Above is a wonderful infographic prepared by Eri Fields of the Open Badges UBC pilot project showing the early results of adding a badge mechanism to the course website. The results capture a limited period of time and obviously need to updated once the semester is over.
jon
This week – Is it violent video-games that make some #gamergater’s act the way they do. Most unlikely. But the better answer from an academic/research perspective may well be much more troubling.
jon
Adrian Crook is our guest speaker this week. Adrian is the Managing Director of Adrian Crook & Associates (http://adriancrook.com) and will be speaking about the structures and opportunities of the video game industry. In the words of his firm’s website “Adrian Crook is an award-winning game design consultant with over 20 years experience in the social, casual and core games sectors. He has produced and designed over two dozen products across platforms ranging from early Nintendo and Sega Genesis to PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox 360, Wii, Facebook, iOS and Online. In 2006, Adrian was named Producer of the Year by the Canadian New Media Awards and his products have won numerous awards, including “Game of the Year”.
Adrian has led multiple original IP products to market with one product selling more than 1 million units on a single platform. He is a certified Scrummaster with a proven ability to lead large teams of up to 100 developers.
In January 2008, Adrian founded Adrian Crook & Associates, a game design and strategy consultancy that has contributed to the success of over 70 valued international clients. Adrian’s experienced team is focused on social & mobile game design, gamification, business development and startup growth strategy. Adrian Crook & Associates has extensive experience designing social and online games that include multiple monetization methods, such as virtual goods, ad support, tiered subscriptions, branded content and more.
Adrian is an advisor to several game industry firms and currently a creative mentor at Execution Labs, a game incubator and accelerator. He has given interviews on G4TV and other TV, print and online news outlets and has spoken as a social games expert at conferences such as GDC, SXSW, ICE, Casual Connect, INplay and GameON: Finance.”
jon
As noted in an earlier post, on October 10, 2014 I had the pleasure of appearing on a panel with Professor Joel Bakan of UBC Law and Professor Colin Browne of SFU as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival to discuss the subject of “orphan works” The connection to VIFF was that the classic Canadian film “Bye Bye Blues” was being screened at the festival only because Section 77 of our Copyright Act creates a process whereby works whose owners cannot be located can be the subject of a licence issued by the Copyright Board. “Bye Bye Blues” is in fact the first film to have been the subject of a section 77 proceeding. Moreover, Canada is one of the few countries in the world where such a legal provision exists and where anyone can make such an application. On its face there is nothing that prevents Section 77 from applying to video games. Given that there are probably a good number of vintage games whose ownership is untraceable, it’s hard not to wonder if the section will someday be applied in this way. The accommodation afforded by Section 77 seems quite farsighted especially when held up to relatively recent lens of “users rights” as applied through the Supreme Court of Canada’s “copyright pentalogy” of cases from August 2012.
Unfortunately for technical reasons only the audio of the panel discussion is currently available. It can be found above.
jon
While researching for my paper, I ran across the idea that there is a spectrum of gaming. On one side is simulation, which attempts to be as real as possible. On the other side is fantasy, which takes advantage of the medium to allow people to enjoy situations and worlds not confined by social, physical or time considerations.
For those who enjoy the fantasy aspect, I was struct by the fact that many of these games, while not being ‘real’ contain ‘realism.’ I’m not an expert at all in this form of gaming, but it struck me that fantasy games tend to be entirely based on ‘realistic’ gameplay and the fantasy portion is merely a tweak. How much fun would a game without gravity, time, light, sound, life, or space be?
More interesting to me is why people play simulations. I have always enjoyed games with strong economic simulators (Railroad Tycoon 3, Capitalism II ect), and to me the joy comes from having an environment to do what I’d like to do; I’m limited by money, and time, so gaming allows me to do what I can’t do in reality.
But what about people who play simulators like Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Farm Simulator 2014 (a game, I’m embarrassed to say I bought on a whim, and played for all of 5 minutes)? Who would play a game that simulates even the most mundane aspects of a job?
