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Massive Gaming YouTube Channels Getting 100s of Flagged Videos Continuously

djshauny

Banned
Im all for it.

They dont own the content and some have made a LOT of money from doing it.

Suprised that its gone on for this long to be honest.
 

Frolow

Banned
From what someone who I know is under Polaris.... from what he said on twitter, he is fine and he is smaller then other channels. So all their people are automatically managed state it seems aka.... good to go.

That's good to hear. A lot of quality youtubers are partnered with Polaris and it would be sad to see their videos get screwed up.
 

epmode

Member
I understand why misguided companies get up in arms about videogame videos but seeing some of you defend their shortsighted corporate interests is amazing. Not that I'm surprised.
 
I just removed all my videos. I never monetized them but they did get me to around 2,000,000 views and 400 subs. They were just trailers I liked organizing for different games. This was before stuff got so serious, My account name means a lot to me and even though I never got any strikes and probably wouldn't since I never tried to make money off of it I figured it's about time to let them go.
 
Depends on how good the monetization options are on other sites; youtube seems to be the king on this.

Then again, other sites still have to obey the DMCA in america; it's just that youtube took the dmca and added their own systems to make publishers control of their work easier.
Appreciate the response
 

ViciousDS

Banned
I would love for a movement to drop youtube as its only good for viewers (awful video compression) and move somewhere else.

I cannot wait for the day we move to a better website of superb video quality through hosting videos.
 

mrdark

Banned
so you think Vinny from giantbomb playing through dark souls shouldn't get any money for doing it?

or that a tournament streamer shouldn't be able to earn something out of his stream?

No, they shouldn't. Was that a trick question? I feel like it was too easy.
 

Mesoian

Member
Depends on how good the monetization options are on other sites; youtube seems to be the king on this.

Then again, other sites still have to obey the DMCA in america; it's just that youtube took the dmca and added their own systems to make publishers control of their work easier.

Though that often results in closures of channels from people who have nothing to do with the companies who actually own the material. I'm reminded of those Persona 3 and 4 channels that were taken down by a Russian singer who used the name "Persona" who still don't have their channels back, even after the singer closed her Youtube account.

Youtube's system is a bad system that needs a gigantic amount of revamping, that they are unwilling to do.

No, they shouldn't. Was that a trick question? I feel like it was too easy.

Do you actually think that, or do you not care. Because there is a difference.
 
This seems like a complex issue and so far threads about it are just each side trying their hardest to troll the other.

I think the bottom line is that this is something that can't continue to exist unchecked/uncorrected. I respect the hustle though.
 

J-Tier

Member
Im all for it.

They dont own the content and some have made a LOT of money from doing it.

Suprised that its gone on for this long to be honest.

Lets punish all the "lets play" youtubers. Including those with genuine content and a serious amount of work put into production qualities. They're scum for making all that undeserved money.

[/s]
 

AppleMIX

Member
lol. Livelihoods. Okay.

It was a bubble. Anyone who thinks you could make a profit off of playing a developers game forever was daft. Take those goofy voices and ridiculous personas and head to Hollywood if you're that obsessed with being on camera.

You don't need/aren't entitled to the game footage to talk about or have a monetized video about gaming. If you want to monetize then there should be an option to license the content for a percentage from the developer.

So are the Rifftrack guys not allowed to make money because they're talking about movies? How about Mystery Science theater?

More over, this doesn't only effect just Let's Players. People who make reviews on Youtube are also getting claims.

You don't have to like Let's but they're very good as informing the consumer.
 
This is fucking bullshit. A mod I worked on last year got some really decent exposure because of Let's Play channels, and something we were hoping to capitalize on with our debut indie game, as it's essentially free advertising! I understand that bigger companies might have their jimmies rustled (greed $$$$), but it really screws over the tiny teams who are able to get a platform and a voice through these channels when they normally couldn't rely on getting attention off the back of traditional games journalism.

Every single person I know in indie development considered streamers/LP's a godsend and encourages it because otherwise, you may just get buried underneath the volume of games that exist out there. The issue of them earning money off using my content is completely irrelevant.

Really bad news.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
That's how it was from 2006 to 2010 and there was already quality video game content. No YouTuber was complaining about not getting paid for “work”.

When you do something as a hobby, you typically do not complain that you are not being paid.

If you turn that hobby into a successful business (often quitting your day job) only to have a regulatory intervention years later tell you you can no longer earn money from your business, that's a pretty serious problem for you.

It kind of seems like you have a normative judgment on whether or not YouTubers should be paid and you're using that to make claims about how their complaints are unjustified, totally ignoring that whether or not they should be paid, they are being paid and it's the disruption of income that is the issue.
 

hwy_61

Banned
so you think Vinny from giantbomb playing through dark souls shouldn't get any money for doing it?

or that a tournament streamer shouldn't be able to earn something out of his stream?

