YouTubers respond to Nintendo's "Creator Program"

[YoshiM]

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/201...eators_program

There's a lot of discussion going on at that site on that topic. A lot of people are stating that "Let's Play" videos, PewDiPie's content and what not constitute as "free advertising" and that Nintendo should just accept it and not try to take a piece of the pie.

To me, it's a murky area-what constitutes "advertising"? Traditionally it promotes the product, making it desirable, fun, etc. However these videos don't really advertise in the classic sense as LP's pretty much show you the whole game, so if it's story based the goods are given and one of the reasons to buy the game is now taken away as you know how it ends. Another point is that not every video really promotes the game but can outright bash it. How does saying a game or even a portion of a game isn't all that grand promoting? Spin off of that would be how foul-mouthed is the host of the video? Does any company want some potty mouth touting their game uncontrolled?

What are your thoughts?

[Greg2600]

Let's Play is no longer fair use I guess, since the videos are so long.

[Leo_A]

What's a PewDiPie?

[YoshiM]

What's a PewDiPie?

He's the biggest (as in #1) YouTuber on, uh, YouTube. Dude makes millions due to his subscriber base. He basically plays games, you watch him and he comments, screams, etc.

[Leo_A]

lol

From the sounds of it, good riddance. I'm glad that he won't be covering Nintendo products, assuming that's the stance he decides to take.

[kai123]

I don't enjoy any of them and they are not creating anything. They are using someone else's assets and acting like asses the entire time. Over privileged YouTube creators piss me off. They hardly ever have information about what they are "reviewing". It blows my mind that people want to watch someone else play games that badly. Thankfully there are people on Youtube who are passionate about the games and don't rely on gimmicks to get you the information you may be looking for. I guess since I am not a kid and can afford to buy the games I want it isn't that appealing to me.

[Tanooki]

They're moochers and CryCry(Please)Die is the worst of them whining like that. I'm sorry but you're not making content when you ape entire games or large parts of them just to throw that crap online other people made to collect a paycheck. He should be happy Nintendo is willing to take a 1/3 or so cut instead of sending him a C&D letter instead because he is just infringing on their stuff, especially him or anyone doing full or large parts of game runs of stuff that are actively sold on the Virtual Console or what not. By showing off the game while it could inspire some to play, it will also inspire some to go -- wow I'm good, and not buy.

[ZeroCool]

Whatever happened to playing games for the fun of it? Where would these people be without getting paid from Youtube?

[kai123]

Whatever happened to playing games for the fun of it? Where would these people be without getting paid from Youtube?

Nope it is all about paychecks for something you didn't even create in the first place. They keep saying it is free advertising but considering EA pays some youtubers to review their products it isn't really free now is it? I also have adblock on all the time. I don't care who you are on Youtube I am not watching ads because you bought a capture card and a webcam.

Games are not about having fun. You can't even play some games without being constantly bombarded if you are online with friends signing in and games reminding you that you can buy the season pass. The immersion is lost on a lot of games because of habits like that. Movies at least don't pop up in the middle and start yapping about buying the t-shirt and the DVD...sometimes haha

[Emperor Megas]

I honestly don't get the appeal of PewDiPie, or whatever his handle is. I'm not a hater, I'm glad he's making a living doing what he does, but I really just don't get it at all.

[Gameguy]

Nope it is all about paychecks for something you didn't even create in the first place.

Just like with Mystery Science Theater 3000 only with video games instead of movies. The trick is to only use content that's in the public domain.


I'm still a bit surprised that people are paid for posting their videos on Youtube, I remember years ago when you got nothing at all for posting videos there. People actually posted content there because they just enjoyed sharing their content and getting attention for it, just having a place that would host your videos for free regardless of bandwidth used was exciting.

That's when Revver and then Blip became popular as they started the whole concept of the poster being paid for their content. Then Revver shut down because nobody bothered going there and Blip changed their policies for posting content forcing everyone normal to switch back to Youtube, including all the people who previously said they were leaving Youtube and never coming back.

[kupomogli]

Whatever happened to playing games for the fun of it? Where would these people be without getting paid from Youtube?

I make Youtube videos but I do it to show off games I like. Sure I'd like to make money, but I don't go out of my way to do so. Most of the games I make videos for are older and aren't very popular to a large audience.

Playthroughs of Vanguard Bandits, Suikoden, Brigandine, Lords of Shadow 2, and Dracula X Chronicles, then part of a playthrough of Mega Man 3 with no special weapons up to the Dark Robot Masters(since I can't beat (all of) them without special weapons and/or energy tanks. Also a few videos of various different things on Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Driver '76, Mobile Suit Gundam Encounters in Space, Ehrgeiz, and DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

[kai123]

Just like with Mystery Science Theater 3000 only with video games instead of movies. The trick is to only use content that's in the public domain.

