Online game ratings in Germany
Germany is known to have some of the strictest rules for youth protection in computer and video games, which have brought the world interesting features such as green blood.
Whilst these are a nightmare for the creators of first person shooters especially, online games have been pretty much spared: The law requiring an official rating before the game can be sold without too many restrictions applies to games distributed on storage media only. Consequently, operators of games distributed online only currently do not worry too much about youth protection.
This situation may change, though. At the Munich Gaming conference, the issue was discussed. As always, stricter rules have been demanded, and some speakers wanted an independent body online games. It remains to be seen whether a new body for the assessment of online games will be installed, or whether the USK (which is already rating box games) will take over the task. Also, whether such ratings will be compulsory soon is not sure yet, but seems likely.
However, the mere discussion puts online games into the focus, and this means that game publishers or operators should better respect the existing rules. Already now, a company offering online games has to appoint a “youth protection officer” (§ 7 Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag) and comply with several other rules, which are nothing short of prohibitive for 16+ games (§ 5 Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag). Any infringement of these rules can be fined up to EUR 500,000. And they also apply to operators abroad as long as they target the German market.
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This article was kindly contributed by Andreas Lober at SCHULTE RIESENKAMPFF in Frankfurt.