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Video Game Movies "Not Creative Expression"
GamePolitics is one of many that is reporting on the impending removal of video game movies from the video hosting site Vimeo. While they have agreed to leave machinima alone, all walk-throughs, strategy videos, pvp battles, raids, etc, will be deleted on September 1st. "The Vimeo staff does not feel that videos which are direct captures of video game play truly constitute 'creative expression.' Further, such videos may expose Vimeo to liability from the game creator(s), as we have already seen action from popular video game companies against videos such as these... Gaming videos are by nature significantly larger and longer than any other genre on Vimeo ..."
Just sayin'.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Because if gamers saw the actualy game play from the absolute garbage developers are putting out, they'd never buy games.
Vimeo owns the site; they can do what they want with it. What's the big deal?
I write sci-fi for metalheads
Never heard of them. Wake me up when significant sites like YouTube start doing things like this...
I can't be the only one who read the title and expected a story about Uwe Boll...
It's called a takedown notice. That should shield you from any liability -- if the creators care, they send you a notice, and you make the video go away. Problem solved.
Of course, the real reason is:
Gaming videos are by nature significantly larger and longer than any other genre on Vimeo ...
Really? Have they not seen Wormtooth Nation?
But there you go -- they're not really afraid of litigation. They're afraid of file size...
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
The "these do not truly constitute creative expression" bit is just a cop-out for them to save face. They just don't want to come out and say "The only reason is that we're afraid of getting sued by the game companies and we're a bunch of poor pussies who can't afford lawyers. So please stop investing in us now that you know we're too poor to withstand even a small lawsuit."
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I feel sorry for whomever they put on the task of discerning which videos fit these categories. Boring.
Video capture of gameplay for the sake of the gameplay is about as creative as live capture of a sports event for the sake of the sports event.
With better resolutions, less BS moderation, and a 'better' community.
So far I really haven't seen anything more than the potential of better resolutions. They are just as free as Flikr or Youtube in "Eww, I don't like that, delete" button useage, and frankly I haven't really seen anything being hosted by them that wasn't already everywhere else. Other than a few 'name' players like Improve Everywhere using it to host their videos, there hasn't been much of a drive for me to visit it.
I wish them luck, but I have a feeling they are going to suddenly discover starting out tough on content really isn't going to help them gain market share.
Walkthroughs don't constitute creative expression? Watch the series of videos linked from this thread. It's the best look at a terrible game you'll ever see. Sometimes funny, often insightful, and very informative about a interesting and influential chunk of game history.
Remember, there were no nuclear weapons before women were allowed to vote.
I think that walkthroughs, or gameplay videos do not necessarily show creative expression. Your watching a video on how to do something. The equivalent is reading a do-it-yourself book. I can see why Vimeo can take on the same view. The posters are not taking the game and throwing their own twist on it, just simply posting a copy of it. Now that the devil's advocate is gone.. Personally i agree with what other people have been saying. Posting walkthroughs and similar could bring about legal issues in the future. In a way, they are promoting creative expression with more intensity seeing you will be watching "videos with a twist" more than other stuff.
Blockbuster should institute something where if you rent a game and like it, you can apply the rental price to the purchase price, although I don't know if that would cut too much into their margins. It would make me much more likely to rent a game from Blockbuster though before purchasing it.
Can I at least link him to my armour for a stat boost?
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My thoughts exactly. I read the summary and here's what I got:
"Irrelevant 2-bit video hosting site decides to become even more irrelevant by removing some of their small collection of videos."
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
Server admin: We're running our of disk space.
PHB: Just delete a bunch of videos.
1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual.
Remember that /. story a few weeks ago "Your Mashup is Probably Legal?" It talked of a group of copyright experts who issued Fair Use guidelines for the use of copyrighted material in videos. In it, they issued 6 guidelines. Quoting:
FOUR: REPRODUCING, REPOSTING, OR QUOTING IN ORDER TO MEMORIALIZE, PRESERVE, OR RESCUE AN EXPERIENCE, AN EVENT, OR A CULTURAL PHENOMENON
DESCRIPTION: Repurposed copyrighted material is central to this kind of video. For instance, someone may record their favorite performance or document their own presence at a rock concert. Someone may post a controversial or notorious moment from broadcast television or a public event (a Stephen Colbert speech, a presidential address, a celebrity blooper). Someone may reproduce portions of a work that has been taken out of circulation, unjustly in their opinion. Gamers may record their performances. (emphasis mine)
PRINCIPLE: Video makers are using new technology to accomplish culturally positive functions that are widely acceptedâ"or even celebratedâ"in the analog information environment. In other media and platforms, creators regularly recollect, describe, catalog, and preserve cultural expression for public memory. Written memoirs for instance are valued for the specificity and accuracy of their recollections; collectors of ephemeral material are valued for creating archives for future users. Such memorializing transforms the original in various waysâ"perhaps by putting the original work in a different context, perhaps by putting it in juxtaposition with other such works, perhaps by preserving it. This use also does not impair the legitimate market for the original work.
LIMITATION: Fair use reaches its limits when the entertainment content is reproduced in amounts that are disproportionate to purposes of documentation, or in the case of archiving, when the material is readily available from authorized sources.
Vimeo is the only video service on the web that can do HD video worth a damn. I tried Veoh and other related sites, and they flagged my video as containing copyrighted material (ironic because all of it was material I had worked ~3 months to create from scratch), had problems with uploads not appearing or processing, or were grainy low-resolution trash like YouTube. I know a lot of people are using it for game mod videos, for example.
They're hardly irrelevant.
There's too many people complaining to target anyone in particular, but Vimeo has made three claims:
1: direct capture videos of games (that aren't Machinima) aren't particularly creative.
2: Hosting such videos constitutes a possible legal liability.
3: Such videos tend to be longer and take up more space than average.
#3 is almost certainly true. #2 is apparently true, i'm willing to take their word that they've had to deal with legal action already, and that regardless of how it would turn out in court they don't feel like dealing with the hassle. And you know what? In my experience #1 is true too. I've seen a lot of direct capture videos, and although there are some exceptions for the most part they are often interesting and often informative, but they are very rarely creative. "That's cool" does not automatically equate to "that's creative."
If you've taken a direct capture video but you've also added your own content on top to make some kind of social commentary or make a joke or tell a story, or used the engine in unusual ways to do the same, then congratulations, your video is creative and you can probably get it in as Machinima or a music video or some other category. But if all you've got is a capture of some people playing a game as it's meant to be played then that's not very creative at all.
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