Is it legal for a 16-year old like me to sell a game here? Thread

Hello! I'm new here at Desura, so please tell me if I'm doing something wrong.

I've been making free games for a while now, and I'm interested in using Desura's services for selling my game. By the way, I'm not really planning to make "big" money. I just want to get started and get a feel of how it works.

Anyway, here's my question: Is it legal/safe for a 16-year old like me to sell a game here on Desura? Also, are there other things I should know about? Such as taxes, copyright, etc.?

I really hope you guys could answer my question.

Hello welcome to the community,
Making games is pretty cool and im happy to hear you have made some before your even thinking of selling games.
I recommended you get a parent/guardian to help you sort this rather then a online forum.
(perhaps a teacher ?)
Ayways take care and keep up the good work.

Being a minor, you'd need to put a free game up on here, you can't legally collect profit. I'd get some help from someone experienced in the feild of copy right law and stuff before publishing, even for free. Escpecially if you used resource(s) made by someone else in your game.

Couldn't you just get your parents to sell it for you?

Someone wrote: Being a minor, you'd need to put a free game up on here

That doesn't make sense. Then how would summer jobs work? Maybe it's different in the US.

I agree, as someone of a similar age, I've been experimenting with developing games and prototypes without selling them for a good three or so years now. It's all self taught so far, as obviously I'm not quite at an age to seek further education.

Honestly, hold off selling games until you've got a good bit of experience under your belt, release a few free projects. Get well known. Hone your skills and build connections with others, especially if you lack in graphical or musical areas. I imagine attempting to sell a beginner-ish game early on, only to have poor sales and negative reviews (there will always be those who care not to examine who actually developed the game), would be a frustrating way to start out and one that hits on your morale, I guess, too.

Just my thoughts though, from somebody in a similar position to you.

my 2 cents : it is 100% legal UNLESS Desura's terms or Paypal(or whatever paying method you are using) terms prevent you to do so.

Also, mechwarrior24 is right, don't sell a game that isn't worth selling. It is likely to hit your morale and your reputation.
There is 1 way to make sure the game is good enough : ask the community. Release the game in beta and ask your testers if they would pay for it once released, just ask on the forum, etc.

Icarius_54 wrote: Hello! I'm new here at Desura, so please tell me if I'm doing something wrong.

I've been making free games for a while now, and I'm interested in using Desura's services for selling my game. By the way, I'm not really planning to make "big" money. I just want to get started and get a feel of how it works.

Anyway, here's my question: Is it legal/safe for a 16-year old like me to sell a game here on Desura? Also, are there other things I should know about? Such as taxes, copyright, etc.?

I really hope you guys could answer my question.

Desura rep here, yes you are fine to do so. However releasing a game requires commitment.

You need to do these things.

• Have a bank/paypal account
• Pass our QA for your game
• Maintain your profile and game after release
• Support your customers with troubleshooting
• Make sure your folks are ok with this

If that is all done then there is no issues.

Henley wrote:
Desura rep here, yes you are fine to do so. However releasing a game requires commitment.

That's nice to hear. But I'll follow mechwarrior24's advice to hold off selling games until I'm more experienced. Maybe someday I'll sell a successful game here, but that day is not today.

Anyways, thank you guys for answering my questions!

I should jump in and point out that your local laws also apply.