Permission in making a game
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I just started game programming and going through the designing part i had a question. When designing a game, do we have to seek permission if we want to make a game.
For example if i was making a RTS. And lets say i was in a company and we wanted to publish the game and everything. Is there somewhere where i have to go and get permission to use names of countries in the game. Like suppose in my game, i have a war going on between Russia and USA, and i make the plot so that there are spies and missiles launched against one country, and that country is in ruins and stuff... So do i have to show the plot to someone before hand, so that i dont get into trouble later on by saying for example that USA launched bombs against Russia and won... Or am i free to design the game as i please...
Thanks in advance to anyone who replies
No. You don''t need to get permission to use the names of countries in your games. After all, who would you contact about this? The President?
It''s called ''creative license''. It''s ficticious work. Ever notice at the end of movies, near the end of the credits, a little blurb will scroll by saying something to the beat of: "All names, dates, and events are ficticious. Any relation to real life is strictly coincidental".
People can use the President''s name in any little comic strip theyir heart desires. It''s all about freedom of the press. Your storyline can say Russia slaughtered 90% of the American population, and they can''t say anything to you.
When you start treading into territory where you''re taking a real person you know of, and using their face/name in a game in a slanderous or degrading way, then you can face some legal issues (lawsuits, etc).
It''s called ''creative license''. It''s ficticious work. Ever notice at the end of movies, near the end of the credits, a little blurb will scroll by saying something to the beat of: "All names, dates, and events are ficticious. Any relation to real life is strictly coincidental".
People can use the President''s name in any little comic strip theyir heart desires. It''s all about freedom of the press. Your storyline can say Russia slaughtered 90% of the American population, and they can''t say anything to you.
When you start treading into territory where you''re taking a real person you know of, and using their face/name in a game in a slanderous or degrading way, then you can face some legal issues (lawsuits, etc).
to add to what munkie just said about stuff you can''t do without permission, the same goes for company names and things like product names which have been registered (you know, trademarks and such like).
so you can''t do a game where for example, a company called microsoft enslaves the world by mind control through clever hypnotic subliminal GPF messages in a mass market product it has just shipped called windows666
so you can''t do a game where for example, a company called microsoft enslaves the world by mind control through clever hypnotic subliminal GPF messages in a mass market product it has just shipped called windows666
There does come a point (and this varies for everyone) where a game seems like an attempt to portray things a certain way.
Making a game where the goal is to nuke Russia, or where the plotline is that 90% of USA is slaughtered by Russia, could easily be seen by someone as an attempt at propaganda, portraying that way things are, or the way we should see things, or suggesting that the ideals presented in the game would be entertaining to harbor in real life. Not that it actually IS that kind of propaganda, just that it could seem that way.
I could see a game duplicating the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians to easily have an impact in that way. But only to those who choose to take it that way, regardless of what the author of it intends.
I only say this because I wasn't sure if your question was geared more towards whether or not it is lawful to put certain content in a game versus being blamed for some other impact it might have, karan13.
[edited by - Waverider on June 27, 2002 1:06:56 PM]
Making a game where the goal is to nuke Russia, or where the plotline is that 90% of USA is slaughtered by Russia, could easily be seen by someone as an attempt at propaganda, portraying that way things are, or the way we should see things, or suggesting that the ideals presented in the game would be entertaining to harbor in real life. Not that it actually IS that kind of propaganda, just that it could seem that way.
I could see a game duplicating the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians to easily have an impact in that way. But only to those who choose to take it that way, regardless of what the author of it intends.
I only say this because I wasn't sure if your question was geared more towards whether or not it is lawful to put certain content in a game versus being blamed for some other impact it might have, karan13.
[edited by - Waverider on June 27, 2002 1:06:56 PM]
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