In an industry there are contracts, Legal and ethical Obligations. Below I am going to explain each individual obligations.
Development
Development contracts are an agreement between the publishers and the external developers. The purpose of this agreement is to specify the standards and conditions as well as outlining the responsibilities they both have to share for each other. For instance the development contract will cover issues such as the fiance terms including royalties, elements of what to do in the project, advanced payment schedules, IP ownership, Marketing/distribution plans, obligations of each party's. This agreement will also explain how the publishers will pay the developers, the time frame they have to develop the game and if necessary the royalty rate.
At the end of the development the contract will be checked to see if the most important agreements are met. These include; The milestone and payment schedule, the game design document, how the royalties are calculated, confidentiality agreements and owner ship of the IP address.
Links
http://mrsc.org/Home/Explore-Topics/Planning/Land-Use-Administration/Development-Agreements.aspx
Licenses
Licenses is an a legal contract between an licensor and an licensee. In a typical licenses agreement the licensor will give permission to the licnsee to produce, sell products apply trademarks in exchange the the licensee will use the licensors property and use payments known as royalities with certian conditions. For example if the industry wants to make a game about a film the industry and the film IP owners will do an contract for the terms and conditions for instance specifying whatdevice the game will play on such as the game only being compatiable for xbox one or playstation. However this contract wont last forever and most contracts wont last for any longer than five years.
An example of this is how paramount pictures owns the right of the star trek franshise and they have a whole emement to handle requests from different licensees to help clartify the terms and conditions on using star trek within the video game such as the game cant the game cant show USS enterprise being destroyed.
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
NDA Is an legal contract between two parties that have both agreed to tell a secret of some kind such as knowledge or information which will then be shared between the party's for certain purposes but with strict access by third party's. Non-Disclosure Agreement is also known as an confidentiality agreement because the NDA creates a confidential agreement between both of the party's to build trust and to protect any type of confidentiality and property information.
An example of this is when one party such as the industry and another party both share a secret such as a business deal that hasn't been announced yet or any new technical techniques. If the NDA agreement isn't kept confidential then damage wil result to the first party and court of law to the second party.
Collaboration
A collaboration agreement is usually an agreement that covers important issues of ownership and compensation for games such as indie or hobby games that are outside of the mainstream games. These games might not get any profit money so it is important that the collaboration agreement sets clear on who controls the indie/Hobby game and how it is managed and controlled to prevent the game to fail.The collaboration agreement will find who owns the IP address, how the game is intended to be and how the possible outcome can be handled.
Contractual
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1577
Contract is an agreement creating obligations enforced by the law. If the agreement is breached then the law will impose an penalty.
Employment
A contract of employment is an agreement between both the employer and the employee which begins as soon as the employment is accepted because starting work proves that the employee has accepted the terms and conditions offered by the employer. For instance this could include the employee agreeing that they will get paid an minimum amount of time or the wage, certain amount of holidays and so many working hours which will all be stated within the employment contract which both employee and employer is entitled to overview.
For example in the games industry if an artist is hired then they will be given an over look of the employment contract which will include the salary, holiday etc as well as what jobs they are expected to do. If any of these agreements are disobeyed then either of them are allowed to take the right action such as if the industry is giving the artist less wage than the minimum wage which is started in the contract then the artist can take several actions to confront this issue.
Links
A contract of employment is an agreement between both the employer and the employee which begins as soon as the employment is accepted because starting work proves that the employee has accepted the terms and conditions offered by the employer. For instance this could include the employee agreeing that they will get paid an minimum amount of time or the wage, certain amount of holidays and so many working hours which will all be stated within the employment contract which both employee and employer is entitled to overview.
For example in the games industry if an artist is hired then they will be given an over look of the employment contract which will include the salary, holiday etc as well as what jobs they are expected to do. If any of these agreements are disobeyed then either of them are allowed to take the right action such as if the industry is giving the artist less wage than the minimum wage which is started in the contract then the artist can take several actions to confront this issue.
Links
Development
Development contracts are an agreement between the publishers and the external developers. The purpose of this agreement is to specify the standards and conditions as well as outlining the responsibilities they both have to share for each other. For instance the development contract will cover issues such as the fiance terms including royalties, elements of what to do in the project, advanced payment schedules, IP ownership, Marketing/distribution plans, obligations of each party's. This agreement will also explain how the publishers will pay the developers, the time frame they have to develop the game and if necessary the royalty rate.
At the end of the development the contract will be checked to see if the most important agreements are met. These include; The milestone and payment schedule, the game design document, how the royalties are calculated, confidentiality agreements and owner ship of the IP address.
