I plan on starting a game company in a few years. However, I also want to make Minecraft mods, maps, animations, and livestreams, as well as run two Minecraft servers (one vanilla and one modded), on the side, and those servers would be rented (hosted on a site such as Apex Hosting). I also want to use Patreon for the side job of being a Minecraft content creator. Would that constitute a conflict of interest even if I do not pay any money directly to the developers of Minecraft?
Would having a gaming YouTube channel while also running a game company be a conflict of interest?
BradleyAuerbach said:
Would having a gaming YouTube channel while also running a game company be a conflict of interest?
No.
BradleyAuerbach said:
I also want to make Minecraft mods [monetized via] Patreon
Still no conflict of interest.
BradleyAuerbach said:
Would that constitute a conflict of interest even if I do not pay any money directly to the developers of Minecraft?
The only legal concern is making sure you don't tread on the toes of the Minecraft creators. If they permit modding, then that has nothing to do with your YT channel. Or does it? How do you see a conflict of interest as your main concern?
Author
@undefined I would be giving free advertising to a competing game developer pretty much, effectively supporting the competition.
@BradleyAuerbach A “conflict of interest” is not by itself a problem. An undisclosed conflict of interest is a problem, if the non-discloser stands to gain from holding the connection secret. For example, a reporter who recommends a stock purchase, and doesn't disclose that they have a position in the stock, may be accused of trying to pump prices so they can sell. There are also some narrow cases in law (mostly civil/contract law) where conflict of interest may end up being a real problem. Given that you're not making any such contracts, you don't have a problem. And if you produce media, and disclose what parts are “yours,” (and also, what parts are not!) then you should be fine.
The most important thing, is to do the thing and sticking with it. “Sticking with it," or rather, the lack thereof, has killed 100,000 promising ideas. Conflict of interest -- Maybe it's killed two? Maybe? And you can usually solve the problem by disclosing, if a problem does arise.
BradleyAuerbach said:
I would be giving free advertising to a competing game developer pretty much, effectively supporting the competition.
And, since you are the developer who might be affected by the competition, that's only a problem if you deem it to be a problem, I would say. If you're comfortable with giving advertising to a competing dev., then I see no problem with your doing so!
That said… What sort of game(s) are you thinking of making? Do you intended anything that's at all like Minecraft? If not, then I'd further argue that they're not really your competition, as you're developing different types of work.
There are three ways in which a conflict of interest can be a problem: it can be illegal, it can be unethical, and it can interfere with your ability for effective action as you need to balance your various contradictory goals.
In your particular case, you don't need to worry about it being illegal, and you probably don't want need to worry about it being unethical. But only you can tell if pursuing these different goals at the same time is a problem for you. I know that I personally wouldn't want to split my attention like that.
Author
@undefined I will mostly be making RPG/simulation games as well as mobile games, and the graphics will be 2D or 3D (not retro-looking pixel art or voxels) The only two games even remotely similar to Minecraft (only in graphics style (voxel)) are a voxel life simulator and a gamified Education platform.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
