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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!
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.
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?
Help protect civil rights from abuse by the TSA - visit TSA News Blog.
http://www.tsanewsblog.com
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.