Links
http://mrsc.org/Home/Explore-Topics/Planning/Land-Use-Administration/Development-Agreements.aspx
Licenses
Licenses is an a legal contract between an licensor and an licensee. In a typical licenses agreement the licensor will give permission to the licnsee to produce, sell products apply trademarks in exchange the the licensee will use the licensors property and use payments known as royalities with certian conditions. For example if the industry wants to make a game about a film the industry and the film IP owners will do an contract for the terms and conditions for instance specifying whatdevice the game will play on such as the game only being compatiable for xbox one or playstation. However this contract wont last forever and most contracts wont last for any longer than five years.
An example of this is how paramount pictures owns the right of the star trek franshise and they have a whole emement to handle requests from different licensees to help clartify the terms and conditions on using star trek within the video game such as the game cant the game cant show USS enterprise being destroyed.
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
NDA Is an legal contract between two parties that have both agreed to tell a secret of some kind such as knowledge or information which will then be shared between the party's for certain purposes but with strict access by third party's. Non-Disclosure Agreement is also known as an confidentiality agreement because the NDA creates a confidential agreement between both of the party's to build trust and to protect any type of confidentiality and property information.
An example of this is when one party such as the industry and another party both share a secret such as a business deal that hasn't been announced yet or any new technical techniques. If the NDA agreement isn't kept confidential then damage wil result to the first party and court of law to the second party.
Collaboration
A collaboration agreement is usually an agreement that covers important issues of ownership and compensation for games such as indie or hobby games that are outside of the mainstream games. These games might not get any profit money so it is important that the collaboration agreement sets clear on who controls the indie/Hobby game and how it is managed and controlled to prevent the game to fail.The collaboration agreement will find who owns the IP address, how the game is intended to be and how the possible outcome can be handled.
Legal
An Legal obligation is duty to do something or to with hold them self from doing something under the terms and contract an example of this is that the industry has to pay back any employees etc under the terms of the agreement. Otherwise the obligations will usually involve in a penalty for non-fulfillment within the legal obligations.
Copyright
Copyright defines the right to make copies, license or otherwise exploit and make full use out of musical or artistic work whether printed, audio or video etc. The law was created so on or after January 1st 1978 the Law will Protect the lifetime of the author or the creator even 50 years after the creators death.
For example there is a thin line between cloning and copying and it is the copyrights job to identify what it is. Although to make copy right effect full it will need to find a balance when protecting as well as making sure it isn't too overly restricted. For instance One persons clone might be someone else s copy but when applied to games the copyright will protect the clone.
A cloned game is a copy or imitation of a video game already existing, especially when designed to simulate it sometimes the game look and feel have been copied.
An example of a cloned video game is craft world which is a cloned version off the video game 'Mine craft' and other inspirations from Infiniminer and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
This is legal because copyright usually don't protect the ideas or the concepts behind the game for instance the look and feel of the game isn't always protected within the copyright law. However they will protect the expression of the idea If the expression is creative and original, then it’s protected against “substantially similar” copies Although If the expression is not so creative and original, then copyright affords only a “thin” protection. This “thin” copyright prevents identical copying, but allows clones that make even a few minor changes. If the name of the clone is misleading or associated/connected then the clone could commit passing off. For the game to relay on the copy right law then the original game will to have show that a substantial part of their original copyright works have been reproduced By the authors own creation for instance this will include the images and graphics within the game, software code, audio and any text used. Although how far the law goes to protect those original features for the game depends on how close the cloned audio, images, graphics are to the originals. If the game simply looks and plays in the same way of an original this wont be enough for the copyright to define that the cloned is copied etc. This is why the copyright encourages the game artist to create their won art.
Making an identical clone such as Crazy Kong which is a clone of donkey Kong with the identical audio-video material, characters on the screen and the sound is always copyright infringement. Other examples include puck man which is an cloned copy of pac man, space defense which is an identical clone off defender and Scramble which is an clone of scramble.