The BBC has an interesting article to this effect: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28238064
For some of the people interviewed, game play offers an opportunity to do what they can’t. One woman with spinal damage uses Euro Truck Simulator to drive through Europe, something she’s physically restricted from doing. For others though, the gaming environment allows players to enjoy professions that they would have liked to do, but for various reasons didn’t.
I’d like to propose something that I’m sure we as law students are all familiar with, but something that I’ve never seen expressed.
Life for us, at least in North America, is a series of exclusionary choices. When you’re 18 there are an unlimited number of choices to life. The decision to go to university reduces some possibilities (to focus on a band, to join the army, to be a competitive gymnast), just as the decision to go to UBC Law reduces others (becoming a doctor, practice law in other jurisdictions, rebuild the band). Life is filled with these exclusionary types of decisions, which is how you end up as a 29 year old securities lawyer living in Kits occasionally performing with a mediocre band and consoling parents who are disappointed you’re not a doctor.
Simulation games help us in our exclusionary choices in two ways. First by minimizing the opportunity cost, and second, by helping us make more informed decisions.
For those who dreamed of the exciting life of a military helicopter pilot, the existence of simulators means that your decision to become a securities lawyer hasn’t precluded you from that experience. As shown in the BBC article, the sons of farmers enjoy playing Farm Simulator, but choose an urban life. This function of videogames allows us to minimize the ‘regret,’ and it also helps us make better decisions.
One article I read said that more people had been introduced to urban development by Sim City than all other sources combined. Simulations allow us to experience the results of a decision before making the decision. I am unable to stay on a motorcycle in GTA for more than a few seconds before crashing – something that makes me terrified of owning one. Likewise, Flight Simulator has shown me just how exceptionally bored I would be as a pilot.
What does this have to do with law? First, simulators face legal constraints when trying to provide realistic simulations. These constraints mostly come from trademarks and copyrights. Games may face restrictions modelling an Airbus 380, or replicating the Fender Stratocaster. Businesses and buildings can receive protections limiting a game developer’s ability to portray McDonald’s restaurants, or the famous castle at Disney Land. In the US there are some First Amendment protections, but it isn’t clear to me what protections exist in other jurisdictions.
It may seem like a stretch, but perhaps simulations should gain legal protection. Human lives are finite, the time to make decisions are limited, and the consequences endure. In economics speak video games could increase utility and efficiency, by reducing ‘life corrections’ and keeping people from making regrettable decisions based on poor information.
GAMES
1. Glu Mobile sues Hothead over “rip off” Kill Shot
+ Deer Hunter Vs. Killshot: Why Specific Expression Matters More Than Similar Shooter-Genre Staples
2. Blizzard president Mike Morhaime condemns hate and harassment in gaming at BlizzCon keynote
+ When Gamergate Targets You: Who The Hell Keeps Calling Me?
+ Actually, it’s about ethics in games journalism (meme collection)
