1. Legislation and Ethics, Libel, Confidentiality, Decency and Sexuality
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept that is enforced by most governments. It gives the original creator of
the work exclusive rights for a limited time. This generally means that the creator gives the right
to reuse or copy said work. This also applies to the alteration and variation of the work; this also
applies to anyone who would like to perform the work. This is commonly mistaken for only
financial gain from the work; however this isn’t the case as any rendition of the idea would be
considered an infringement of copyright. Copyright claims can be enforced for a number of
various scenarios that could arise; this may be for things such as graphics, font and logos.
Copyright claims will be filed for anything using any rendition of the above mediums.
An example of this would be Marvel Comics law suit over NCSoft and San Jose-based Cryptic
Studios game: City of Heroes. The game is a MMO game that lets the user create a super hero
character to their liking with the in game character editor. Marvel Comics felt users could create
characters too similar to their copyrighted superheroes such as The Hulk and Wolverine. Though
this appears to be an absurd claim they say:
“The company singles out a game feature for creating "a gigantic, green, 'science-based tanker'-type hero
that moves and behaves nearly identically" to the "Hulk." Players can also create a "mutant-based" hero
powers and a costume nearly identical to Marvel's "Wolverine," according to the suit.”
Sexuality
Generally, and with the large majority of console video game users being male there tends to be a
largely one-sided approach when it comes to creating video games. Usually this is aheterosexual
protagonist that would be derogatory towards people who are homosexual. When speaking in
terms of sexuality, games that play on this create hugely exaggerated perceptions of each sexuality
meaning that homosexual characters tend to be massively different to that of real-life mainly for
comic effect as these characters are usually ridiculed by the predominantly straight main
character.Usually the gender of the games main character is a strong figure of their sex.
How are women represented in the gaming industry?
Women are rarely the protagonist in video games, unless the game series has one. Games
such as the Tomb Raider series show a strong female figure in stark contrast to the dainty
and fairly ridiculed perception of women in games such as Grand Theft Auto and Saints
Row, as these games generally perceive women as sex objects and tools for the main
character to appear macho. This perception of women suggests that the large majority of
console games are aimed at a male audience.
However, a larger amount of women compared to men play casual online games such as
Bingo, Scrabble and Trivia.

2. Libel
Libel is writing or creating a character similar to a living person to negatively affect
things such as their moral standing, perception and fame. This would mean games
designers cannot create a character representing Barack Obama as being a racist, sexist
and slanderous murderer as this would leave the designers “libel”. This not only applies to
humans, but companies also. This means that designers cannot put company logos and
names without explicit permission, as this could have a negative effect on the sales and
perception of said company.
Similar to Copyright, this prevents game designers from creating characters that have
“Spin off” names to intentionally avoiding directly naming said person. An example of
this would be naming the president of the games world “Barry Obam” as this would make
the game designers Libel to being made to withdraw the game.
Decency
Similar to Libel and Sexuality; Decency is a standard that is generally met by most
games. Although not completely enforced by law it is generally considered that games
should adhere to a suitable standard. This means games shouldn’t mock people’s sexuality
or gender. Games such as “Duke Nukem” are on the cusp of acceptability for a video
game.
“And punished they'd likely be; the trailer shown in London featured bare breasts, strippers, gratuitous
swearing, the word 'f***ing' in massive letters and a giant alien getting pummeled in the genitals by Duke
himself.”
A level of decency is expected of a game as it can be detrimental to the game designers and the
public.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is the game designer’s agreement to keep privacy protected on their side,
to prevent things such as Phone Numbers, Addresses and Personal Details becoming
saved or recorded without the users known permission. This privacy policy is a
reassurance for everyone who accesses the game that their personal details will not be
circulated or used for any profitable gain; instead, it will be processed fairly and lawfully.
This means that users should be given the option whether they would like their details to
be processed and passed onto third party companies.
Things such as the following need to be adhered to in order to distribute data:
1. The data subject has given his/her consent to the processing.
2. The processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject, or for taking steps with a
view towards entering into a contract.
3. The processing is required under a legal obligation other than a contract.
4. The processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject.

3. 5. The processing is necessary for the administration of justice, the exercise of functions under an enactment, the
exercise of functions of the Crown or a government department, or any other functions of a public nature
exercised in the public interest.
6. The processing is necessary to pursue the legitimate interests of SOAS or of third parties, and does not
prejudice the rights, freedoms or legitimate interests of the data subject.
Representation
Games that are for all ages will be considered “family friendly” meaning that there will
be nothing on the website that would be deemed unsuitable for any age. This will mean
no nudity or coarse language should be used throughout all of the game. This also applies
to any of the laws regarding this: Racial discrimination, sexual discrimination or anything
discriminating any religion, gender, race, age or sexuality should be absent. They should
also be free and clean of any information referring to the use of any offensive materials.
This means no images, comments or references to drugs and alcohol should be used. This
will also prevent the designers from being derogatory or slanderous to any other
company, person or organisation through the game or any other medium.
Games will differ in age rating depending on what PEGI (Pan European Game
Information) determines it to be. Every game sold in Europe has to go through PEGI to
acquire a suitable rating; they will look for things such as: Violence, Bad Language, Fear,
Sex, Drugs, Discrimination, Gambling and Online gameplay.Depending on the number of each
of these classifications, the game will get a rating from 3-18.
Visual Styles for: Poster
For the poster I aim to create a striking and involving picture. I intend for this picture to be a large
worm style boss bursting out of the ground with an aura of chaos present. I want this monster to
appear to be huge and massive in comparison to the characters size, with smaller things on the
surface for size comparison. To fit in with the modern trend of 8-bit style graphics set by games
such as Terraria and Minecraft. I intend to do this because it will attract a much large audience as
this theme of graphic is prominent in today’s games. With this style typically comes a colourful
and bright visual representation, this is typical with games such as Mario and Megaman.
I want the poster to be reminiscent of these styles to make the game appear classic; not only this
but doing this style will broaden the games audience massively as it will appeal to both the
younger generation for its quirky and friendly graphics and also the older generation of gamers
that want to return to the style they grew up playing. As informed by you, the client, I was
requested to create a colourful and striking game poster.
Colour was a very important aspect of the poster for me as it can immediately draw your
attention, and can make a game appear very universally inviting to virtually any age that looks at
it. With this in mind I created very bold primary colours that fill the poster with life and set a
very clear outlook on how this game will play.

4. I considered several different typography styles in my poster. At first I wanted to create a 8-bit
style font to fit in with the image. However, I opted out of using a font similar in style to the
background as it blended into the background too much. Instead I used a large bubbly style font
with a strong inside shadow to make it pop from the background and make the font more defined.
I used this font as it is very easy to read and appeals to a broad audience. The font is in a darker
blue colour than the background to make it appear as if it is below the sky, and it has been cut out.
COPYRIGHT:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-11-11-marvel-sues-over-avatars_x.htm
LIBEL:
http://www.developingconcerns.com/2011/03/articles/game-industry/libel-in-fiction-and-video-
games-will-this-be-the-next-litigation-front/
REPRESENTATION:
http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/25
CONFIDENTIALITY:
http://www.soas.ac.uk/infocomp/dpa/policy/overview/
DECENCY:

5. http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/943826-duke-nukem-dances-on-line-of-decency/