Journey across the Main Stream (from Gamasutra)  Great discussion about what makes a game playable for all types of people.

What do Games have in Common with Jam  (from Gamasutra) New thoughts about how games are reviewd

http://gamecareerguide.com/features/888/playtesting_is_sovereign_part_.php (Playtesting is sovereign; by Game Career Guide)

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/gastev/2960556197/ (Photo Creative Commons; Attribution required; photostream Gastev)

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 Examples of playtesting rules

http://www.microsoft.com/playtest/FAQ.aspx

http://gamebizproam.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/the-microsoft-play-test-experience/

Blog about the Playtesting experience

Gamasutra examples playtesting revolution

http://workbench.cadenhead.org/news/3367/non-disclosure-agreements-have-no-saving

Dungeons and Dragons NDA has no expiration date

http://bloodofkittens.com/2010/07/21/meat-for-meta-the-truth-behind-gw-playtesting/

GW playtesting

http://www.digra.org/dl/db/07311.11208.pdf

Real-Time Sweetspot: The Multiple Meanings of Game Company Playtests

Commentary:  I’m often asked by other lawyers what happens when someone asks me for a legal document for a boardgame or videogame testing.  I reply that I draw it up paragraph by paragraph from scratch.   Sounds like a backwards way to work; except when you consider I’m trying to make a client for life.  Whether I make several hundred net or several thousand net really doesn’t matter as much as the fact that I build a good relationship. (Note: I’m a better lawyer than businessman).

Read the above links to see what you need in your playtesting, and know that if it’s YOUR IDEA… it is your legacy.  Protect it in some fashion; not a boiler-plate form but a real IP lawyer (in your state, or some state you do business).  At the very least have an NDA if you playtest: if no other things are protected… (1) the idea is yours and no one playtesting can make money re-selling or being a derivative of that game(2)   No one can discuss or publicize the testing results or the basic ideas of the game.  The best thing obviously is to get a full assessment by an attorney.

Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.

Many, if not most beta programs for new MMOs require users to sign a Nondisclosure Agreement to play the game.  But a recent major Beta program did not require this. (according to story on Big Download). I’m going to cover just a few of the pros and cons of having a NDA for a beta program on your game release.

Now keep in mind this is for your game’s beta testers.  Typically, the game should be 80 to 90 percent complete, with no functional issues and only minor interface or playability problems. 

Pros: First, there appears to be no common law or state law protections against speaking ill about a game, denigrating it in online forums, or attempting to show how easily a product can be “gamed” or “cheated”.  That’s one reason the NDA must have a confidentiality obligation between the developer(s) and the tester, and should preferably state that bugs should be reported as part of a beta-tester’s duty (and explicitly forbid disclosure of those bugs to outside parties).

Next, Reverse engineering, or ”breaking the code” as to how a program works.   http://kfsone.wordpress.com/2006/05/09/interview-with-kfs1/  (Probably not a violation of NDA).  But the more hard-core gamers, or specifically programmers or game engineers that participate in your beta, the more likely one or several of them can, if they wish, be able to duplicate a particular function or effect of your game.

Cons: Gamers believe it is an attempt to curb their freedom of speech. (Blog post by 2404 blog).  This article, which you should really read in its entirety, claims NDA are cynical attempts to stifle discussions about poorly-made games.

Some users are critical of the time frames.  Read this article at Workbench that talks about the length of time that the Dungeons and Dragons beta is effective for.  (Hint: forever)

Peripheral mention of NDA in this article  from Techrepublic about beta testing.  Whether it is a “marketing-based” beta program might influence a slightly softer and more conciliatory tone in the language of the NDA.

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External Link: here’s a resource that contains some blank NDA forms as well as basic explanations….

If you’ve read a lot of attorney blogs (I don’t know that’s true because most of my readership is actually developers and gamers rather than other attorneys) you’ll note not a lot of attorneys have pro/con about certain agreements.  That’s because I really don’t care one way or another if you choose to use a NDA or my services.  There are pros and cons, and you have to decide if you are willing to risk a little alienation (or ridicule) from your beta-testers in order to protect your hard-fought code.  If you decide that you’d rather spend a little cash on the front-end and save your resources for other fights later, you’ve got my email address in the link.  Similar to many who read my column regularly, I hate to talk on the phone and do most of my conversations from the keyboard.  (15 years ago that made me a decided outsider, but I’ve found it’s a lot more common today).

Attribution for the photo: <div xmlns:cc=”http://creativecommons.org/ns#” about=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightmatter/95600250/”><a rel=”cc:attributionURL” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightmatter/”>http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightmatter/</a> / <a rel=”license” href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>CC BY 2.0</a></div>

Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.