Links;
http://united-kingdom.taylorwessing.com/download/article_gaming_copyright.html#.VsR-CYntmko
http://www.giantbomb.com/craft-the-world/3030-43740/
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7430
http://kgvreflections.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/donley-king.gif
http://www.emuparadise.me/M.A.M.E._-_Multiple_Arcade_Machine_Emulator_ROMs/PuckMan_(Japan_set_1,_Probably_Bootleg)/15698
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/Pac-man.png
http://gamesdbase.com/game/coleco-vision/defender.aspx
http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple/v4/97/8b/b9/978bb971-a5f1-23e2-6aa8-7e6c78d1ae6d/screen568x568.jpeg
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9447
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6jOOBhhkzs
TradeMark
A trademark is any word, Name, Symbol or design used to identify and distinguish the good of the manufacturer or seller to indicate the source of the goods. However shapes, sounds and colours may also be registered as a trademark although a marks eligibility for trademark protection may be limited. An example of an failed secured trademark is sony trying to get the trade mark "Lets play" which the United States Patent and Trademark Office spoke out against this trademark because "Lets play" because they cited over 50 examples of how Let's Play is generic and descriptive of video game streaming.
An popular trademark is rock stars. Rock stars Trademark will prevent other games from using a similar mark although the rights don't restrict games being make like rock stars and then selling them under a different trademark. This logo will help distinguish the games that rock star has published.
Links
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-01-22-ea-struggles-to-secure-unravel-trademark
Patent
An Patent is a licence conferring a right or a title for a set period in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention. Especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using or selling the invention however A patent can not be corrected so that a new description can be used. A Patent defect is visibly clear or is discovered by an inspection. Although, a granted patent application must include one or more claims that define the invention. For example Nintendo won an patent suit against MII here is a quote from the website http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/patent.
'RecogniCorp was claiming that Nintendo's Mii character creation tool infringed on a patent it held covering a "Method and apparatus for encoding/decoding image data." The RecogniCorp patent originally was intended for police sketch artists to produce composite images using pre-existing images of faces as a way to reduce the bandwidth and memory requirements for computer systems storing and transmitting images of people.'
Links
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/patent
Registered Designs
By Registering a design the industry will obtain right for ownership and the right to prevent others from copyrighting the idea and using the design without the owners permission. Registering a design whether that's a shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied the external appearance will be protected although they are primarily used to protect the designs for the industrial use.
To have an registered design the design has to be new to prevent others using the same design without the ownership permission for example a new design will be a design that has never been registered and has never been published.
So for instance a Registered design is the correct appearance of a product resulting in better contours, colours, shape, textures and materials of a product. These designs could be anything like I mentioned above the design could be a shape but in the games industry the registered design is most likely going to be the Xbox one Logo Or the PlayStation Logo. For example if anyone else apart from Microsoft was using the Xbox one logo Microsoft has all rights to call that person because the registered design gives the industry extra legal protection and gives them the exclusive right to take action against any one who infringes/disobeys this right.
Links
http://www.ipos.gov.sg/AboutIP/TypesofIPWhatisIntellectualProperty/Whatisaregistereddesign.aspx
Copyright
Copyright defines the right to make copies, license or otherwise exploit and make full use out of musical or artistic work whether printed, audio or video etc. The law was created so on or after January 1st 1978 the Law will Protect the lifetime of the author or the creator even 50 years after the creators death.
For example there is a thin line between cloning and copying and it is the copyrights job to identify what it is. Although to make copy right effect full it will need to find a balance when protecting as well as making sure it isn't too overly restricted. For instance One persons clone might be someone else s copy but when applied to games the copyright will protect the clone.
A cloned game is a copy or imitation of a video game already existing, especially when designed to simulate it sometimes the game look and feel have been copied.
An example of a cloned video game is craft world which is a cloned version off the video game 'Mine craft' and other inspirations from Infiniminer and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
This is legal because copyright usually don't protect the ideas or the concepts behind the game for instance the look and feel of the game isn't always protected within the copyright law. However they will protect the expression of the idea If the expression is creative and original, then it’s protected against “substantially similar” copies Although If the expression is not so creative and original, then copyright affords only a “thin” protection. This “thin” copyright prevents identical copying, but allows clones that make even a few minor changes. If the name of the clone is misleading or associated/connected then the clone could commit passing off. For the game to relay on the copy right law then the original game will to have show that a substantial part of their original copyright works have been reproduced By the authors own creation for instance this will include the images and graphics within the game, software code, audio and any text used. Although how far the law goes to protect those original features for the game depends on how close the cloned audio, images, graphics are to the originals. If the game simply looks and plays in the same way of an original this wont be enough for the copyright to define that the cloned is copied etc. This is why the copyright encourages the game artist to create their won art.
Making an identical clone such as Crazy Kong which is a clone of donkey Kong with the identical audio-video material, characters on the screen and the sound is always copyright infringement. Other examples include puck man which is an cloned copy of pac man, space defense which is an identical clone off defender and Scramble which is an clone of scramble.
