Conference Call for Papers: International Gaming: Laws and Regulations around Games in the Digital Era

Outline

Games have a complicated relationship with the law. 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 stages in a game’s life cycle. At the development stage of the game, intellectual property (IP), including patent, copyright and design protection, must be considered. International legality, age ratings, and infringement must be considered during the publication stage. Once released, 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 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.

The theme of the conference is to explore the dynamic of gaming and the legal/regulatory framework at both national and international levels, from an interdisciplinary perspective.

This conference intends to bring in and curate talks from researchers and law experts in China, the UK/Europe, and beyond, with a focus on research into the laws and regulations involved with international gaming. We hope to bring together researchers from different regions to build a better understanding of the opportunities and barriers to academic and industry collaboration.

Call for Papers

While a priority will be given to IP law, the conference will consider abstracts from all disciplines of law and gaming. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Intellectual property, including live streaming, clones, reskinning, modding and/or fan participations, etc.
• Regulation, including game and/or chat moderation, safety by design, inappropriate content, gambling, state censorship of contents, etc.
• Data privacy
• Legal issues arising from localization/culturalisation/translation
• Legal issues arising from abuse and harassment in games and gaming
• VPNs, illegal downloading of games, etc.
• E-sports
• The metaverse and the future of gaming

Submission

Abstracts of 500 words maximum for 20-minute papers should be submitted here https://forms.office.com/r/Lb3wjsLqzz before 15 July 2022.

While this is a call for papers for the conference, participants are more than welcome to attend the conference without submitting a paper. While admission is free, registration to attend the event is mandatory. To attend the conference without submitting a paper, please fill out this form: https://forms.office.com/r/YqnfQzxFjW

Please contact Dr Hailey Austin (h.austin@abertay.ac.uk) and Dr Angelia Wang (jia.wang2@durham.ac.uk) with any questions.

Conference format

This conference will take place in person at Durham University from 8-9 September 2022. There will be an option for live streaming talks in the morning (UK time) as well as uploading other talks to be distributed after the live event.

Refreshments, lunch and dinner will be provided throughout the conference.

Childcare has been factored into the conference budget. If you are attending the conference in Durham, please indicate on the form that you would like to use the childcare provided by the conference.

Similarly, we have a limited budget to cover the cost of accommodation in Durham. Priority will be given to students, ECRs, unaffiliated or freelance researchers and those who would otherwise be unable to attend the conference. Please indicate on the form whether you would like to apply for a sponsorship of accommodation.

Schedule

15 July 2022 – deadline for submission of abstracts

Early August 2022 – participants notified of successful abstracts

8 September 2022 – first day of conference

9 September 2022 – second day of conference, including day trip and networking session.