Well-done piece on the technical and financial aspects of uploading your own band’s tracks to be sold on the Rock Band Network. 30 cents is not as good a deal per dollar as Itunes, (50 cents?), but then again the competition is less.

Here is the official site from Rock Band Network. Obviously a lot of effort is required to make the leap from sheet music to a fully rendered song (video/art/lip-sync/different-difficulties) but the explanations are fairly detailed. Quite naturally a cottage industry has sprung up to “assist” (for a fee) the indie artist to alert the masses of their stardom.

This company will assist your band; listed here strictly because of a really great synopsis of the steps to get a sheet music set-up fully ready to be played fully in Rock Band.

Here are the Terms of Service if you wish to upload a song from your band.

A full listing of companies that did the certified training by Harmonix can be found here.

Now if you don’t think this is huge; think of this….. can you think of a greater change in musical notation in the last 300 years??????????????????????????????????????????????? I’m serious; if you know of an intervening notation/upload system in the last couple of centuries, comment below! Here are three excellent articles about this subject, from Wired; and Kotaku, and from Edge-online.

Here is an older article from Gigaom which gets to the nuts-and-bolts of how Rock Band Network works, and it’s potential.

Just on a related note, here is the link to the PSN blog, which explains the latest update and how that helps Rock Band players. A procedural note about the uploads, they will not be allowed to be downloaded until there is “sufficient content”. Just like with regular DLC, the PS3 content would be available a couple of days after Xbox, and Wii (through Wiiware) sometime later.

Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.

Think about it. When there is a movement for “people’s rights”, who is it that makes the money? The politicians.

And whenever someone in Hollywood makes a movie that is “for the people”, who rakes in the profits? The movie-maker.

So today is the first of a regular feature that focuses on the people (publishers, artists, voice-over talent, and developers) who make all the gamers happy.

The Players are Wrong but Listen Anyway This article by a game developer goes into detail as to what type of feedback to gather from the users during the game-making process. This frankly doesn’t rise to the level of a legal duty, but more of a moral duty… that is from a game developer with a sincere wish to make as fair and as entertaining of a game as possible. If you are strictly looking for a legal viewpoint, maybe you could use the forums and feedbacks as a sort of “testing ground” to determine if the beta testers feel the game is working out as a fair and even playing field, depending upon the user’s choice of character, etc. But the developer does a great job of noting these opinions must be taken in the context that most of these early users have an “axe to grind” or may be overly skeptical types that over-critique a supposedly fun experience. A great read for developers or anyone.

Raising Startup Financing This list has a more general feel, as it would apply towards anyone raising money for a financial project. But for a developer with a great idea and some resources to start, the list is a great jumping-off point to investigate financing options.

Developer Links This is an incredible A-to-Z list of links of use to a game developer. Mostly the destinations are esoteric and specific to a developer’s needs, but there are some that might be good general reading. If you have an interest in developing games or even being a beta tester, you should browse the list and spend a couple of minutes to add to your knowledge.

SAG and AFTRA renegotiate their contract structure with Developers Gamasutra has an excellent story about the renegotiation of voice-actor talent. You may have noticed that voice-acting is getting better, and the voice talent are getting paid. And plus they are in a stronger negotiating position than artists, graphic designers, and programmers; who get 100% of their work from the game studios. For the voice-over talent there is always animation, film work, radio, and commercials. Thus they are more of a varying expense than those talents who are specific to the video game industry alone.

Three for the B(usiness). #1 If you don’t get legal advice at the beginning of a large financial venture(oh, but it’s just a video-game), then at least have some resources who can advise you WHEN to get an attorney. There are attorneys who deal specifically with financing, video games, talent agents…. but just make sure you have resources available for when you need them.

#2 Keep an open mind during the alpha, beta, and “gold” process for game dynamics. Listen to the critics, the testers, and the programmers, but most of all listen to your heart. Only you know what kind of game you are trying to write, and just like some books are not for everyone, maybe your beta testers should be playing something else, and upon release your dream will find its “true audience”.

#3 Game talent takes many forms. Keep an eye (and an ear) out for people that will help your final product. Set expectations on salary, benefits, accolades on the team you assemble, and under-promise and over-deliver. You may lose a few at the beginning of the process, but you can build a strong core of people that hopefully continue forward with you, and as any HR professional will tell you, it’s a lot cheaper to keep a good employee than to find one.

Jay Moffitt is a TN attorney. The words do not constitute legal advice, and no attorney/client relationship is created. Jay Moffitt does not claim a certification in this specialty, and TN does not offer a certification in this specialty. Copyright October 3, 2009. Comments will be answered in a timely fashion and with courtesy.