Exactly and they went off and made Rifftrax which is just the audio of them talking and you turn that on while the movie is playing. So now they have so many modern movies covered it is pretty awesome. So I don't see how people on Youtube think their way is ok but the guys at Rifftrax can't do the same thing. I mean they are talking over it so that means they have all rights to that movie. haha

[Tanooki]

Rifftrax is excellent and a good way to handle that type of stuff. Ever try them out in the actual movies? A few years back I got a free ticket to see Plan 9 From Outer Space broadcast live from TN and it was a riot considering how awful that movie was.

[retroguy]

I've been posting stuff to youtube for a little over a year and as a rule, I don't monetize my channel even though most of what's there is my own original content purely because on the occasions I use preexisting music or footage, I don't want to be accused of making money off of someone else's hard work. I have had third party ads placed on a couple of my videos (like my review of the new Annie remake that used footage from the trailers), but I'm fine with that because I figure it's the equivalent of paying a licensing fee in lieu of actual payment.

[Gameguy]

Exactly and they went off and made Rifftrax which is just the audio of them talking and you turn that on while the movie is playing. So now they have so many modern movies covered it is pretty awesome. So I don't see how people on Youtube think their way is ok but the guys at Rifftrax can't do the same thing. I mean they are talking over it so that means they have all rights to that movie. haha

Rifftrax is excellent and a good way to handle that type of stuff. Ever try them out in the actual movies? A few years back I got a free ticket to see Plan 9 From Outer Space broadcast live from TN and it was a riot considering how awful that movie was.

The thing is it's easy to make an audio track for a movie that you can sync up yourself, it's pretty much impossible to do the same for a video game as it can vary depending on how you play it. The only way is to really have it uploaded with the video of the game being played by the creator of the audio track.

The difference is that games are supposed to be an interactive medium, watching someone else play a game isn't supposed to be good enough as playing it yourself. Just imagine if you watched someone else play Space Invaders or Pong in an arcade and thought, "well, now I don't need to play it as I saw someone else play it."

The main reason I mentioned Mystery Science Theater 3000 which includes Rifftrax was to make a point of people complaining about others making a profit using other peoples' work while adding very little to it. They've been doing it for over 20+ years, long before posting videos on the internet was even a thing. The Youtube people can make a profit with it, but they can't just use whatever footage they want. Not unless they just use Freeware games, essentially what's in the public domain. Or just make videos but without monetizing them, just for fun.

For fans of Rifftrax try looking into Wizard People, Dear Reader by Brad Neely. It's a complete commentary track/narration that syncs up with the first Harry Potter film. The narration is pretty great, including renaming various characters like Hagrid to Haggar the Horrible. It's read like a book on tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjYP...Xa-O9B8599NhiQ

[kai123]

Yea, how did I survive all those years reading reviews instead of watching them. They can do something different but they choose not to. Using something that is in the public domain or getting the rights to use something is completely different to what they are doing. They have a capture card and then write an "angry", "silly", or just plain stupid review of the game.

Eh, I have a few youtubers that I follow but they are usually a little older and have a calm attitude towards what they are doing. I don't mind energetic people, I just don't like spongebob reviewing games. I have said this before but if they go away someone else will replace them.

I think it just shows how insecure most youtubers really are. They know that it won't last forever.

[Gameguy]

It's not the review videos that they're really talking about, it's the Let's Play videos. Basically people just record themselves while playing various games, while talking about random stuff or making random wisecracks about the game. You can review anything under fair use laws, making jokes while playing through an entire game isn't a review. They're not even instructional videos or walkthroughs by nature.

[kai123]

It's not the review videos that they're really talking about, it's the Let's Play videos. Basically people just record themselves while playing various games, while talking about random stuff or making random wisecracks about the game. You can review anything under fair use laws, making jokes while playing through an entire game isn't a review. They're not even instructional videos or walkthroughs by nature.

The way I understood it was that the content id filter just tagged anything it recognized regardless of length.

[Gentlegamer]

While part of me thinks it's absurd that people can make hundreds of thousands of dollars just posting videos of themselves playing games, without even editing, I also recognize that intellectual property is a legal fiction, one that exists to ensure a steady flow of things into the public domain. This will never happen, but I want the laws and courts to start restricting the overzealous protection of "intellectual property." It is said that the laws need to reflect the times, well this is a great example where they are largely archaic, in my opinion. Uploading video of playing a game is not uploading the game code that allows someone else to play the game, you aren't distributing copyrighted material in that fashion.