Doesn't Giant Bomb make it's money from subscribers? That Dark Souls feature is premium IIRC.
 

mrdark

Banned
This seems like a complex issue and so far threads about it are just each side trying their hardest to troll the other.

I think the bottom line is that this is something that can't continue to exist unchecked/uncorrected. I respect the hustle though.

This place is like the gang from Always Sunny in forum format. They just escalate a situation from 0 straight to 10 in outrage without any stops in between.
 

Mesoian

Member
So are the Rifftrack guys not allowed to make money because they're talking about movies? How about Mystery Science theater?

More over, this doesn't only effect just Let's Players. People who make reviews on Youtube are also getting claims.

You don't have to like Let's but they're very good as informing the consumer.

Slippery Slope example because those guys DO have to get permission from those studios in order to do what they do. There's a reason there was a hard stop on Sandy Frank movies towards the middle of MST3K's life.
 

NTom64

Member
So are the Rifftrack guys not allowed to make money because they're talking about movies? How about Mystery Science theater?

More over, this doesn't only effect just Let's Players. People who make reviews on Youtube are also getting claims.

You don't have to like Let's but they're very good as informing the consumer.

A mate of mine got a claim on his video for simply talking about the upcoming 360 MGS game.

It was his voice and a still picture of the game. That's it. The automated system is garbage and a huge detriment to the site.
 

astraycat

Member
No, they shouldn't. Was that a trick question? I feel like it was too easy.

Why shouldn't they? I have no interest in Dark Souls on its own. My interest is in seeing Vinny get demolished.

And tourney streamers are watched for their skill, not the game they play.
 

djshauny

Banned
Lets punish all the "lets play" youtubers. Including those with genuine content and a serious amount of work put into production qualities. They're scum for making all that undeserved money.

[/s]

Serious amounts of work?

Like sitting behind a mic and putting it over gameplay?

Thats not hard work.
 

tehPete

Banned
Lets Plays are essentially a public performance of the produced work; you can't play a radio to the public in a shop for example unless you have the relevant entertainment licence, so it makes sense that they'd try to extend it to these types of videos. I'd imagine that you would be in a much stronger position if your LP videos included commentary or some other original content.

Game companies have been torn between the advertising and revenue this generates for a while, and have realised that they can get YT to essentially let them have their cake and eat it too. I imagine pretty soon the submission service will allow you to add copyright flags for the more common companies, as an honesty practice most likely. They may even offer benefits for those that use it correctly, such as a lower percentage being skimmed.

Edit: Just a thought, but it'd be cool if the companies worked with the LP-ers to bridge the gap; I wouldn't mind having a video flagged and a skim taken if the company met me half-way and provided some cool game-related swag to give away.
 

KoopaTheCasual

Junior Member
This is fucking bullshit. A mod I worked on last year got some really decent exposure because of Let's Play channels, and something we were hoping to capitalize on with our debut indie game as it's essentially free advertising. I get that bigger companies might have their jimmies rustled, but it really screws over the tiny teams who were able to get a platform and a voice through these channels when they couldn't rely on getting attention off the backs of traditional games journalism.

Every single person I know in indie development considered streamers/LP's a godsend and encourages it because otherwise, you may just get buried underneath the volume of games that exist out there.

Really bad news.

I can't believe the amount of people "cheering" for this news. I understand being indifferent to it, but being happy that LPers and many small time devs are getting fucked is appalling
 

patapuf

Member
This is fucking bullshit. A mod I worked on last year got some really decent exposure because of Let's Play channels, and something we were hoping to capitalize on with our debut indie game as it's essentially free advertising. I get that bigger companies might have their jimmies rustled, but it really screws over the tiny teams who were able to get a platform and a voice through these channels when they couldn't rely on getting attention off the backs of traditional games journalism.

Every single person I know in indie development considered streamers/LP's a godsend and encourages it because otherwise, you may just get buried underneath the volume of games that exist out there.

Really bad news.

Won't indie games become more prominent due to this? since it's likely less stuff from the big guys is going to be streamed?

Though, i guess these channels will get less viewers as a whole, which may hurt exposure.
 

TheD

The Detective
OK, but it was their choice that this is their livelihood. No one forced them to quit their day jobs and try to make a living out of video game walkthroughs. We don't have to guarantee it will be a profitable endeavor.

I think it's really hurting games with a single-player focus that you can just go to YouTube and find a complete video of someone playing through the whole game. I mean, even if you accept that those videos exist, it's absurd for someone to be making a career out of talking over someone else's game.

This is long overdue.

What part of this not being just lets plays do you not undertstand?!
 

Mesoian

Member
Serious amounts of work?

Like sitting behind a mic and putting it over gameplay?

Thats not hard work.

You have 0 idea what video production entails.

0 idea. You should just stop now.

the reason they are doing this is because of people like in telltale threads saying they'll just youtube the game.

