VIDEO GAMES AND LEGAL SYSTEM – CRIMINOLOGICAL AND CRIMINAL LAW ASPECTS OF VIOLENCE IN VIDEO GAMES
Keywords:
video games, legal order, criminal law, misdemeanor law, violent behavior, ICD-11Abstract
Video games represent one of the modern, inevitable forms of everyday life, with all its positive and negative aspects. There are various motifs of playing video games, starting with entertainment, education, socializing with other players, etc. Video games have dealt with many themes based on real life for long time now, but there are video games that base their stories on absolute fiction. Whatever the the type of game is, the games are most often dominated by elements of violence, which is also shown in the work through individual statistical data. For decades, the question is whether the real-life violence is caused by virtual violence, which is especially discussed when after some kind of violence was commited and then the person who commited the violence is pointing a finger directly on some of the video games in which he practiced that act of violence or similar one. In this paper, certain aspects, conclusions and attitudes that confirm and contradict the hypotheses of these investigations are concisely considered and presented in order to find the causal link. Then, in addition to the aforementioned, the significance of PEGI categorization guidence is shown, which does not however represent a required segment of the description of video games, while a special part of the work is dedicated to the fact that the World Health Organization decided to add „gaming disorder” to its list of mental health conditions. At the end of this research the basic views of the author on how violence in video games can be regulated in a legal way, but with the emphasis on the complexity of this topic, especially if one has in mind that there is no single position or definitive, which concerns the question of whether the virtual violence can provoke or encourage real-life violence.
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