[game_edu] Readings, Libraries & Copyright

[Dan Rosenthal]

You could of course directly seek licenses from the various  
manufacturers (or for abandonware titles just go ahead and use them),  
but that of course costs money.  From a fair use standpoint it's a  
very tough sell -- part of the reason that universities can make  
reading lists available to students cheaply or freely, is that in many  
cases the amount and substantiality of the book being used (one of the  
four factors of a fair use determination) is extremely low. By  
definition, you can't do that in a game, you're always making the  
whole thing available. In addition, many of those books are written  
without the intention of making a profit, generally not the case with  
games.

One potential option is to consider getting a internet cafe license  
for things that are available on Steam.  Another option is to purchase  
a small number of licenses/copies of games that all teach the same  
thing, and then rotate.  For instance, group A will play Game A, while  
group B plays game B, then they switch. Of course, the end cost is the  
same (i.e. still getting 30 copies of SOMETHING), but the number of  
games you can cover with that same amount of money is much greater.

My best advice though, is to simply ask. PR companies regularly give  
out press review copies, it wouldn't be out of line to request they  
give an educational copy with a multi-seat license, just so they can  
say "Our game is being taught at University of X".

-Dan Rosenthal


On Sep 20, 2009, at 10:05 PM, Malcolm Ryan wrote:


> As a lecturer in game design, I want to set a 'reading list' of  

> games for my students to play. In other disciplines the University  

> has standard copyright arrangements which allow them to make sets of  

> readings available to students at little or no cost, but there  

> doesn't seem to be any appropriate arrangement for software.

>

> Have you encountered this problem? How have you addressed it?

>

> I know that a lot of good cutting-edge independent work is available  

> cheaply or for free online, but I don't want to be forced to exclude  

> AAA titles from examination. Ideally I would like to set up a  

> library of games but I am worried about the copyright  and licensing  

> issues. Does anyone know more about this?

>

> Malcolm

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