I am conducting a VR study for PhD I am using a video game for my control condition, do I need permission from the developers of the game? Or would citing the game be enough?
Hi Catarina, I think the short and simple answer is "no". But, as you stated, it's customary to cite the game in any publication.
You might need to get permission from the game developer/publisher if you want to include screenshots of the game in your papers, but the journal/conference should be able to advise you on this - many consider one or two screenshots to fall within fair use, whilst others are more strict and will ask for evidence of permission.
It may be considered as 'fair use' if it is used in a scientifically justified manner.
If the videogame isn't portrayed negatively, it would sure be nice to ask the developer for permission so that the acknowledgements can say 'courtesy of ...'. And maybe you can get some background information about the videogame as well and another contact in your network that might be helpful for future studies.
The short answer is yes. But again, anytime you use images from sources not in the public domain, you must have express written permission from the copyright holder to use that specific image. That's not just true for game developers and researchers, but individuals as well. The US Copyright Office offers a searchable database of works protected by copyright at http://www.copyright.gov/records/ in order to find information about an image used by a game developer or other creator.
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