YouTube, soon to be persona non grata amongst gamers.
Update: Blizzard instruct Youtube users to “contest” matches on videos – Claims flood in
An upcoming change to YouTube policy has prompted scores of copyright claims on “Let’s Play” and similar videogame related videos across the Google-owned platform. TubeFilter has a run-down on how channels (particularly those marked as “Affiliate”) will be subject to pre-screening in order to hunt for copyright infringing aspects.
The problem, of course, is that YouTube is not great at determining what constitutes a legitimate copyright claim. IncGamers has fallen foul of this a few times, most memorably when an interview with David Brevik was flagged. This was footage of Paul (stood off-cam with a clearly labelled IncGamers mic) talking to Brevik in a corridor at GamesCom, so quite what the “infringement” was there is a mystery. Unless David Brevik is a wholly owned subsidiary of a major corporation.
The Brevik video is still “awaiting further review,” more than a year later.
You might also recall the nonsense involving YouTube broadcaster TotalBiscuit and his review of Day One: Garry’s Incident. In that case, the developers had provided a review copy of the game to TotalBiscuit, then decided to flag his video for copyright reasons when it turned out to be a rather negative critique of the title.
TubeFilter has word of a great many copyright claims being made in anticipation of YouTube’s new policies, some of which appear to be coming from dubious third-party accounts (an easy way to thwart your YouTube competition.) This is a big deal for those who make revenue from YouTube advertising, as a flagged video cannot earn any money. Worse, once you’ve had ‘three strikes’ against a channel, further restrictions are put in place.
Until this is sorted out, the service is in chaos for the hundreds of channels that cover videogames.
