This document proposes a Game Jam License to address intellectual property issues that arise from sharing and distributing game projects created during game jam events. It summarizes the sharing practices of early game jams like the Indie Game Jam and Nordic Game Jam. The document discusses limitations of using existing licenses like Creative Commons for game assets and source code. The proposed Game Jam License is designed to promote sharing while allowing contributors to retain commercial rights over modified works. It includes provisions for patents and compatibility with copyleft licenses. Next steps discussed are gathering feedback on the draft license and establishing an ongoing committee to manage the license.

1. Game Jam LicenseAugust 26th, FDG 19
Gorm Lai, Goldsmiths - University of London
Kai Erenli, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna
Foaad Khosmood, Cal Poly
William Latham, Goldsmiths - University of London

2. Game Jams are about
sharing
● Knowledge Sharing
● Working in a team
● Showcasing ideas and work to peers
● Uploading games made to an online location

3. A Small History of
Sharing in Game Jams
● Indie Game Jam
● Nordic Game Jam
● Global Game Jam

4. Indie Game Jam
● First official game jam in history (2002)
● Founded by Chris Hecker and Sean Barret[1]
[1] https://tig.fandom.com/wiki/The_Indie_Game_Jam

5. Indie Game Jam
● Knowledge Sharing
● Showcasing ideas and work to peers
● Games and source code intended to be released under the GPL
● “We'll do the Jam sometime before GDC02, show the games at
the Experimental Gameplay Workshop at GDC, and release
them (and the engine) under the GPL so other game developers
can play with the idea and do some crazy shit of their own”[1]
[1] http://indiegamejam.com/igj0/

6. Nordic Game Jam
● First jam held in 2006.
● Founded by Jesper Juul, Henriette Moos and Gorm Lai[1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Game_Jam

7. Nordic Game Jam● Knowledge Sharing
● Working in a team
● Showcasing ideas and work to peers
● Uploading games made to an online location
● Early version of the Creative Commons,
Attribution-NonCommercial license
● Pioneered the Package upload instructions used by GGJ,
detailing inclusion of licensing, assets, source code, etc.
Originally authored by Jesper Taxbøl

8. Global Game Jam
● First jam held in 2009.
● Founded by Susan Gold, Ian Schreiber, Foaad Khosmood, and
Gorm Lai[1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Game_Jam

9. Global Game Jam
● Nordic Game Jam * 860 in size[1]
● Sharing with the world
● Have been planning a YouTube of Game(Jams). Itch.io has now
effectively done this
● Creative Commons, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0
International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Game_Jam

10. Jammer Questions
● Can I share my game and still own it?
● Does participating in a game jam mean I can’t commercialize
my submissions?
● Can I bundle source and assets that I do not own into my game
submission?
● Can I use closed-source commercial tools to build my game
without compromising ownership of it?
● Am I free to download and modify previous game jam
submissions?
● Can a single license cover source code, assets and art?

11. CC Issues
● Not considered a good fit for source code
● Commercial vs Non-Commercial
● Patents
● License Incompatibility

12. Not a good fit for
source code
"We recommend against using Creative Commons licenses for
software. Instead, we strongly encourage you to use one of the very
good software licenses which are already available” [1].
[1] Creative Commons FAQ. https://creativecommons.org/faq/

13. Commercial vs
Non-Commercial
In principle, the original creators keep commercial rights, but
there are number of issues.
For example. What if:
● a charity / non-profit sells the package?
● the game is used to win a prize or a grant?
● someone works on a derivative version for money?
● the package is given away for free, as part of advertising for a
different game?

14. Patents
● Software patents exist in some parts of the world (for example
the US, but not the EU)
● CC does not include text for dealing with patents
● Other licences such as the Apache License and Mozilla Public
License, have special sections for patents.

15. License
Incompatibility
Except for the CC0 Public Domain Dedication License, and the
CC Attribution-ShareAlike (BY-SA) version 4, which are GPL
compatible, the CC licenses are generally not compatible with
other open source licenses.

16. Solutions
● Splitting the Package
● Using Another License
● Game Jam License

17. Splitting the Package
● Source code and assets could be uploaded in separate
packages, and licensed separately.
● Not practical, even less so with updates.
● Assets and source code are often versioned together
● Some development tools don’t allow this separation

18. Using Another License
We seek a license that:
● covers patents
● is compatible with other major licenses
● does not require the creators of the package to sign away any
rights to the software, commercial or otherwise
● makes sure sharing is permitted and encouraged, by allowing
anyone to download the standard version and learn from its
contents

19. Using Another License
● We already covered the CC series of licences.
● GPL and other Copyleft Licenses are too restrictive
● MIT, BSD, etc are too unrestrictive
● Artistic License does not allow resharing

20. Hybrid Nature of Video
Games
[games] “constitute complex matter comprising not only a com-
puter program but also graphic and sound elements, which,
although encrypted in computer language, have a unique creative
value which cannot be reduced to that encryption. In so far as the
parts of a video game, in this case, the graphic and sound elements,
are part of its originality, they are protected, together with the
entire work, by copyright in the context of the system established
by Directive 2001/29.”[1]
[1] 2014. C-355/12 Nintendo of Europe GmbH. v. PC Box Srl, 9Net Sr. Electronic Report of Court Cases (2014)

21. Game Jam License
● Promotes Sharing
● Contributors retain commercial rights
● License deals with patents
● Compatible with copyleft licenses

22. Promotes Sharing“Copyright Holders of each Game Jam Package grant each other a
royalty-free, charge-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive,
worldwide, transferable license to use, modify, share, make, run,
make-available,redistribute and propagate the Game Package
without Copyright Holder’s prior written permission as long as the
following items are included:
● a copy of the license
● attribution to the original creators (the Copyright Notice),
unless specifically waived by creators
● name and date of the originating Game Jam event (as specified
in the Copyright Notice)”

23. Commercial Rights
“You are permitted to use the Standard Version and create and use
Modified Versions for any purpose without restriction, provided
that you do not Distribute the Modified Version”

24. Game Jam License
● Contributors retain commercial rights
● Standard Package can be distributed commercially
● Modified Package cannot be distributed commercially

25. Patents
“This license includes the non-exclusive, worldwide, free-of-charge
patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import
andotherwise transfer the Game Jam Package with respect to any
patent claims licensable by the Copyright Holder that are
necessarily infringed by the Package. If you institute patent
litigation (including a cross-claim or counterclaim) against any party
alleging that the Game JamPackage constitutes direct or
contributory patent infringement, then this Game Jam License to
you shall terminate on the date that such litigation is filed.”

26. License Compatibility
● The license itself is not copyleft as we wanted to project
jammers’ copyright
● Compatible with copyleft Licenses
● Compatibility could be addressed a greater extent

27. Next Steps
● Discussion of GJL v. 0.1
○ What would you like to see in a licence?
○ What IP questions are you usually asked by jammers?
○ Distinction between types or purpose of distribution?
○ Compatible with more licenses?
● Adoption of license for game jams
● Establish a game jam license committee
○ Call for interested parties