First question and one that has been bothering me for a while is how does one protect their game that they made or artwork that they created?
Second question deals with the market place specifically signing up to be a seller. If you sell something on the market place that you and you alone created do you just use your SSN? Just want to make sure I fill that portion right so I don’t get one of those nasty phone calls, letters or knock on my door from the IRS.
As for the first question, you have rights to anything you make, and can take legal action against anyone that is redistributing your game without permission, or doing anything that they do not have rights to do. Unfortunately there is full-proof way to protect your game from being pirated, but there is still plenty you can do in other areas.
Do you even bother copyrighting it?
That is arbitrary, you have rights to anything you make, though it pretty much has to be somewhat original/uniquely identifiable.
If you are talking about protecting youre assets, like 3d models and so on, then these are safe when the game is cooked. As far as i know, people can’t extract the .uassets out of a cooked game.
There are entire sections of websites dedicated to uploading/downloading cooked content. It’s how a lot of fan-art/mods are made. Like anything, you can find a way to extract data out of a packaged game. Some harder than others. People have already extracted Mortal Kombat X models (which is UE4 tech).
However, protecting your game is hard to do completely. Like others have said, you have automatic protection against theft of your work. Adding Copyrights, and Trademarks however make the process a thousand times easier to “prove” that you own it if you ever go into a lawsuit. It’s a very legal paper-trail that helps you out. But even if you don’t have it, and you’re capable of proving that the work is your own you technically have the legal system on your side…However, it’s still an expensive process that you have to pay for and thus not a catch-all.
You’ll have to clarify a bit more I think on your second question. If you’re just talking about tax/income info, usually you have to make a certain amount before you claim it as “income” on your taxes.For the U.S I want to say $600, but it’s been a while since I made a few hundred dollars from a “self-employed” job to even remember.