Copyright Protection Of Online Game Rules

As an important form of entertainment,online games have gradually penetrated into the daily life of the public and become representatives of emerging industries.With the game market becoming increasingly saturated,in order to achieve the purpose of rapid profitability,in the research and development process,the "copycat" and "skin change" plagiarism has become increasingly serious.In addition to the plagiarism of elements such as game screens,background music,and characters,as the "soul" of online games,the rules of the game,they also face the threat of plagiarism.At present,there is much controversy about whether or not the rules of online games are protected in China.According to the relevant provisions of the Copyright Law,the subject matter of copyright protection is limited to the expression of ideas and not the ideas themselves.Therefore,the key to whether or not online game rules are protectable is to analyze whether they belong to the scope of thought or expression,and further judge whether it is original and reproducible on this basis.Among them,the reproducibility of online game rules is usually not controversial in practice,so this article does not focus on research.This article is divided into six parts:The first part is an overview of the copyright protection of online game rules.Online game rules refer to the rules that guide players to operate in advance during the game.They can be divided into basic rules,specific rules,and hidden rules according to the content.When distinguishing the ideas and expressions of online game rules,combining the dichotomy principle and the specific analysis of the types of game rules,the basic rules are abstract and general rules,and the implicit rules are only useful for players because they lack compulsion,so the above rules belong to the scope of ideology and are not protected by copyright law;while the specific rules belong to the specific expression of the rules of online games,but in the process of protecting them,they should be excluded from the public domain and limited expression.The second to fifth parts are the thoughts and expressions of game rules in different game types.When researching the rules of online games,we should not generalize to the type of game and apply the right medicine.According to different rules,current online games can be divided into simulated reality,strategy,card,and role-playing.Different game types have different rules.Among them,simulation games are often won with realistic effects.Therefore,in the setting of specific rules,reality is often used as a template.Although these rules are specific expressions of game rules,Because it belongs to the public domain,it is excluded from the scope of protection.The biggest feature of strategy games is the player's ability to collaborate in the team.Therefore,the hidden rules and specific rules of the game should be distinguished.Meaning,therefore belongs to the scope of thought,and the setting of character skills and prop-related rules are specific rules,which are protected by copyright law only when they have original characteristics;card games are important in terms of card design and card deck.Among them,the general rules of playing cards and the rules of winning and losing belong to the basic rules.The lack of specific content is the idea,and the specific rules of playing cards and the rules of winning and losing belong to the protection of copyright law.Finally,role-playing games use stories to win,so when judging the rules of the game,you should combine plot and the system set up for the specific analysis,an unprotected part of the expression belong to the above rules when public knowledge of literary works in the background.The last chapter is the summary of this article.The author summarizes the predicament of the protection of online game rules and the reason for its existence,that is,the rules of the game are at the intersection between thought and expression,so there is controversy in distinguishing between thought and expression.In view of this phenomenon,the theory of dichotomy is used as the theoretical support,and the thoughts and expressions of game rules in different game types are specifically analyzed,hoping to help the protection of online game rules.