This course will provide students with a practical background in business and legal practices specific to the gaming industry. Students will be introduced to entrepreneurship in the gaming industry, confidentiality rules, game developer rights and responsibilities, the developer/publisher/retailer relationship, contract development, intellectual property rules and regulations, royalties, licensing, and legal responsibilities for content and consumer impact. Projects may include individual and group research, examination of case studies, and written and oral reports on current industry practice.
Instructor: Jessica D. Bayliss
Office: bldg. 70, room 2511
Email: jdbics on rit.edu
Web Page: http://www.it.rit.edu/~jdb
Office hours: Please see my main web page.
Asking questions via email seems to work best for many people.
Monday/Wednesday, 12:00-1:50pm
Game Development Business and Legal Guide by Ashley Salisbury, Premier Press, 2003.
Course Web Page: http://www.it.rit.edu/~jdb/bizlaw
I will distribute copies of other materials required for class. Information about reading and project assignments, exams, etc. will be linked from the course web page.
You must be a student in the Game Design and Development MS degree or have my permission to take the course.
These prerequisites will be enforced.
Reading assignments will be given in class and may be expected to be completed by the next class time. Each written homework assignment will be collected and graded. Homework assignments are posted at least 6 days before they are due and are due when stated in the assignment. The actual assignments will be available off of the course web page. Assignments receive a 20% penalty for each day they are turned in late. As an example, an assignment due on Monday in class will receive a 20% late penalty if handed in before the course time on Tuesday and a 40% late penalty if the assignment is handed in before class on Wednesday
Occasionally, you may be asked to work in
groups in class or to discuss a class topic. Your attendance and
participation grade will come from your participation in these activities as well as general attendance in the course.
There will be 1 test during the quarter. While this test will be closed book and notes, you may bring one sheet of letter-sized paper with your own hand-written notes.
A cumulative final exam will be given. Information on the final will be available from the course web page at least one week prior to the date of the final.
Exams cannot be made up except for real emergencies. If at all possible, you should contact me prior to the exam. Oversleeping, cars that don't start etc. do not constitute a valid excuse. If you lie to me or falsify documentation and I later find out about it, I will turn you in for academic dishonesty.
55% Homework Assignments
15% Midterm
10% Participation and attendance
20% Final Exam
Numerical grades will be converted to letter grades according to the following scale:
> 90%: A; 80%-90%: B; 70%-80%: C; 60%-70%: D; < 60%: F.
Your final grade will never be more than one letter grade higher than your weighted average exam grade. In addition, if your weighted average exam grade is below 60%, you fail the course.
If you feel that an error was made in grading your project or exam, you have one week from the moment the graded work was handed back to dispute your grade.
The following statement is the Policy on Academic Dishonesty for the Department of Information Technology:
The Department of Information Technology does not condone any form of academic dishonesty. Any act of improperly representing another person’s work as one’s own (or allowing someone else to represent your work as their own) is construed as an act of academic dishonesty. These acts include, but are not limited to, plagiarism in any form or use of information and materials not authorized by the instructor during an examination or for any assignment.
If a faculty member judges a student to be guilty of any form of academic dishonesty, the student will receive a failing grade for the course. Academic dishonesty involving the abuse of RIT computing facilities may result in the pursuit of more severe action.
If the student believes the action by the instructor to be incorrect or the penalty too severe, the faculty member will arrange to meet jointly with the student and with the faculty member’s immediate supervisor. If the matter cannot be resolved at this level, an appeal may be made to the GCCIS Academic Conduct Committee.
If the faculty member or the faculty member’s immediate supervisor feels that the alleged misconduct warrants more severe action than failure in the course, the case may be referred to the GCCIS Academic Conduct Committee. The Academic Conduct Committee can recommend further action to the dean of the student’s college including academic suspension or dismissal from the Institute.
The following definitions will be used to clarify and explain unacceptable conduct. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of specific actions but a reasonable description to guide one’s actions.
CHEATING includes knowingly using, buying, stealing, transporting or soliciting in whole or part the contents of an administered/unadministered test, test key, homework solution, paper, project, software project or computer program, or any other assignment. It also includes using, accessing, altering, or gaining entry to information held in a computer account or disk owned by another.
COLLUSION means the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work or computer work (including electronic media) offered for credit. Final work submitted by a student must be substantially the work of that student. Collaboration on an assignment is expressly forbidden unless it is explicitly designated as a group project. When there is any doubt, a student should consult the instructor (NOT ANOTHER STUDENT) as to whether some action is considered collusion.
Whenever there is any question as to whether a particular action is considered academic dishonesty, the instructor should be consulted.
The penalty for academic dishonesty in a course is an automatic “F” in that course.