First: IANAL. While scouring the internets today, I came across what initially seems like an invaluable resource for game developers wishing to pursue forming a business. These documents seem to be a stepping stone for us programmer types who have spent their youth coding rather than poring over business legalities. The website I came across is http://www.atyourbusiness.com/. Has anyone used this resource? What were your findings? I'm posting this in the hopes of assisting those who (like me) find it difficult to research some business-related topics due to lack of knowledge of correct terminology. In all cases, please consult with a legal authority before you enter into any sort of binding contract! Thanks for reading...

Far better sites:
http://www.gameattorney.com/ (click the GameDevKit to go to:)
http://www.gamedevkit.com/
http://www.obscure.co.uk/articles-2/

Even better idea: get a lawyer to tailor your agreements to suit your needs. :)

If you can't afford one, you can't afford to enforce your contract. Which makes the contract worth exactly the amount of the paper it's written on.

Let's revise the question to come from a lawyer with no clue about video games:

"Is there a website that magically codes my ideas into fantastic games by simply entering the text of my brain farts into a box and hitting enter? I am not all into learning programming as I day dream about video games at my boring office job all day. Wouldn't that be awesome?"

Sarcasm off. As a resource, I would rank the website as terrible. The form agreements are a joke. My opinion is you get what you pay for and if you want professional looking contracts that accomplish what you want, then pay a professional to create them for you. Good luck!

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Original post by madelelawIf you can't afford one, you can't afford to enforce your contract. Which makes the contract worth exactly the amount of the paper it's written on.

Nonsense. The games industry is absolutely rife with threats and posturing but almost nothing actually ends up in court. Prevention is far better (and cheaper) than litigation. Now the agreements in question might be great or they might be rubbish - I haven't read them and don't currently need them - but the notion that you shouldn't try to get good contracts and protect yourself unless you can afford to go to court is ridiculous. You should get good contracts and protect yourself precisely to prevent yourself going to court.

Rule of thumb for most attorneys: while you should always work to avoid trial, you must never be afraid to litigate.

Same rule applies here. Contracts are useful in that they set out the expectations of the parties, but unless you are able to say "if you breach the contract I'm going to sue you," then your contract is worth very little. All those "threats" and "posturing" you mention are effective because the people making those threats can back them up with well paid attorneys.

You go into a deal expecting everything to work out. If it doesn't, you need to be prepared to fight to enforce the contract. If you're going to go through the trouble of getting everything written down, you need to a) make sure everyone is on the same page, and b) make sure you can protect yourself if the excrement hits the proverbial fan.

A contract doesn't prevent you from getting screwed unless you can enforce it. While it can clear up some honest misunderstandings, they offer absolutely no protection against dishonest people unless you can enforce the terms.

Getting back on point: the only "form" site I've ever found to be of any use is OneCLE. Bear in mind that one business's form agreement will not necessarily meet all of the needs of another.

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Original post by sybixsus Nonsense. The games industry is absolutely rife with threats and posturing but almost nothing actually ends up in court.

Nonsense.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23206
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1707/call_of_duty_the_lawsuit.php
Just to cite two highly visible examples that have wound up in court.