3. Research: No Correlation Between ‘Violent Media Consumption’ and ‘Societal Violence’
5. Manuel Noriega Loses Right of Publicity Suit Against Activision
6. Telepathy is now possible using current technology
7. Game industry growing four times faster than US economy – ESA
8. Average age of mobile gamer drops seven years as kids and teens grab smartphones
9. Report: Just 6% of US mobile gamers provide 51% of revenue
10. Zynga loses another $57 million in Q3
11. Electronic Arts’ Ceo On Transforming The “Worst Company In The U.S.”
12. Why We Should Pay Attention To Candy Crush Saga & Other Casual Games
13. How ESports Influenced Activision’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
14. Atari gets into real-money gaming
15. gumi expands into Canada with new Vancouver office
16. Witcher 3 dev CD Projekt turns cluster-migraine-suffering fan into NPC
19. The Capitalism of Late Archaeology: Alamogordo’s Atari Games on Ebay
DIGITAL
20. Aereo’s saga signals a chilling effect for innovation
21. Computer Scientists, Legal Experts Explain To Supreme Court Why APIs Are Not Copyrightable
23. Law is Code: A Software Engineering Approach to Analyzing the United States Code
24. FTC Takes First Action Against Patent Trolls For Deceptive Sales, Phony Legal Threats
25. Will the FCC ruin the Internet?
+ President Obama Calls For A Free And Open Internet, Wants It Reclassified As A Utility
+ President Obama Offers Full-Throated Endorsement of Net Neutrality Rules and Enforcement
26. Net Neutrality and Netflix Taxes: The Tension Between Government and Regulatory Agencies on Digital Policy (Michael Geist)
28. Public Perceptions of Privacy and Security in the Post-Snowden Era (Pew Research Internet Project)
29. State-sponsored hackers target human rights groups, study says
31. Berlin’s digital exiles: where tech activists go to escape the NSA
33. What the Law Can (and Can’t) Do About Online Harassment (Marlisse Silver Sweeney)
34. Twitter Launches New Tool That Lets Women Report Harassment
+ Twitter calls on a women’s advocacy group to collect data on harassment
+ If Twitter Won’t Handle Its Massive Harassment Problem, These Women Will
36. Navigating Legal Issues in the Twittersphere
37. We Won’t Have an Internet Sales Tax Any Time Soon
38. Computer with human-like learning will program itself
CONSTRAINTS
39. The Era Of TV’s Media Dominance Will Come To An End In 2016 — Here’s The Evidence
40. Shaking off Spotify is easy for Taylor Swift; for everyone else, it’s complicated
+ If You’re Going To Complain About Spotify Payments, At Least Understand A Little Economics First
jon
Thanks to Mia Consalvo for joining us from Montreal for our look at social issues in games. Video and slides below. Unfortunately our lecture capture system treated Mia’s video as if it was a PowerPoint leaving a bit to be desired technically. On the plus side the sound on the video, which is actually the important part, is very good.
jon
In today’s guest lecture with Jas Purewal, one of the topics we explored was the legality of second hand sales of video games. It was an interesting topic. On my first impression, it seemed only logical that we should be able to resell video games we have purchased. We can resell cars, bikes, houses, chairs, board games, sports items, etc… so why not video games? Indeed, second hand sales have been a part of human civilization for as long as it has existed. So why should video games be treated differently ? But once I thought about it some more, I realized that video games are very different from other items that could potentially be resold after use. Essentially it comes down to this. For a board game, such as monopoly, the physical object is the game itself. The game and the physical object cannot be separated – they are one and the same. Whereas for a video game, if it has a physical object in connection to it (i.e. a CD or a cartridge), that physical object is merely a vessel for the game; the actual game exists in the ones and zeros of the software, and it would be inaccurate to think of that actually taking a permanent physical form. Increasingly, video games do not even have a physical vessel at all, but instead are obtained through download services like Steam. The lack of a true permanent physical existence for video games is a game changer and it only makes sense that the law treats second hand sales of video games differently than physical games. To see why, consider the fundamental difference between second hand sales of physical games, such as monopoly the board game, compared with video games. Physical games, or physical objects in general, degrade over time. When you buy a second hand physical game, part of the lower price is a function of the degradation the physical game has suffered. But video games don’t materially degrade over time, or at least not in the traditional sense. The game only degrades (if that is the proper word) relative to newer video games. That is, newer games look better and might play better, thus creating a contrast of quality between the new video game and the old one. But the old video games don’t materially degrade. It is true that the video game’s physical vessel, such as a cartridge, could degrade, but the ones and zeros should remain exactly the same. To be fair, one must account for the possibility of corruption of the ones and zeros, but I don’t think this is much of a concern in the modern era of video games. The fact that physical games degrade over time protects the developers of the game. Part of the reason why Hasbro is still able to sell Monopoly decades after it was first developed is because consumers have an interest in obtaining the game in perfect quality. If consumers didn’t care about the physical quality of the game, I suspect they would typically elect to purchase a cheaper second hand version of it. With second hand video games, however, consumers can get a cheaper product which is still in perfect condition. So why would a consumer ever buy a new, and more expensive, video game instead of getting the second hand, cheaper, but still in perfect quality, version of the video game? It seems second hand sales of video games could threaten the economic viability of the video game industry, so it makes sense that the law allows video game developers to provide themselves some protection through EULAs.
