Video Game Law Industry

Choose which is correct: "I love E-Sports/Esports/esports."

"I love esports."

Fortnite

#2 tier 1 game in USA; winners of tournaments receive $300 million

Platform game

(a.k.a. 'platformer', or 'jump 'n' run') a subgenre of action games characterized by their heavy use of jumping & climbing to navigate the player's environment & reach their goal.

Player versus player (or PvP)

(a.k.a. PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between one versus one player.

Player versus environment (or PvE)

(a.k.a. player versus monster, or PvM) is a term used for both single player & online games to refer to fighting computer-controlled enemies—in contrast to PvP (player versus player).

Serious game

(or 'applied' game) is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to video games used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, & politics.

Full Motion Video

(or FMV) a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information during cutscenes, games that are primarily presented through FMVs are referred to as full-motion video games or interactive movies. For example, Night Trap.

MUD

(originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based

Open Source

A program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge

developer

A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development - the process and related disciplines of creating video games.

Atari

A video game development company that released Pong, the first big-hit arcade game, and established the home-video game market through a deal with Sears

Copyright

An exclusive right granted by the federal government allowing the owner to reproduce and sell an artistic or published work. NOT a brand name, logo, or slogan.

Indie game

An independent video game or indie game is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games.

Esports org

An umbrella company that houses teams (see definition) over multiple game titles.

CAA

Creative Artists Agency is an American talent & sports agency based in LA, California. It is regarded as a dominant and influential company in the talent agency business and manages most of the biggest Hollywood actors and talent. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 employees.

DMCA

Digital Millennium Copyright Act - US copyright law that criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works

DLC

Downloadable Content

EA

Electronic Arts Inc. is an American video game company. It is the second-largest gaming company in the Americas and Europe by revenue and market capitalization after Activision Blizzard. Currently, EA develops & publishes games of established franchises, including The Sims, Medal of Honor, Star Wars, (and many more) as well as the EA Sports titles FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL, and EA Sports UFC.

EBA

Esports Bar Association; founded by Ryan Morrison & Bryce Blum (president). Bryce also founded ESG Law.

Facebook Gaming

Facebook's take on gaming livestreams where gamers & fans interact. Currently trying to compete with Twitch & YouTube. Just paid $1b for music rights for their users!

FUPA

Fair Use Protection Association; founded by H3H3 and Ryan Morrison; not a thing anymore

FPS

First Person Shooter

Riot Games

Game developers, publishers, tournament organizers; most famous for League of Legends

Mod

Game modifications - usually made by fans

Rockstar Games

Game publisher; came out with GTA

Satire

Illegal; A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. ("Using Mickey to make fun of Trump." - Ryan)

Import rule

Import rules make it hard for foreign van producers to penetrate that market.

"Yes, and..."

Improv concept. Any additions to environment relationship circumstance that are added to the scene are accepted and built upon. Also a book by Ryan Morrison.

Input device

In computing, an input device is a piece of equipment used to provide data & control signals to an information processing system such as a computer or information appliance. Examples of input devices include keyboards, mouse, scanners, joysticks, & microphones.

Power-up

In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic.

LOL

League of Legends; #1 tier 1 game in USA

Metaprogression

Like multi-system, meta-game progression is a way to combine both game and character progression in a single title. And it can be defined as this -- A game featuring a main game system, and a secondary one that adds permanence between play sessions.

MOBA

Multi-player online battle arena; usually 3rd person; DOTA & LOL

NRG

NRG Esports is an American professional esports org based in LA. It has rosters in Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Clash Royale, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Fortnite, Gears of War, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Rocket League, Valorant, & a number of streamers on the internet platform Twitch.

OWL

Overwatch League; #1 tier 2 game in USA

Sean Kane

President of VGBA; lawyer at Frankfurt Kurnit Law

Deliverables

Tangible or intangible products of work that must be provided to someone else.

Tencent

Tencent Holdings is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate holding company & the world's largest video game vendor, as well as one of the most financially valuable companies. It is among the largest social media, venture capital, & investment corporations. Its services include social network, music, web portals, e-commerce, mobile games, internet services, payment systems, smartphones, & multiplayer online games.

Trademark Infringement

The reproduction, counterfeiting, copying, or imitation, in commerce, of a registered mark

skins

Things you can wear in a video game

Parody

Totally legal; A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. ("Using Mickey to make fun of Disney" - Ryan)

UTA

United Talent Agency is a talent agency repping artists & other professionals in the entertainment industry. The Beverly Hills based company was established in 1991 and, as of 2017, has approximately 900 employees, around 300 of which are agents.

VVIP

VIP clients with current XXX content that includes penetration

VGBA

Video Game Bar Association; Patrick Sweeney is co-founder/president and Konstantin Ewald is co-founder/vice president.

Crossplay

When a game allows players to play together from different sources (consoles, computer, mobile, etc)

Pervasive Game

When gameplay occurs seamlessly between the game world and the real world

WOW

World of Warcraft

Doom

a 1993 first-person shooter game developed by id Software for MS-DOS. Players assume the role of a space marine, popularly known as Doomguy, fighting his way through hordes of invading demons from Hell.