Links;
http://united-kingdom.taylorwessing.com/download/article_gaming_copyright.html#.VsR-CYntmko
http://www.giantbomb.com/craft-the-world/3030-43740/
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7430
http://kgvreflections.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/donley-king.gif
http://www.emuparadise.me/M.A.M.E._-_Multiple_Arcade_Machine_Emulator_ROMs/PuckMan_(Japan_set_1,_Probably_Bootleg)/15698
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/Pac-man.png
http://gamesdbase.com/game/coleco-vision/defender.aspx
http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple/v4/97/8b/b9/978bb971-a5f1-23e2-6aa8-7e6c78d1ae6d/screen568x568.jpeg
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9447
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6jOOBhhkzs
TradeMark
A trademark is any word, Name, Symbol or design used to identify and distinguish the good of the manufacturer or seller to indicate the source of the goods. However shapes, sounds and colours may also be registered as a trademark although a marks eligibility for trademark protection may be limited. An example of an failed secured trademark is sony trying to get the trade mark "Lets play" which the United States Patent and Trademark Office spoke out against this trademark because "Lets play" because they cited over 50 examples of how Let's Play is generic and descriptive of video game streaming.
An popular trademark is rock stars. Rock stars Trademark will prevent other games from using a similar mark although the rights don't restrict games being make like rock stars and then selling them under a different trademark. This logo will help distinguish the games that rock star has published.
Links
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-01-22-ea-struggles-to-secure-unravel-trademark
Patent
An Patent is a licence conferring a right or a title for a set period in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention. Especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using or selling the invention however A patent can not be corrected so that a new description can be used. A Patent defect is visibly clear or is discovered by an inspection. Although, a granted patent application must include one or more claims that define the invention. For example Nintendo won an patent suit against MII here is a quote from the website http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/patent.
'RecogniCorp was claiming that Nintendo's Mii character creation tool infringed on a patent it held covering a "Method and apparatus for encoding/decoding image data." The RecogniCorp patent originally was intended for police sketch artists to produce composite images using pre-existing images of faces as a way to reduce the bandwidth and memory requirements for computer systems storing and transmitting images of people.'
Links
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/patent
Registered Designs
By Registering a design the industry will obtain right for ownership and the right to prevent others from copyrighting the idea and using the design without the owners permission. Registering a design whether that's a shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied the external appearance will be protected although they are primarily used to protect the designs for the industrial use.
To have an registered design the design has to be new to prevent others using the same design without the ownership permission for example a new design will be a design that has never been registered and has never been published.
So for instance a Registered design is the correct appearance of a product resulting in better contours, colours, shape, textures and materials of a product. These designs could be anything like I mentioned above the design could be a shape but in the games industry the registered design is most likely going to be the Xbox one Logo Or the PlayStation Logo. For example if anyone else apart from Microsoft was using the Xbox one logo Microsoft has all rights to call that person because the registered design gives the industry extra legal protection and gives them the exclusive right to take action against any one who infringes/disobeys this right.
Links
http://www.ipos.gov.sg/AboutIP/TypesofIPWhatisIntellectualProperty/Whatisaregistereddesign.aspx
Ethical
violence in video games is getting more and more common such as fighting, sex and sexism, violent and gory scene, nudity, criminal behavior, racism etc. Violence in video games does have an ethical concern. For example Violence in games such as grand-theft auto, call of duty and manhunt have had concerns on influencing kids and adults to be more violent and caused negative effects on young children and teenagers. Manufactures have sometimes been accused as inciting violence to their players. However there isn't enough evidence to prove that video games do give negative influence.
Links
http://www.gambitmag.com/2015/05/the-true-effect-of-violent-video-games-on-violent-crime/
https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/09/23/gamers-less-worried-about-violence-video-games/
Violence
violence in video games is getting more and more common such as fighting, sex and sexism, violent and gory scene, nudity, criminal behavior, racism etc. Violence in video games does have an ethical concern. For example Violence in games such as grand-theft auto, call of duty and manhunt have had concerns on influencing kids and adults to be more violent and caused negative effects on young children and teenagers. Manufactures have sometimes been accused as inciting violence to their players. However there isn't enough evidence to prove that video games do give negative influence. 
Links
http://www.gambitmag.com/2015/05/the-true-effect-of-violent-video-games-on-violent-crime/
https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/09/23/gamers-less-worried-about-violence-video-games/
Rating
To help parents to understand what games are age appropriate the pan-europian game information (PEGI) helped distinguish each game so parents could make more informed decision on which game will be suitable for the age range for their children. PEGI created the age rating in 2003, Although others were concerned that even though PEGI put ratings on video games it didn't prevent children from playing the video games which wasn't in there age range for instance kids aged 13 playing grand-theft auto which is ages 18 and known for violence and nudity.
