Virtual Worlds and Criminality

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Virtual Worlds as a Regulatory Challenge: A User Perspective

   • Christoph Klimmt

   Pages 1-18

3. Crime Potential of Metaverses

   • Christian Laue

   Pages 19-29

4. Is Virtual Violence a Morally Problematic Behavior?

   • Tilo Hartmann

   Pages 31-44

5. Media Violence and Criminality

   • Dieter Hermann

   Pages 45-60

6. Internet Dependency: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Therapy

   • Bert Theodor teWildt

   Pages 61-78

7. Conflict Resolution in Virtual Worlds: General Characteristics and the 2009 Dutch Convictions on Virtual Theft

   • Arno R. Lodder

   Pages 79-93

8. Responsibility under Criminal Law in Virtual Worlds

   • Kai Cornelius

   Pages 95-119

9. Back Matter

   Pages 121-124

   PDF

The fusion between virtuality and reality has created a new quality of experience establishing metaverses and virtual worlds. Second Life, Twinity, Entropia Universe or Fregger have experienced rapid growth in recent years and show no signs of slowing down. Not only have countless companies discovered these “virtureal worlds” as marketplaces, but so have fraudsters and other criminals. In this book, European experts from different academic disciplines show how to meet the new challenges arising from virtual worlds. They discuss the reasons for and the impacts of these new forms of criminality as well as the necessity and means of combating them. Moreover, other fundamental issues are examined, such as the addictive potential of virtual-world use, media violence, and conflict resolution problems arising in the context of virtual worlds.

• Computer game addiction
• Cybercrime
• Virtual Worlds
• Virtual communication

• University of Heidelberg, Faculty of Law, Institute for German European and Intern, Heidelberg, Germany

  Kai Cornelius

• Juristische Fakultät, Inst. Kriminologie, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

  Dieter Hermann

Policies and ethics