Apex Legends

a free-to-play first-person shooter battle royale game developed by Respawn Entertainment & published by EA. In the game, up to 20 three-person squads land on an island and search for weapons and supplies before attempting to defeat all other players in combat.

Steam

a game marketplace where you can also store your bought games

Team Liquid

a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands

publisher

a person or company that prepares and issues books, journals, music, or other works for sale.

FaZe Clan

a pro esports & entertainment org based in LA. Founded in 2010, the organization has players from around the world, across multiple games, including Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, Rainbow Six, FIFA, Valorant, & Fortnite.

Luminosity Gaming

a pro esports org based in North America. It has teams competing in Call of Duty, Overwatch, Rainbow Six, Fortnite, & Apex Legends. Sypher is signed to them!

Patch

a set of changes made by the game publishers to improve, balance or fix gameplay in a particular title after its release

Trademark

a symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product. NOT the artistic work. For example, the name 'Halo' would be trademarked, where the game code would get a copyright.

Brillstein Entertainment

a talent management firm & television production company. They rep big stars like Rob Lowe & Brad Pitt & also produced movies like Ghostbusters & Wedding Singer.

Strategy video game

a video game genre that focuses on skillful thinking & planning to achieve victory.

Side-scrolling video game

a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and as the player's character moves left or right, the screen scrolls with them.

Twitch

a video live streaming service operated by Amazon. Introduced in 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv, the site primarily focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, music broadcasts, creative content, and more recently, "in real life" streams. Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand.

Cloud9

an American professional esports organization based in LA

Epic Games

an American video game / software developer & publisher. Founded by Tim Sweeney. Develops the very successful Unreal Engine, a commercially available game engine which also powers their internally developed video games, such as Fortnite & the Unreal, Gears of War and Infinity Blade series.

Activision Blizzard

an American video game holding company based in LA & founded in 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. & Vivendi Games. Currently includes five business units: Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, King, Major League Gaming, & Activision Blizzard Studios. Major IPs produced: Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk's, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, & Overwatch. Also mobile titles including Candy Crush Saga.

Armor Games

an American-based game portal website & mobile game publisher that hosts free browser games across a wide variety of genres. Also the biggest client at MoRo!

AAA

an informal classification used for video games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, typically having higher development and marketing budgets.

Easter egg

commonly used to mean a message, image, or feature hidden in a video game, film, or other, usually electronic, medium. A nod to something else the author has done. It's never addressed directly; the reader needs to find it.

Simulation video game

describes a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities.

turn-based games

game flow is partitioned into defined parts, called turns, moves, or plays. A player of a turn-based game is allowed a period of analysis (sometimes bounded, sometimes unbounded) before committing to a game action, ensuring a separation between the game flow and the thinking process, which in turn presumably leads to better choices.

real-time games

game time progresses continuously according to the game clock. One example of such a game is the sandbox game Terraria, where one day-night cycle of 24 hours is equal to 24 minutes in real time.

III

independently funded ("indie") games that meet an analogous quality level in their field; i.e., indie games that have relatively high budget, scope, and ambition; often the development team includes staff who have experience working on full AAA titles.

MMORPG

massively multiplayer online role-playing game. For example, World of Warcraft

AAA+

may refer to a subset of AAA games that are the highest selling or have the highest production values. Examples are Overwatch & League of Legends

100 Thieves

one of the biggest gaming teams! Also a lifestyle brand & gaming org based in LA. The org has teams competing in League of Legends, Valorant, Fortnite, and & Counter-Strike

Unity Technologies

one of the most important technologies in gaming, as software built with its tools runs on more than 1.5 billion devices. Unity said that its platform is used in over 50% of mobile games, PC games, and console games.

Nonlinear gameplay

presents players with challenges that can be completed in a number of different sequences.

®

registered trademark symbol

Redlining

reviewing a contract and sending it back with your notes 'redlined' off to the side

RPG

role-playing game

Loaded

smaller talent agency (like us) & our competition! They don't do esports tho. They do influencers & gaming but they don't rep competitive players.

Cloud Gaming

sometimes called 'gaming on demand' or 'gaming-as-a-service', is a type of online gaming that runs games on remote servers & streams them directly to a user's device, a.k.a. playing a game remotely from a cloud.

Mixer

streaming platform owned by Microsoft. Shut down in 2020 due to an inability to scale its operations.

Rogue-like

subgenre of role-playing video games characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, tile-based graphics, and permanent death of the player character. EASY: when you die, you go to another level

™

symbol for trademarks that have NOT been registered, only have common law rights, & can put on anything

benched

taken out of the game

Gamification

the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts.

Fourth Wall

the imaginary wall through which the audience views the play or other visual work

Advergames

video games created for purely promotional purposes

VR Games

virtual reality games!

Role-playing

when you have control over how your player develops