The Great Youtube Purge of '13

[Ash Kingston]

Wait, so the YouTube flagging system, which has been notorious for being a sweltering piece of crap that can be abused like the stereotypical red-headed stepchild... is being abused like the aforementioned stepchild?

You're shitting me.

EDIT: AngryJoe is not very pleased (this is me being polite about it) about the mess that this is causing, and I don't blame him at all.

[The Man They Call Asher]

I wonder if Youtube will even react to the backlash that this has caused or if they'll just keep on going, totally oblivious to it all.

[Ash Kingston]

Dec 12, 2013 3:15:46 GMT -5 The Man They Call Asher said:

I wonder if Youtube will even react to the backlash that this has caused or if they'll just keep on going, totally oblivious to it all.

Seeing as I'm 95% sure that's their S.O.P... probably the obliviousness.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

Dec 12, 2013 3:15:46 GMT -5 The Man They Call Asher said:

I wonder if Youtube will even react to the backlash that this has caused or if they'll just keep on going, totally oblivious to it all.

They'll probably just try to sweep it under the rug and walk away whistling.

Seriously though if this leads to like a mass migration of YT's most popular content creators to other video sites, all I can say is they brought it upon themselves.

[Renslayer]

As long as they quit f***ing with the classic NBA games, I won't be too mad.

[Michael Coello]

Dec 12, 2013 0:13:53 GMT -5 Ash Kingston said:

Wait, so the YouTube flagging system, which has been notorious for being a sweltering piece of crap that can be abused like the stereotypical red-headed stepchild... is being abused like the aforementioned stepchild?

You're shitting me.

EDIT: AngryJoe is not very pleased (this is me being polite about it) about the mess that this is causing, and I don't blame him at all.

Complains and goes off on Youtube.

Posts it on Youtube.

[Ash Kingston]

Dec 12, 2013 8:51:34 GMT -5 Michael Coello said:

Dec 12, 2013 0:13:53 GMT -5 Ash Kingston said:

Wait, so the YouTube flagging system, which has been notorious for being a sweltering piece of crap that can be abused like the stereotypical red-headed stepchild... is being abused like the aforementioned stepchild?

You're shitting me.

EDIT: AngryJoe is not very pleased (this is me being polite about it) about the mess that this is causing, and I don't blame him at all.

Complains and goes off on Youtube.

Posts it on Youtube.

I guess he could have posted it on Vimeo, but would anybody from YouTube (or people who watch his stuff on YouTube) see it if he did?

[Deleted]

An excellent discussion including Adam Sessler, TotalBiscuit and other Youtube personalities, as well as insight from the publisher side, really worth a watch.

[The Ichi]

Honestly, I'd feel sorry for Angry Joe but he's just so, so annoying.

[andrew8798]

Classic Game Room has left youtube because of it

Wind Squid (Mark of CGR)

All I can say at the moment is that it’s absurd. We’ve had content flagged that was sent to us by game publishers who are happy to see their video games reviewed!! The game companies are helping out and we’re fixing what we can on our end. CGR is journalism. We follow the law. This is YouTube’s issue, not the game companies.

You’ll see what Lord Karnage thinks of this soon.

For now at least Mark has now moved to his own site

[Hurbster]

Totalbiscuit goes into detail about this. Well worth a look.

[Deleted]

Alphaomegasin's take

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfqHmotzeKc

[MolotovMocktail]

One thing: how are Let's Play videos not fair use? They serve an educational purpose in instructing people in how to beat the game.

[DZ: WF Legacy]

Heaven forbid they let people in a downed economy make a little extra money based on people wanting to see THEIR PERSONALITY play the game. LPs are a gray area, I understand that, but considering how many of these game companies aren't even behind monetizing this stuff, it's ridiculous. They leave it to YouTube's horrible algorithm to sort it all out. The other day I got a notice on a video of mine that was just me TALKING, without any music, photos or game footage used in it. I came to the conclusion that they based it on a subject line that used the word "Nintendo" in it and flagged it just to be safe. That's what these corporate bullies have done to YouTube.

The simple solution is this: if you detect a specific game, you put a mandatory link to purchase said game below the view counter. It could be an Amazon link, a link to the game's webpage, whatever. You let the people who are spending their time recording, uploading and editing collect the ad revenue. If it's just someone uploading cutscenes or music without adding anything to it or offering some sort of commentary, then the companies take the ad revenue.

