Depok, May 31st 2023. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) or Intellectual Property (IP) is one of the important things for creative industry players. Without exception, games as a sub-sector of Indonesia’s creative economy, need to pay attention to the importance of IPR when developing game products. In Indonesia, the gaming industry has grown rapidly in recent years due to the industrial revolution 4.0.
According to a lecturer in the Media Production Study Program, Vocational Education Program, Universitas Indonesia Ngurah Rangga Wiwesa, M.I.Kom., games are complex intellectual works since various forms of artwork, such as music, scripts, splits, videos, images, and characters that are combined also involve human interaction when the game is operated. Therefore, games need to be respected as intellectual works that have economic value and legal protection.
In Indonesia, there are already many talents of game developers from the fresh graduate level, especially through initiatives at higher education institutions and self-learning materials. In this case, talent incubation is needed because the adaptation process must be carried out. “The appreciation and protection provided can be realized through intellectual property rights. Preventive protection is also provided through laws for creative industry players to register their games as intellectual property. However, the lack of public awareness and understanding of the importance of IPR has resulted in the implementation of this policy nonoptimal,” said Rangga.
Rangga further said, the lack of knowledge about various forms of copyright infringement in games has resulted in a lot of piracy, which is very detrimental to game developers. In fact, based on Business Software Alliance (BSA) data, the percentage of pirated software use in Indonesia in 2017 was recorded as the second highest for the Asia Pacific region with a total percentage of 83%.
“Efforts from various parties to maximize the potential and increase IPR awareness in game development are urgently needed. These efforts can be carried out through workshops, specific campaigns, FGDs, and incorporating curricula related to the importance of intellectual property rights into formal education so that people are able to appreciate the work of game developers ,” said Rangga.
IPR issues in the 4.0-industrial-revolution-based game industry in Indonesia are a joint task between creators, observers, and consumers of creative industry products. Some improvements are needed both internally and externally, so as to improve the conditions for the application of IPR in the game industry. Rangga said that the improvement that could be made was making clear IPR regulations in the gaming industry, namely IPR protection not only as a discourse or administration, but also needed to be followed up in real terms through criminal and civil law against those who had or were carrying out acts of piracy. In addition, the government’s action of blocking or closing websites that commit piracy must also be accompanied by reporting action first.
The Media Production Study Program at Vocational UI has a curriculum that makes games one of the main focuses in it. In addition, the UI Vocational Media Production Study Program is also active in the Microcredential Game Developer program as UI representatives from ten other universities in Indonesia who also design curricula and develop study programs with five specialization topics, namely Game Artist, Game Project Management, Game Designer, Game Programmer, as well as Educational Game Developer and Capstone Project.
