I was asked about it. Both the political and legal situation is completely different from what it was 12 years ago. The issues from this report are not necessarily outdated in terms of constitutional law, but of course they are still legally outdated due to the strengthening of the USK, the USK test seals, the revision of the Youth Protection Act and the generally good work of many people who have been committed to these issues in youth protection and in the association sector and who fight every day for a fair balance between youth protection and the interests of the industry. My intention was to point out the nonsense of a killer game debate that is completely outdated politically, legally and scientifically. This was not as clear in the original article as I had first suspected.

And here is the article so far:

Since it is en vogue again to lump computer gamers together with Nazis, violent criminals and other people, and somehow the killer game debate comes up again, I want to reheat old bread.

12 years ago I wrote an expert opinion on the feasibility of a § 131a StGB. That was shortly before I became a lawyer, as part of one of my legal internships. Since then, hardly anything relevant has changed in our Basic Law, which is why many, if not most, of the statements in my expert opinion should still be current.

If you are interested, you can find the expert opinion here. Please note, however, that at this point I have of course not checked all references, judgments, etc. to see if they are still up to date.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://itmedialaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/verbot_killerspiele.pdf”]

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.