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Reset 2047 – A game that teaches you about video game law

On May 26, 2022, Professors Alexandre Lillo and Thomas Burelli, co-holders of the Chair in Pedagogical Innovation in the Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section at the University of Ottawa, launched the culmination of a year’s worth of work on a major creative challenge: transforming a university course on video games into an interactive game in which you play the part of the hero.

Set in a dystopian version of our Nation’s Capital (known as Neo-Ottawa), Reset 2047 puts players into the shoes of Fred Gallant, a young rookie in the Anti-Video Game Squad who must enforce the 25-year-old Game Over law. In doing so, he explores the twists and turns of the video game industry, from the creation of games and their consumption, to their marketing and their impact on the environment. 

The video game industry has grown tremendously over the past 30 years, generating $119.6 billion in 2018 – more than the film industry! North America is one of the most dynamic regions when it comes to the creation and consumption of video games. But as the field has grown, many legal issues have emerged. The involvement of lawyers has thus become paramount in this field. 

As an adaptation of the DRC 4731 – Video Game Law course, offered as an open online course (OOC), Reset 2047 is a pioneering achievement in the Canadian higher education landscape. It was made possible by a grant from eCampus Ontario as part of its Virtual Learning Strategy, in partnership with the Civil Law Section, Jurivision and La Cité College.  

For the official launch of the game, Professors Burelli and Lillo were joined by their partners who helped bring the game to life: Patrick Walton (artistic director of the project and multimedia specialist at Jurivision), Guillaume Saint-Pierre (programmer), Melitza Charest (scriptwriter and doctoral student in French literature at the University of Ottawa) and Luc Groulx (graphic designer, now a graduate of La Cité College).

The event is moderated by Rachel Nadeau, PhD student in law and content designer, with the special participation of Aline Germain-Rutherford, vice-provost for academic affairs at the University of Ottawa. 

Watch the launch streaming (in French):

Play Reset 2047
References and useful links
About the creators
Thomas Burelli  + Alexandre Lillo 

Thomas Burelli 

Thomas Burelli is a professor of law at the University of Ottawa, Civil Law Section. His areas of expertise are environmental law, natural resources and video game law. He is the co-author of the Learning in Progress website, where he shares the simulations and games he has developed with Alexandre Lillo to teach law. Professor Burelli is the co-holder of the Research Chair in Pedagogical Innovation at the University of Ottawa’s Civil Law Section and is also actively involved in a community of practice dedicated to game-based learning at the University of Ottawa. He has contributed to the creation of open educational resources, such as the Educational Games Group’s (The EGG) e-book Teaching Online Through Games – A Cookbook. More recently, he participated in a project replicating the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law in Minecraft.

Alexandre Lillo 

Alexandre Lillo is a postdoctoral researcher and part-time professor in the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ottawa. He is the co-holder of the Research Chair in Pedagogical Innovation in the Civil Law Section and is the founder and active member of a community of practice dedicated to game-based learning at the University of Ottawa.

Alexandre Lillo has participated in numerous research projects on legal pedagogy and game-based learning. He has contributed to the creation of open educational resources, such as the Educational Games Group’s e-book Teaching Online Through Play – A Cookbook. He is co-author of the Learning in Progress website, an open access platform dedicated to sharing materials for the creation of an international negotiation simulation. He has created numerous game-based activities dedicated to legal education, including escape games, pervasive games, game jams and simulation games. Most recently, he participated in a project that replicated the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law in Minecraft.

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