Policy Primer on Kongregate for NET303

1. NET303 Policy Primer
Jocelyn Peucker, 2011
Terms of Use, Privacy and Conduct
NET303 - Kongregate Policy Primer by Jocelyn Peucker is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.

2. Kongregate is an
online free-
gaming
platform, that is
self-proclaimed
as “one of the
best game
portals”
(Kongregate, 201
1a).
Image ‘Coaster Racer’ shared by Melhores Jogo (2010)

3. At any one time, over 56,000 users could be
playing any of the 49,000+ free games!
Screen capture by J. Peucker (Kongregate, 2011d)

4. At Kongregate (2011a) you can ...
a. Play-for-free any of the 49,000+ games
b. Join its online community
c. Earn badges and challenge friends
d. Upload your own flash created games (and
make money)

5. And registration is easy ...
You can register in less than
a minute and you “agree to
adhere to our Terms of
Service”
(Kongregate, 2011b)

6. But you must be
at least 13 years
old (Kongregate
2011c).
Image ‘Baby Bearded Dragon’ shared by Brenbot (2008)

7. Screen capture by J. Peucker (Kongregate, 2011e)

8. But how many
actually read and
understand it?
And if you did, it
would definitely take
longer than a minute
to register.
Screen capture by J. Peucker (Kongregate, 2011e)

9. • Kongregate’s “Terms of Service” is also titled
as “Terms of Use”
• Using the Kongregate site is conditional to
“your use of any account you create at the
Site” (Kongregate, 2011c).
• If you don’t understand them, then you could
find yourself in a spot of bother.

10. What do the
terms mean?
Image ‘Dictionary’ shared by enter (2005)

11. Content
This section is about the site – not your user-
added content, such as discussion forums
content and online active chats.
Basically, as a member, everything you see
(games, icons, images etc.) belongs to
Kongregate and its third-party licensors.

12. Just because you can play the games ...
does NOT mean you OWN the game!
Image ‘ Streetart’ shared by Karl and Foto (2011)

13. As a member, you
cannot sell any of the
games or other site
content to anyone
(not even your best
friend – or enemy)
Image ‘...ever!’ shared by Gwen Harlow (2005)

14. Posting User Content
This section is about you, and what you can
do on the Kongregate site as a member.
Screen capture by J. Peucker (Kongregate, 2011g)

15. Subject to
Kongregate’s
“Terms”, you may be
able to ...
Chat with others and
submit
text, files, images, ph
otos, videos, sounds,
and more
Image ‘Internet’ shared by Deepakgajjar (2009)

16. BUT.....
Be careful what you
do and how you do
it!
Image ‘warning sign icon’ shared by The People
from the Tango Project (2007)

17. Your ‘Freedom of Expression’ is limited.
By creating an account, you automatically
agree to play nice with all the other users.

18. Therefore, if you post any content that is ...
“unlawful, harmful, tortuous, defamatory, libellous, o
bscene, invasive of the privacy of another
person, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, racis
t, infringing, or otherwise objectionable or
inappropriate” (Kongregate, 2011c)
... then your account may be deleted and you
will lose access to the site.

19. Other user
content limitations
include ...
Image ‘Joshua Tree National Park: Climber on Driving Limitations (5.8) on Billboard
Buttress at Indian Cove’ shared by Jarek Tuszynski (2008)

20. No Violations of
Third Party Rights –
DON’T upload
content that is NOT
yours!
Image ‘No Legal Threats’ shared by Audriusa (2006)

21. No viruses,
No corrupting files, and ...
No cheats
Image ‘Game cheats’ shared by Bousure (2010)

22. Do not share your account with others, either
temporarily or permanently
Image ‘Sharing’ shared by Andy Woo (2006)

23. The Kongregate team are not gods.
They usually do not pre-approve postings.
If you are being abusive in any way, other
members can report you (and you really don’t
want that to happen) so, again ... play nice with
others.
If you happen to see others abusing the
“Terms”, you can report them.

