I am a college professor preparing a class on video games. Basically it is a study of design from early games to current leading into how to game design. I want to have the students actually play the systems and was wondering if that would be legal through retroarch? Personal use is one thing, but the University is letting me design this course so I don’t want to do anything illegal.
Thanks!
That’s a tough question. Copyright is typically pretty friendly to education as long as you’re doing it “extemporaneously.” That is, if you suddenly said “wow, I just played this game and I think my students should try it,” that would probably be okay but if you’re doing your lesson plan and you plan for them to play it every semester you teach it, some of the leniency goes away (or at least gets harder to defend). This is how fair use works for e.g., photocopying a chapter from a textbook that you don’t want to require just for that one chapter.
Typically, my advice to faculty that want to do other legally gray things, like rip a DVD and post clips in their class in the online learning environment, is to just ask the publisher for permission, but that’s not likely to get you very far in this case because many game publishers (e.g., Nintendo) are 100% unfriendly to emulation.
If having them play a physical copy in class isn’t an option, I think your best bet would be to have a physical, legit copy of the game for checkout at the university library and then encourage your students to play their own copies at home. I assume most of them will just emulate it and the physical copy will still be available for any legal sticklers. You can also link them to specific spots in Lets-Play/Long-Play videos, which insulates you from the entire issue.
[QUOTE=hunterk;46219]That’s a tough question. Copyright is typically pretty friendly to education as long as you’re doing it “extemporaneously.” That is, if you suddenly said “wow, I just played this game and I think my students should try it,” that would probably be okay but if you’re doing your lesson plan and you plan for them to play it every semester you teach it, some of the leniency goes away (or at least gets harder to defend). This is how fair use works for e.g., photocopying a chapter from a textbook that you don’t want to require just for that one chapter.
Typically, my advice to faculty that want to do other legally gray things, like rip a DVD and post clips in their class in the online learning environment, is to just ask the publisher for permission, but that’s not likely to get you very far in this case because many game publishers (e.g., Nintendo) are 100% unfriendly to emulation.
If having them play a physical copy in class isn’t an option, I think your best bet would be to have a physical, legit copy of the game for checkout at the university library and then encourage your students to play their own copies at home. I assume most of them will just emulate it and the physical copy will still be available for any legal sticklers. You can also link them to specific spots in Lets-Play/Long-Play videos, which insulates you from the entire issue.[/QUOTE]
Wow, thank you for this response! I appreciate your advice.
I’m thinking that in the future I’ll have some more funds to acquire consoles, but since this is the first year I want to keep the budget as small as possible.
No matter what, I want more professors like you and less laws like the ones we currently have.
Regards
[QUOTE=PixelGordo;46234]No matter what, I want more professors like you and less laws like the ones we currently have.
Regards[/QUOTE]
Thanks, I appreciate that. This is a life long dream for me as I grew up playing games all the time (still do) and feel lucky I get to do it. I had to submit a bunch of proposals for classes and I was hoping the time one would get picked but was surprised when it was. I am in the film department but where I went to grad school combined it so I pitched it as a way to grow the department.
Yeah, I think it’s a great way to grow the department. The lines between film and video games are getting increasingly blurry, so it makes sense to learn about both at the same time.
I suspect it will be a very popular class 
I’d take that class, in a heartbeat.
I’m fascinated by the parallels of the early film industry, and it’s utter lack of preservation, to the video game industry. Not to mention this NONSENSE social stigma that treats gaming as somehow beneath that of media like film.
for example, it’s commonly accepted that being a “movie buff” is an interesting quality in a person. Yet, being a “game buff” isn’t a thing, you are a grown man playing with electronic toys…
I could go on forever, but I wont.
Point is, your class sounds awesome, and I’m jealous haha.
[QUOTE=hunterk;46244]Yeah, I think it’s a great way to grow the department. The lines between film and video games are getting increasingly blurry, so it makes sense to learn about both at the same time.
I suspect it will be a very popular class :)[/QUOTE]
I hope so! The department seems behind it as they are going to promote it heavily.
[QUOTE=SkyHighGam3r;46245]I’d take that class, in a heartbeat.
I’m fascinated by the parallels of the early film industry, and it’s utter lack of preservation, to the video game industry. Not to mention this NONSENSE social stigma that treats gaming as somehow beneath that of media like film.
for example, it’s commonly accepted that being a “movie buff” is an interesting quality in a person. Yet, being a “game buff” isn’t a thing, you are a grown man playing with electronic toys…
I could go on forever, but I wont.
Point is, your class sounds awesome, and I’m jealous haha.[/QUOTE]
Agree with you wholeheartedly. I did a podcast for about ten years and ran a video game site along with it all through college (undergrad and grad) and one of my primary things was that games are an art form just like movies. That is much more accepted now than it was back then at least.
Glad you think the class sounds good. I’m really happy with the response I’ve gotten on this forum. I may bounce some ideas off you guys when I get more in depth with the syllabus. Class doesn’t start until Spring.
Yeah, let us know how it goes!
For the legality aspect, you might want to see if you can get a sitdown with your university’s legal counsel and run some scenarios by him/her. IANAL and tend to be overly cautious about that sort of thing.
[QUOTE=hunterk;46384]Yeah, let us know how it goes!
For the legality aspect, you might want to see if you can get a sitdown with your university’s legal counsel and run some scenarios by him/her. IANAL and tend to be overly cautious about that sort of thing.[/QUOTE]
Good idea. Thanks.