International gaming: laws and regulations around games in the digital era: conference proceedings

Games have a complicated relationship with the law and with the globalization of the gaming market in the digital era, legality is something that must be considered in the development, publication, playing and moderation of games. Games have been and continue to be regulated around the globe, and issues arise at different times in a games life cycle: intellectual property (IP), including patent and copyright protection, must be considered from the initial development of the game; International legality, age ratings, and infringement must be considered in the publication of the game; and players must consider the legality of their manner of obtaining the game and whether or not that game is even legal in the country they are playing in. In addition to this, there are legal issues surrounding abuse and harassment in games, leading several developers to implement moderation and other safety regulations internally in order to pass risk assessments from international regulations. In this way, the laws and regulations around games and gaming in the digital era need to be scrutinized.