So I was uploading my latest gameplay video onto YouTube when I noticed my first video was blocked by none other than WBIE. The video in question was my playthrough of Chapters 1-5 and the claim to block the video was copyright issues. Now, I’m not entirely sure why they would do that but after watching a few YouTube videos on copyright and gameplay videos, I have a few theories:
- I monotized my video and that could be a big no-no. I haven’t been able to find a terms of use or something similar online on how WBIE views gameplay content on one of their games. Blizzard has something on their website that seems to me like it’s pretty liberal of the gameplay video community and allows monotization on a limited basis.
- The cutscenes. There is full motion video cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game used as transitions from one stage to another. The cutscenes are pretty high quality and I can only assume they were taking directly from the movie. And since the movie is copyrighted material, I can understand the block.
- They’re just big meanies.
Okay, I honestly couldn’t think of a third reason; but I wonder why game companies would restrict content creators in this way. Blizzard is on one end of the spectrum; they want you to make videos, and will support you in your endeavors with some exceptions of course. Microsoft’s policy is that you are free to post gameplay videos but you can’t monetize off of them; I’m unsure if sponsorship or YouTube Partnership counts as monetization but that’s something I’m not even close to even worrying about. WBIE might have the same policy as Microsoft and my clicking on the monetization button might have done the video in. But why didn’t WBIE just block the monetization and left the video? I know that that is an option because that is how LEGO’s Designer Videos live on the FBTB channel. I can post the videos provided they are shared with me, but I can’t claim any income on those videos. The speed build videos I used to do, some of the songs would be claimed by record labels and any money made from them would go to them instead, so they would leave the video and the audio and just take the money. WBIE’s action to block the entire video seems draconian to me.
I have no problems following the rules; if it was a monetization issue, then lesson learned and I won’t turn that on for any future gameplay videos of WBIE games. If it was the FMV cutscenes, well that’s on you, WBIE. If they just don’t like gamers posting videos of their games, and I can’t imagine that is the reason, then I just have to wonder why. It’s free press! People like your game enough to go through the trouble of not only buying it, and playing it, but spending the time to upload and share. I’ll have to spend some time in the morning doing some googling to see if I can some terms online.
I suppose I could fight it; the video and overlay of me playing and that might fall under fair use. They can’t claim a copyright on me but it’s not a fight worth fighting.
All that being said, the video in question is still on our twitch channel if you’re interested in watching. I’ve posted the latest video on YouTube and embedded up top WITHOUT monetization; let’s see how long it stays.