Rating system means that developers realizing a graphic games will have to be more careful due to pressure of politicians and pressure groups. In the future ratings may or may not effect future games because the age ratings usually jump to ratings for example 12 to 15 although the games will have to look at the ethics more than just the entertainment side.
To help parents to understand what games are age appropriate the pan-europian game information (PEGI) helped distinguish each game so parents could make more informed decision on which game will be suitable for the age range for their children. PEGI created the age rating in 2003, Although others were concerned that even though PEGI put ratings on video games it didn't prevent children from playing the video games which wasn't in there age range for instance kids aged 13 playing grand-theft auto which is ages 18 and known for violence and nudity.
Rating system means that developers realizing a graphic games will have to be more careful due to pressure of politicians and pressure groups. In the future ratings may or may not effect future games because the age ratings usually jump to ratings for example 12 to 15 although the games will have to look at the ethics more than just the entertainment side.
Education
Gaming can teach their players a lot of things although some may be positive or negative. Educational video games engage children in learning experiances as these games have a strong purpose to educate other than games which usually focus on the entertainment within the game. Video games have an benefit of educating because video games is more attracting towards kids because of the excitement video games bring towards their players. Video games also help make it easier for children to concentrate, set goals, provide feedback, reinforcement because of how simulating the video games are.
Gaming can teach their players a lot of things although some may be positive or negative. Educational video games engage children in learning experiances as these games have a strong purpose to educate other than games which usually focus on the entertainment within the game. Video games have an benefit of educating because video games is more attracting towards kids because of the excitement video games bring towards their players. Video games also help make it easier for children to concentrate, set goals, provide feedback, reinforcement because of how simulating the video games are.
Stereotyping
Stereotyping in the games industry is really common. The most noticeable stereotype is that gaming is mostly aimed towards males and not females. For example in the past men have been known for games and women for makeup and beauty however this isn't always the case. In the modern day more and more females are playing video games although the industry still focuses more violent games towards males. An example could be that stereotyping focuses puzzle games, family based and cooking games etc on females while shooting games and games that involve a lot more action and violent towards males. However Game developers are noticing that females not playing video games is just a stereotype and have tarted putting feminine in games such as female characters and not genderising the game just for males. In fact 52% of gamers is in fact female gamers which has increased over 4% in the past 3 years although the games industry hasnt noticed the increase of females in their audience for instance female protagonists are still in a small amount of video games and usually the protagonist is male and even though female make up most f the games industry audience, women working within the games industry is really low for example 12% of games designers in britian is female and only 3% of programmers in britain.
Links
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/18/52-percent-people-playing-games-women-industry-doesnt-know
Addiction
People that play video games for an certain amount of hours can be addicted which is an impulsive control disorder or video game overuse. As a result they could loose valuable times living their real life such as going out socializing, spending time with members of a family, or doing education/work. They will miss day to day opportunities and not experience what others may experience this is a concern that the games industry is constantly having because even though the games industry wants their player to enjoy and play their games they also don't want their players/customers to have an impulsive disorder because of all the health claims etc.
Stereotyping in the games industry is really common. The most noticeable stereotype is that gaming is mostly aimed towards males and not females. For example in the past men have been known for games and women for makeup and beauty however this isn't always the case. In the modern day more and more females are playing video games although the industry still focuses more violent games towards males. An example could be that stereotyping focuses puzzle games, family based and cooking games etc on females while shooting games and games that involve a lot more action and violent towards males. However Game developers are noticing that females not playing video games is just a stereotype and have tarted putting feminine in games such as female characters and not genderising the game just for males. In fact 52% of gamers is in fact female gamers which has increased over 4% in the past 3 years although the games industry hasnt noticed the increase of females in their audience for instance female protagonists are still in a small amount of video games and usually the protagonist is male and even though female make up most f the games industry audience, women working within the games industry is really low for example 12% of games designers in britian is female and only 3% of programmers in britain.
Links
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/18/52-percent-people-playing-games-women-industry-doesnt-know
Addiction
People that play video games for an certain amount of hours can be addicted which is an impulsive control disorder or video game overuse. As a result they could loose valuable times living their real life such as going out socializing, spending time with members of a family, or doing education/work. They will miss day to day opportunities and not experience what others may experience this is a concern that the games industry is constantly having because even though the games industry wants their player to enjoy and play their games they also don't want their players/customers to have an impulsive disorder because of all the health claims etc.