Our class experiment with Oculus Rift DK2’s went smoothly thanks Jesse Joudray of VRChat LLC. Seven participating students equipped with Oculus Rifts’ took in the class from an entirely different part of the law school, while the rest of us remained in our usual class room (B101 of Allard Hall). You can check out (or re-live) what the “Rift students” saw and heard without a 3D headset from the YouTube video you will find in this post. My already pronounced tendency to speak with my hands is certainly raised to new heights (or depths) through the joint efforts of animation and motion capture!
As can be seen from the various comments below, the “Oculus classroom” turned out to be a real success. No one really knew how things were going to go, and the experiment was just that – an experiment. What became clear is that immersive 3D devices have the potential to really work in an educational context. The day may one day come where schools are libraries, offices and common meeting places with most classrooms being virtual because learning actually happens better that way. We are far from that place right now, but before this experiment such a future seemed like pure science fiction. It does not anymore.
There are many obvious things that need to be addressed from a student perspective. These include note taking mechanisms as well as effective and direct (underline “direct”) ways to ask questions so as to fully and equally participate in the “real” classroom setting. If simple and intuitive technological means to resolve these issues are found, then access to education can be expanded in meaningful ways.
A couple of notes from the perspective of the instructor in this experiment.
My only interaction with the “Oculus class” was that I had a monitor not far away through which I could see my virtual students. Aside from my endless amusement that law students would not initially occupy the first row of seats in even a fully virtual classroom, there was nothing in the experiment which affected my teaching. I simply taught to the “real class” in front of me. At the end of the day it is precisely that piece of the puzzle which will have to grow. Creating meaningful feedback loops is arguably the key challenge in all of education. Accordingly it is not farfetched to suggest that creating feedback loops to and from the Oculus class and among all who participate in a class, no matter where they are physically located, will equally become the key to successful pedagogic implementations.
All this led me to wondering what would happen if I were ever called upon to teach to a class made up entirely of 3D headset users without there being a “real” classroom. In that case, seeing some representation of the facial expressions/reactions of each of the individuals in the virtual class feels to me to be a necessity for effective teaching. Achieving that might be possible, even today, if Kinect technology were to be used and the appropriate code written. However the headset device might have to look quite different and there would no doubt be some challenging design problems. When practical and elegant solutions to this problem are found we may truly be on our way…
The reactions from those participating came as a wonderful and heartening surprise. We should all look forward with some optimism to the chapters yet to be written about educational uses of 3D immersive technologies.
jon
Jas Purewal will be joining us remotely this week to talk about “5 Key Topics in International Video Game Law”.
Jas founded Purewal & Partners in May 2014 after a decade of practice at City of London law firms as well as in Europe and Silicon Valley. Jas is particularly well known in the UK/EU video games industry and was recently voted one of its hundred most influential people by leading publication MCV/Develop. Jas is also an experienced tech lawyer, both from his time advising European startups as well as his long relationships on the US West Coast. This culminated in Jas spending a year living and working in Silicon Valley from 2013 to 2014, where he advised some of the Valley’s leading tech and internet companies on their European expansion plans.
Jas is a frequent speaker and writer on digital entertainment and technology matters. He is a past columnist and commentator in a wide range of publications including the Financial Times, the Guardian, the BBC, Gamesindustry International and Edge. He is a visiting lecturer on digital entertainment law and business at the National Film and TV School and other academic institutions. He is a co-author of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s textbook on interactive entertainment law. and a contributing author to a forthcoming MIT textbook on digital games and law. All this literary trouble started back in 2007 when he began to write Gamer/Law, which has gone on to become one of the longest running and most read blogs on video games and digital entertainment law.
Jas trained at CMS Cameron McKenna and subsequently worked for several years at leading City of London law firms Olswang as a litigator and Osborne Clarke as a digital entertainment lawyer. Jas is lifelong gamer and counts among his all-time favourite games Red Dead Redemption, the Stalker series, Bioshock Infinite, Hearthstone and The Stanley Parable.
You can reach Jas at: jas@purewalandpartners.com.
jon
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