1. Legal and Ethical Obligations
Legal
Copyright
This is possibly one of the biggest issues when making a game you must be sure that your
idea is your idea and not a rip off or an exact copy in the meaning of story or characters or
even assets it must be a product of your own work if you do use someone else’s work or
look like you have then you will more than likely be sued over the mater and lose money
plus the game you are making so when thinking of a story, character or eve simple things
like weapons or name you must be sure that they have not been used or that it looks like a
complete rip off
Trademark
This is similar to copyright however it falls more to titles and branding so for example you
have made your game and now you are adding in some assets and you add in a Pepsi can
without permission when you can be sued for trade mark that is why when making names
the minimum you can do is have a similar name for example pelpsi this means that it is close
but not trade mark and you cannot use the logo you must ether change it or create your
own this make the whole game building proses annoying as if you want a named brand then
you need to be sure that you have their permission and state in the game that you got that
permission
Patent
This is basically a form of insurance you will get from the government that means during the
development of your game the assets, titles and other important things for you game
cannot be used by other companies this helps those who mare making a game with a
particular title that another company may want but the smaller company won’t announce
their game this will help them keep control of the title and other items
Registered Designs
If you make a piece of art for a game there is a chance that anyone who sees it can take that
design however if you register it makes it yourself much like a patent this will ensure that no
one else can take or use your art work unless given permission by you and only you
Ethical
Violence
Many games today have violence of all types weather its cartoon, fighting, murder or just
plain verbal violence like swearing most people are not affected by this but some parents
have been letting there kids play these game and then shouting at the company’s for having
such violent games this makes it hard for the game devs to make any thing as thy get a lot of
the blame but all games clearly state that thy are violent and people still by them knowing
this
2. Rating
All games have a Government Issue rating this is to show the appropriate age of people that
should play the game it also means anyone younger that that cannot buy it from a store on
the high-street but this is not hard to bypass buying online or getting someone older to buy
the game is one way to get it but the age rating is manly there to show the parents and
children that the game may be inappropriate for them along with the rating they will have
symbols to show what the game contains for example fear, violence, bad language and so
on this is to help the buyer make a call on whether they want the game or if it is not for
them
Education
Gaming has two effects on education both good and bad first gaming can be used to teach
students as they find it interesting so more likely to pay attention n and learn something but
also is bad as gaming can cause students to miss school and drop out completely this is bad
and can greatly ruin the lives of that person even though some people have made a lot of
money and become very popular just by playing games but I focus on teaching games and
using them to keep people interested in learning
Stereotyping
In a lot of games there is a serious trouble with stereotyping due to the game being make
believe the characters and locations tend to be built off the stereotypes many games for
example don’t have a female protagonist or characters of other races tend to have a heavy
accent this is stereotyping and has effects out of the game as people will take what they
here and use it as a weapon against others in a work place or a school so games have to be
careful about what they say how they say it and how the characters and locations look so
that the stereotypes don’t take over that whole game
Addiction
Playing games has adverse effects on people many gamers are casual or family meaning
they play for short periods of time and don’t get to into games then there is your normal
gamer who plays most of the time someone who dose this is seen as being addicted to
playing games due to the fact that they do not work or go out socially and it true that
people may have an addiction and it is a problem but most are just habit they let
themselves get engrossed by gaming and it becomes a habit to play games but for those
who have an addiction may miss out on life and struggle to succeed due to spending most of
their time splaying games
