[game_edu] Licensing Games for Teaching

[Malcolm Ryan]

So I ask this question every year in the hope that someone may have found an answer:

I have a set of "readings" for my game design class -- that is, a collection of video games that we play and dissect. I try to focus on small indie games because they are usually a) cheaper, b) more innovative, c) smaller and more tightly focused. However even though the games are relatively cheap (and some are free) the expense adds up. If this were any other course, there would be copies of the readings available in the library for them to borrow, but licensing issues seem to prevent this.

Has anyone come up with a good solution to this problem? In the long term, I think it is a copyright-reform issue, but is there a short term work-around?

Malcolm