If the music industry would get into the 21st century already, they'd allow people to make ad revenue on music used within a certain length for things like credits (not full songs without permission) and use a mandatory purchase link below the view counter to sway people into buying/sampling the music if they liked what they heard. That way people aren't afraid of getting their shit taken down and are more likely to expose an audience to a certain song, potentially causing that song to make some serious money if that video went viral. You can hardly find good music in the mainstream anymore, so some of these artists could really use the exposure. Everyone wins when you do that. Content creators get ad revenue (and this is DIFFERENT if they tried selling those videos with the songs intact, I'm talking strictly streaming here), musicians and record labels get exposure and direct advertising potential.

Instead, everyone is afraid to use copyrighted music, so now we're all using Kevin Macf***ingLeod for everything due to his royalty free business model. It's so insanely short-sighted. Is that where we're heading with games? I've bought several games based on LPs.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Dec 13, 2013 0:28:05 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

One thing: how are Let's Play videos not fair use? They serve an educational purpose in instructing people in how to beat the game.

Because the video itself is 100% copyrighted content.

Let’s Plays are a very different format from reviews or parodies, which only use snippets of copyrighted material in conjunction with entirely new material, all of it edited in such a way as to create a unique entity. People may come for the commentary, but that doesn’t change the fact that the videos still contain hours of unedited footage taken directly from the game.



It's like how Rifftracks can't make money by providing you the video with their audio track.


And for f***s sake, if you're let's playing so that you can make money then you shouldn't even be doing it. It should be for the love of the game, not because of how many people you can get to watch it.

[Sektor]

Dec 13, 2013 1:38:23 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

Dec 13, 2013 0:28:05 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

One thing: how are Let's Play videos not fair use? They serve an educational purpose in instructing people in how to beat the game.

Because the video itself is 100% copyrighted content.

Let’s Plays are a very different format from reviews or parodies, which only use snippets of copyrighted material in conjunction with entirely new material, all of it edited in such a way as to create a unique entity. People may come for the commentary, but that doesn’t change the fact that the videos still contain hours of unedited footage taken directly from the game.



It's like how Rifftracks can't make money by providing you the video with their audio track.


And for f***s sake, if you're let's playing so that you can make money then you shouldn't even be doing it. It should be for the love of the game, not because of how many people you can get to watch it.

Again, movies are the same every single time. Whereas the very act of playing a video game is transforming it into something unique. You and I might play the same game, and the playthroughs might be completely different from each other.

Let's playing in it's current form needs guidelines, absolutely. Playing brand new games on day 1 just to bump the viewership slightly should be against the rules. But this isn't as cut and dry as you're trying to make it out to be. And I don't get this "Do it for the love of the game" mentality. If you're good at something, why shouldn't you be payed for it, if someone is willing to pay you? Especially payment that doesn't come at the expense of anyone else.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

The legal greatness about LPs is actually a perfect example of why copyright laws need to be updated to the modern day. They are outdated.

[MolotovMocktail]

Dec 13, 2013 1:38:23 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

Dec 13, 2013 0:28:05 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

One thing: how are Let's Play videos not fair use? They serve an educational purpose in instructing people in how to beat the game.

Because the video itself is 100% copyrighted content.

Let’s Plays are a very different format from reviews or parodies, which only use snippets of copyrighted material in conjunction with entirely new material, all of it edited in such a way as to create a unique entity. People may come for the commentary, but that doesn’t change the fact that the videos still contain hours of unedited footage taken directly from the game.



It's like how Rifftracks can't make money by providing you the video with their audio track.


And for f***s sake, if you're let's playing so that you can make money then you shouldn't even be doing it. It should be for the love of the game, not because of how many people you can get to watch it.

I see Let's Plays as instructional tools, designed to help people who are struggling with aspects of the game. I rely on them quite a bit when I get stuck. In that regard, it seems like it can qualify as being used for instructional or educational purposes.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

Dec 13, 2013 3:17:37 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

Dec 13, 2013 1:38:23 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

Because the video itself is 100% copyrighted content.

Let’s Plays are a very different format from reviews or parodies, which only use snippets of copyrighted material in conjunction with entirely new material, all of it edited in such a way as to create a unique entity. People may come for the commentary, but that doesn’t change the fact that the videos still contain hours of unedited footage taken directly from the game.



It's like how Rifftracks can't make money by providing you the video with their audio track.


And for f***s sake, if you're let's playing so that you can make money then you shouldn't even be doing it. It should be for the love of the game, not because of how many people you can get to watch it.

I see Let's Plays as instructional tools, designed to help people who are struggling with aspects of the game. I rely on them quite a bit when I get stuck. In that regard, it seems like it can qualify as being used for instructional or educational purposes.

The problem is you are the exception when it comes to Let's Plays. The majority just watch for the person(s) playing the game. The game itself doesn't matter to them.

[Deleted]