IP - IP means Intellectual property. It can be anything from a discovery, to a simple logo or symbol. Other examples could be music and art. Intellectual property is protected by Copyright, Trademark, Registered Designs and Patents. Without these, people could steal or reuse other peoples' work.
Copyright - Copyright means that the creator is the only person (or organisation) that can use their work. This only lasts for a limited time, so it must be renewed or else anyone will be able to use their work without punishment.
Trademark - A trademark protects signs or designs such as company/product logos. It only applies to things that represents or distinguishes different companies, products or services from others.
Registered Designs - This is similar to copyright, in that the creator gains full ownership of the design, and it cannot be used by anyone else. However, the design can only be registered if it is new. It cannot have been registered before, and must not be too similar to other designs.
Patents - Patents give inventors the rights to prevent people from making, using, or distributing their creations for a limited time, but the invention must be revealed to the public. Patents are granted by the government, and are used to prevent inventions from being stolen.
Ethical Obligations
Violence - Violence is a big topic in the gaming industry, because some people link violent video games to violent behaviour, and desensitization to violence in real life. Many parents do not want their children to play violent video games, so it is important for developers/publishers to make it clear whether their games include violence or not.
Ratings - Ratings are important in the gaming industry because it helps to inform people what kind of game they are looking at, or whether the game is of a good quality or not. Different media use different rating systems, some may use 1-5 star, 1-10, or 1-100 ratings. An issue with ratings is that many games receive similar, if not exact ratings, which can cause the rating to lose value over time.
Age ratings help people know what kind of content will be in the game. If the age rating is 18+, then there would likely be lots of violence or sexual content.
Education - Most video games are developed with the intent to entertain the player, but some video games have an educational focus. They could be puzzle games, in which the player must use their knowledge of different subjects to solve the puzzles and progress. This kind of interactive learning is sometimes a better way for information to stick in people's minds.
Stereotyping - Stereotyping does occur in the gaming industry. Games tend to focus more on the male audience than the female one, since more men play video games than women do. In recent years, game developers have made more games with female protagonists or main characters, or added the choice to be either gender, in order to appeal more to women.
Addiction - It is easy for a person to become addicted to video games, and have them become the main thing they focus on. This can cause people to miss out on many opportunities in their lives, and potentially ignore important duties. In some cases, gaming addiction can cause health problems such as repetitive strain injury (RSI), a skin disorder, etc.
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