게임물 규제법제와 표현의 자유 －표현의 자유의 보호영역 및 첨단게임물 규제입법의 위헌심사기준－

Today, games have established themselves as a representative play culture and have become a major cultural industry. However, there have been persistent concerns about the harm that game products may cause, which has led to various regulatory legislation. A game is a kind of play, which is a voluntary activity outside of daily life that is performed according to specific rules within a certain time and space constraint. Game Industry Act defines and regulates game products, which have the form of images and devices among the means of play. Game products are expressions protected by the Constitution. The prohibition of selling, renting, using, or providing game products to specific groups such as youth limits freedom of expression. The right to access game products, a general source of information, is guaranteed by the right to know, but not all acts of enjoying the game products obtained are expressive. It is acknowledged that game products with amazing realism and interactivity have appeared. However, it is not appropriate to exclude cutting-edge game products from expressions or to relax the criteria for reviewing the constitutionality of regulatory legislation. Even according to the existing jurisprudence regarding freedom of expression and the constitutionality review standards, the legitimacy of regulation can be justified by judging that very realistic violent video games cause greater harm than other forms of expression. However, there is a background and context for the need to revise the jurisprudence on freedom of expression in relation to the regulation of cutting-edge game products in the US academic community. Since the constitutional status of freedom of expression and the current state of regulation on freedom of expression are different in each country, game product regulations and related discussions develop in various ways.