Those people aren't going to buy the game regardless. And that's not why this is happening.
 
This seems like a complex issue and so far threads about it are just each side trying their hardest to troll the other.

I think the bottom line is that this is something that can't continue to exist unchecked/uncorrected. I respect the hustle though.

There has been abuse from both sides (copyright trolling from content (non-)owners + too easy free money from users who consider their work as fair use when it isn't really) during the last couple years but up until now abuse from the user side had never been called out that harshly. It sure is going to be interesting now.
 

zabuni

Member
So are the Rifftrack guys not allowed to make money because they're talking about movies? How about Mystery Science theater?

More over, this doesn't only effect just Let's Players. People who make reviews on Youtube are also getting claims.

You don't have to like Let's but they're very good as informing the consumer.

Rifftrax buys the rights in the cases they show the movie. Otherwise, they just have an mp3 of them talking, which contains none of the original work. MST3K was the same way.

I don't buy the fair use claims either. When the videos are 1) for profit 2) Not a presentation of facts 3) consist of the entire walkthrough of a game 4) Have caused people, some on this very site, to not pick up the game, you've basically failed every part of the test for fair use.

I doubt any other site would last long without getting hit by dozens of lawsuits.This entire system is to placate the same large corporations, and any other site is going to have to figure out what to do when they come knocking.
 

astraycat

Member
Serious amounts of work?

Like sitting behind a mic and putting it over gameplay?

Thats not hard work.

You'd have to work hard if you wanted people to actually watch your video. There are thousands of Let's Play channels out there, and most of them don't get any views because the people behind the mic aren't providing entertainment enough for their channel to be chosen over another.

And that's just half of the work, the rest goes into editing/compiling the footage to produce a compelling product.
 
How are most of these fair use? While fair use is a reasonable defense to copyright violation in some circumstances, and ultimately has to be arbitrated, many of these videos don't really fit into any of the accepted definitions of fair use. A Let's Play isn't a limited use for commentary/criticism purposes, it's a complete play through of the game. The same goes for the one doing cut-scenes rearranged into little movies.

And if they're making money off the videos, that's a pretty good indication that no reasonable court is going to find these videos a fair use of copyrighted work.

Video games are interactive entertainment. Watching is limited by definition in comparison to playing.
 
OK, but it was their choice that this is their livelihood. No one forced them to quit their day jobs and try to make a living out of video game walkthroughs. We don't have to guarantee it will be a profitable endeavor.

I think it's really hurting games with a single-player focus that you can just go to YouTube and find a complete video of someone playing through the whole game. I mean, even if you accept that those videos exist, it's absurd for someone to be making a career out of talking over someone else's game.

This is long overdue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_(law)

You can make a case that every LP is a transformative work, due to the content of each player (input, interaction, etc.) is uniquely different, as well as the fact that it is ostensibly being done under the guise of critique/commentary/satire.

That said, this opens way too many issues across more than LP's to be justified. It's a reactionary measure, and little more.
 
OK, but it was their choice that this is their livelihood. No one forced them to quit their day jobs and try to make a living out of video game walkthroughs. We don't have to guarantee it will be a profitable endeavor.

I think it's really hurting games with a single-player focus that you can just go to YouTube and find a complete video of someone playing through the whole game. I mean, even if you accept that those videos exist, it's absurd for someone to be making a career out of talking over someone else's game.

This is long overdue.

Honestly I don't really do lets plays. I've done only a few... the videos I've got dinged on are not lets plays minus one. So yeah... it not just about lets plays. Anything with any gaming content footage is getting flagged over time.
 

Sulik2

Member
How are most of these fair use? While fair use is a reasonable defense to copyright violation in some circumstances, and ultimately has to be arbitrated, many of these videos don't really fit into any of the accepted definitions of fair use. A Let's Play isn't a limited use for commentary/criticism purposes, it's a complete play through of the game. The same goes for the one doing cut-scenes rearranged into little movies.

And if they're making money off the videos, that's a pretty good indication that no reasonable court is going to find these videos a fair use of copyrighted work.

Right of first sale. You buy a product, you should have the right to do whatever you want with it. Like make a Let's play video. But lots of the stuff people are reporting is being taken down is very much fair use stuff.
 

EXGN

Member
It is kind of strange that someone can benefit monetarily from playing someone else's work. Not saying people shouldn't be allowed to make the videos, but profiting from ads on those videos? Seems strange.

People don't watch these individuals to see them play the game, they watch for their personalities. The game just happens to be the medium through which they connect.

At any rate, it's kinda gross because many publishers consider Let's Plays as advertising. They pay for advertising campaigns, and these guys are doing it for free for them - they just get the money from third-party ads. The new system is BS though, I would draw parallels to a a company that charges their advertising agency for the advertising their products, it's pretty backward.
 
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