Paul-Andre Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Hey, I'm 17 and I'm starting to look into html5 game development as a way to actually make some money. That said, I have noticed that being under-aged seems to be an obstacle, since a lot of game related services, like ad providers, cross promotion, and marketplaces ask you to be major in their terms of service. And that's not even considering that I can't even make myself a PayPal (here in Canada). What should I do, sign up to these services anyway? What would be the legal implications? According to you, will this be also an obstacle for dealing with publishers? I'm a bit worried, what should I do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezelia Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 You have an exellent opportunity : you have one year to prepare a set of polished games and start marketting in some months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatalfluff Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Wait one year, or have a parent or guardian sign everything and vouch for it. Don't get yourself a lifetime paypal ban by doing something stupid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daikrys Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 you could ask your parents to take care of anything that you cant do cause youre underaged, dont know how this is in canada but here in germany you could even launch a business when your parents sign up for this (for taxes reasons i recommend create a business) since youre underaged this could also requires that contracts from publishers are sign by one of your parents too (like you sign first and then second the legal guardian) as for services it shouldnt be a problem while you running a business Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-Andre Posted July 29, 2013 Author Share Posted July 29, 2013 You have an exellent opportunity : you have one year to prepare a set of polished games and start marketting in some months Yeah, it's true. I'll consider that! as for services it shouldnt be a problem while you running a business Now, what would creating a business do? I do not know much about legal stuff. For example, if I would wish to submit a game to the chrome web store, what would I do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daikrys Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 normally since youre underaged a legal guardian have to sign the business contract to, this means that not only you but also your guardian is holder of the company somehow, when it comes to law the guardian standing in the frontline for you basicly means if you mess up everything they have to pay, but this also means that anything you do can be done in the name of the business that further means that you surpass being a minor and can everything do what an adult could do (only business related stuff dude, no drinking! ;> ) i dont know if this works in other countrys the same but i think in most aspects it should, it would also be helpful to ask someone whos working in the office that take care of the business contracts etc.if you still in any doubt i also recommend you pay a small fee and contact a lawyer that is suited for business stuff, bet he can help you out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-Andre Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 Sorry for bringing this back up. I'm still not quite sure how having a business will change anything. Do I have to explicitly state that I'm doing something, like signing up for a service, in the name of my business? Also, I have found this in the Mozilla OS Developer Agreement and I'm not sure what it means: You must be at least 18 to be a Developer of Marketplace Content or have your parent consent, supervise and interact with our services on your behalf. Any clues to what exactly it is telling me to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daikrys Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 well you often have a company field and this would make it legal, cause even if you sign with your name you also sign up with your companys name and any dmg you do falls back to your company not to you directly (still depends of what you are doing but you get the idea) in the Mozilla OS Developer Agreement they say that if you arent 18 then your parents need to agree with what you doing and have to check anything what you doing cause if you do something wrong (this also includes if you sign up without telling your parents) they take any consequence from your actions (but well if you old enough you also can take some consequences :>) its just a backup for them to write this stuff, they have to take care of any actions on their platform to be legal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murzy Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 The question however is that how many of the publishers are willing to go through the extra hassle if you are a minor that cannot (yet) take full consequence from your actions at least from the legal point of view. Of course this is something you can overcome if you make such games that the publishers are truly interested in them. But if you are trying to sell your games through, being a minor surely isn't a strenght in your selling points! If you are 17 now, its probably worth the wait... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daikrys Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 The question however is that how many of the publishers are willing to go through the extra hassle if you are a minor that cannot (yet) take full consequence from your actions at least from the legal point of view. Of course this is something you can overcome if you make such games that the publishers are truly interested in them. But if you are trying to sell your games through, being a minor surely isn't a strenght in your selling points! If you are 17 now, its probably worth the wait... dont see the point of extra work for publishers, its just that the legal guardian signs or you can sign while the business head is the legal guardian and you got his/her permissioni personally wouldnt wait, its also good training to go trough the whole law process cause it wouldnt be the last time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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