More Fun, More Risk? Digital Games as a Challenge for the Protection of Minors

European Expert Conference, 16th & 17th October 2008, Berlin

In close cooperation with the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and supported by the State Ministries for the Protection of Minors as well as the Federal Union for Protection of Young Persons (BAJ), the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research will host a conference on the topic "More Fun, More Risk? – Digital Games as a Challenge for the Protection of Minors ", taking place in Berlin on October 16th and 17th 2008.

Background

Public and scientific discussions about current data on usage and possible regulatory reactions in the field of the protection of minors in the area of video and computer games is not something restricted to individual states. Various EU member states are discussing what they call “violent games” through debates conducted politically and publicly. In January and again in June 2007, the EU Council of Ministers took up the question of possible measures for restricting violent games and videos.

Such is the background for this symposium. It aims to bring together scholars, practitioners and regulators from all over Europe so that they can exchange views on the current research agenda as regards the use and effects of the media, on innovative media-pedagogical concepts and on regulatory frameworks. By looking beyond the particular national and thematic “backyards”, we can all profit from the variety of modern approaches and research results distinctly different countries have to offer. Accordingly, the symposium looks to lay down a wide avenue for scholars, specialists, politicians as well as the general public to engage with its themes in future. In addition, this event aims to bring researchers and others involved in the protection of minors into contact with their European colleagues and to get participants talking constructively with each other on collaborative, international projects and exchanging knowledge and experiences more consistently.

To this end, the conference brings together not only various people active in scholarship and practice, but also various scholarly disciplines. Alongside experts from the social and communications sciences, the invitation includes researchers from the areas of jurisprudence, psychology, political science, media pedagogy and cultural studies. Practitioners taking part come from state agencies and ministries for the protection of minors and from self-regulative bodies as well as from business associations and non-governmental organisations.

Conference Structure

The conference will run over two full days; overall 160 to 180 participants and some 30 speakers are expected. As individual perspectives encompass both multiple and specific interests, the mid-section of the conference will run two parallel streams with differing emphases: a) Law and Regulation and, b) Usage, Effects and Literacy. The conference languages are English and German (simultaneously translated)