P5-E-Learners plan a new computer game including: Legal and/or ethical issues

Legal and Ethical issues.

As the games industry grows, more and more people are engaging with games on various platforms. New technology makes games more realistic and changes the ways in which we interact with them, this makes the legal and ethical issues in the games industry more important than ever.

An ethical issue that revolves around making a game is violence (graphic, physical, sexual and non-physical). My game has an age rating of 15 because there is some mild violence within my game. This violence would be robbery or mild fighting. To ensure that I do not offend anyone, I need to make sure that no violence which would be more violent than my 15 game rating goes on to my game. This is because violence such as sexual violence could upset and offend some players, which could cause controversy.

In addition, another ethical issue that could cause problems is stereotyping. I as a developer of my game need to take into account how stereotyping of certain groups such as gender, race, age, disability and class may offend people. For example, portraying a female character in my game as ‘weak’ or a ‘housewife’ will upset people as this is just a stereotype used in society and many games. To prevent this, I will not stereotype groups and ensure everyone within my game is equal.

Legal issues within the games industry means ‘the restrictions, licenses and laws applicable to a product or business imposed by the government’. An important legal issue that I need to take into account is copyright. Copyright protection protects the actual artwork and sounds in the game as an audiovisual work, and the underlying source code as a literary work. No one can copy the actual images and sounds used during the game. However, copyright does not protect the idea of the developer which I need to take into account. I need to ensure I do not copyright off another game as that is a legal issue and illegal.

The trademark rights prevent other people from using a similar mark, but the rights do not prevent others from making similar goods and selling them under a different trademark.

Publicity, music rights etc.:  content production in association with my game may also lead to issues with publicity rights (if incorporating a well-known athlete or celebrity), music licensing issues and offensive content.

I am developing a social game, therefore privacy implications come into play. Most of the games use the social graph to enhance the social experience with other players. These uses are outlined in the ‘Terms and conditions’ but many people do not read them which is a problem.