24. “YOU are responsible
for YOUR User
Content”
(Kongregate, 2011c).
Image ‘Danity Kane’ shared by NYCAuthor (2006)

25. Nothing
is
PRIVATE
Image ‘Private’ by synx508 (2009)

26. The nature of this Site is interactive
and public (Kongregate, 2011c).
Image ‘Interactive urban media public game’ by Aram Bartholl (2006)

27. “Any materials, ideas or other
communications you transmit in any
manner and for any reason will not
be treated as confidential or
proprietary” (Kongregate, 2011c).

28. As a member, you retain ownership
to everything you post and you can
still use your OWN content in any
way that you choose.

29. However, as a
member, you authorise
Kongregate to publish
your content
anywhere, and
any time
Image ‘Crystal Clear App Icon’ by Everaldo whilst your content is
Coelho and YellowIcon (2007) shared by Pngbot
online.

30. As long as....
the content published does not violate
the “Terms” nor does it “violate the
privacy rights, publicity
rights, copyrights, contract rights or any
other rights of any person”
(Kongregate, 2011c).

31. You retain the right to
delete your own content
at any time.

32. Account Termination/No Ownership of Account
You have NO ownerships rights to your account.
Your account and your content may be deleted at any
time...
without notice ...
especially if you violate their “Terms”.
Kongregate is not liable for any loss of your content

33. So ....
Play nice
and have FUN!
Image ‘Boombot - Completed Level
50’ shared by Andy Baio (2008)

34. References
Audriusa. (2006). No Legal Threats. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No_legal_threats.png
Baio, A. (2008). Boombot - Completed Level 50. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waxpancake/2793366769/
Bartholl, A. (2006). Interactive urban media public game [Image]. Retrieved
from http://www.flickr.com/photos/bartholl/241608120/
Bousure. (2010). Game cheats. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30430801@N06/4394862346/
Brenbot. (2008). Baby Bearded Dragon. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brenbot/2721079251/
Coelho, E.& YellowIcon. (2007). Crystal Clear App Icon. Shared by Pngbot.
[Image]. Retrieved from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Clear_app_Internet_Connection_Tools.png

35. Deepakgajjar. (2009). Internet. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://technology.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/89537/
Enter. (2005). Dictionary. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/enter/11960491/
Harlow, G. (2005). ...ever!. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwen/46257591/
Jogo, M. (2010). Coaster Racer - img 01. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seletopo/5196239659/
Karl & Foto. (2011). Streetart. [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karlundfoto/6039281586/
Kongregate. (2011a). About Kongregate. Retrieved from
http://www.kongregate.com/pages/about
Kongregate. (2011b). Sign up free! Earn points and badges in thousands
of games. Retrieved from http://www.kongregate.com/accounts/new
Kongregate. (2011c). Kongregate Terms of Use. Retrieved from
http://www.kongregate.com/pages/terms
Kongregate. (2011d). over 56,000 users could be playing any of the 49,000+.
[Image]. Screen capture by J. Peucker – 23rd October 2011. Retrieved
from http://www.kongregate.com/

36. Kongregate. (2011e). Kongregate Sign In. [Image]. Screen capture by J.
Peucker – 23rd October 2011. Retrieved from
http://www.kongregate.com/accounts/new
Kongregate. (2011f). Kongregate Terms of Use. [Image]. Screen capture by J.
Peucker – 23rd October 2011. Retrieved from
http://www.kongregate.com/accounts/new
Kongregate. (2011f). Kongregate Forums. [Image]. Screen capture by J.
Peucker – 23rd October 2011. Retrieved from
http://www.kongregate.com/forums
NYCAuthor. (2006). Danity Kane - Here's pointing at you, baby. [Image].
Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycarthur/274968125/
synx508. (2009). Private. [Image] Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/synx508/3313646977/
The People from the Tango Project. (2007). Warning sign icon. [Image].
Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dialog-warning.svg

37. Tuszynski, J. (2008). Joshua Tree National Park: Climber on Driving
Limitations (5.8) on Billboard Buttress at Indian Cove. [Image].
Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joshua_Tree_-_Driving_Limitations.jpg
Woo, A. (2006). Sharing. [Image] Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wooandy/220929743/