Gamers Rights Law

At present there are no lawsuits, but there have already been Congressional hearings. Here are the most prominent stories about this development.

Blogger Freebies Could be Ad Fraud (Yahoo) This is a very informative article, the main surprising point being “The voluntary guidelines offer broad suggestions for how advertisers can avoid deceptive marketing strategies. These guidelines, however, were last updated in 1980, so the agency wanted to consider new marketing techniques, like blogs.”

Do you know how many smalltime bloggers?(CNet) The article notes “The practice of free products for bloggers, most of whom are not bound by ethical guidelines that journalists have historically followed, has been making headlines for some time now.”

WSJ article about Paid to Pitch

With the new social media the last 5 years, bloggers have taken on a larger role in commentary and influence. As the articles explain, Congressional hearings have taken commentary on possible ethics issues with bloggers. As the top bloggers, including video game sites, have audiences in the millions, they often give reviews on sports games, video games, and computer games. The new FTC oversight will purportedly assist the readers in understanding whether a blog has been given a game, accessory, or software – as that information helps the reader determine whether a reviewer might be biased.

Even though the concept of the rules make sense overall, the difficulty of this is the enforcement. Does the taking of a free console game make the reviewer a criminal if they do not disclose it and give a good review; are they less of a criminal if they take the game and give a bad review anyway? Does that prove they are ethical, or just prove they’ll not get another free game from that company? Other sites have commented on the overall ethics of video game reviews, and it seems murky water for the FTC to be covering. (For some perspective, read this article from a video game publisher about negative reviews)

FTC takes on pay-per-post This article describes the new regulations covering social media. It’s possible, said the article, that the regulations could impact Google adsense words. The main point made by the article seems to be that bloggers are responsible for maintaining some ethical guidelines.

Well, it’s early on these regulations. For now, here’s 3 for the B(usiness)

1. If you’re a video game reviewer for a blog, or in any way give a positive or negative input on a game, you should disclose whether you received the game as a comp or not. Morally and ethically it’s the high ground, and if there’s a worst case scenario you have a good defense against a possible (though extremely unlikely) event of FTC questioning.
2. If you are running a site or online magazine reviewing games, you need to include guidelines for your reviewers that if they receive comps or discounted pricing for games they put forth an opinion on, they must make a clear disclosure of this fact as a condition of their continuing participation.
3. If you are the legal counsel for an online magazine or games blog, you should consult these regulations to make certain your clients are fully protected.

Jay Moffitt is a TN attorney. The statements here are not legal advice, and no attorney/client relationship is created. Jay Moffitt claims no certification in this specialty, and TN does not offer a certification in this area of law. Copyright, Jay Moffitt, 2009. Comments are welcomed and will be answered promptly and courteously.

Tags: blogs, FTC, legislation, regulations