Der Staat gegen das verführerische Spiel

Should certain slot machines and video games be allowed, regulated, or banned entirely? Nils Bühler collects the divergent answers that German regulatory bodies tried to formulate to this surprisingly emotional question. Beginning with the first bans on mechanically operated slot machines in Prussia around 1904 and ending with the close of the first 'wave' of video game indexing in 1990, the book traces a turbulent history of game regulation in Germany and the discourses, emotions, and legal frameworks that shaped it. With his combination of history of emotions and discourse analysis, Bühler productively combines perspectives from historical scholarship and media culture studies.