Book

Littérature grise

Playing by the rules : applying international humanitarian law to video and computer games

Report by Frida Castillo, TRIAL, Pro Juventute

Geneva : TRIAL ; Zürich : Pro Juventute, October 2009

46 p.

English

Photocopies. - Source : https://trialinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Playing_by_the_Rule.pdf (last accessed on 15.06.2020)

In computer and videogames, little research exists on whether, if they were committed in real life, violent acts in games would lead to violations of rules of international law, in particular International Humanitarian Law (IHL), basic norms of International Human Rights Law (IHRL) or International Criminal Law (ICL). Various computer and videogames were tested for their compatibility with internationally valid and universally accepted rules of IHL and IHRL. The question they posed themselves was whether certain scenes and acts committed by players would constitute violations of international law if they were real, rather than virtual. The aim of the study is to raise public awareness among developers and publishers of the games, as well as among authorities, educators and the media about virtually committed crimes in computer and videogames, and to engage in a dialogue with game producers and distributors on the idea of incorporating the essential rules of IHL and IHRL into their games which may, in turn, render them more varied, realistic and entertaining. The goal is not to prohibit the games, to make them less violent or to turn them into IHL or IHRL training tools.

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