Re: Play the game
It wasn't so much what he was sacked for than the way they discovered his "indiscretion" that caused this case.
If the boss had walked round the corner to talk to the programmer, and seen his desktop covered in game developing software, there wouldn't have been any problem... Misconduct, misuse of company equipment, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Germany is big on personal privacy, for well known historical reasons. They get a bit jumpy when those above start looking at the behaviour of individuals too closely.