BTW... Nintendo isn't the first to do this
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/new...t-Prohibits-Gamers-From-Cashing-in-on-YouTube... but hey... Always hate on
Nintendo Sony, EA, and Activision.. right?
Microsoft Studios publishes... Halo... Viva Pinata... and other stuff. That's about it. And other stuff that no one could care less about. I'm not even sure if they still do this, considering this was last year. For chrissake, it's like saying that if oil company A had an oil spill in 2012, and oil company B had an oil spill in 2013, oil company A is worse because it had an oil spill first. It's just a ridiculous line of reasoning.
You're in the wrong place if you want to see people hate Nintendo. I have seen very few people particularly hate Nintendo prior to this, except for angsty 14 year olds that lolz out on Modern Warfare. It's mostly because of their original titles. You can't claim that this odd begrudging respect towards Nintendo's decision has nothing to do with the respect that the gaming community has given to them. I'm almost positive that the backlash would've reached disproportionate levels if EA had done this. The internets (including this forum, youtube, twitter, and basically everywhere) would've totally fucking flipped out way more than now. If it was a company that was as hated by the gaming community as EA is (due to being considered as the worst company in America by an internet poll) everyone would've went insane, even these people that think Nintendo's decision is reasonable.
Recently, I've been watching a lot of Youtube videos, and the majority of them are LPers or just people who make videos based on games. I follow LPers and game channels for three reasons: 1. They have interesting commentary, 2. They're normally very entertaining due to their jokes, reactions, animation, and editing, and 3. They allow me to see games I would've never gotten in the first place. For example, I would have, in no way, gotten Don't Starve if I didn't see it on some of the channels I follow. Nor would I have played Amnesia.. The majority of these channels I follow, as far as I'm aware of, are monetized on Youtube. TotalBiscuit, Pewdiepie, Yogscast, Husky, Bluexephos, etc. These people rely on the income and the popularity to both sustain themselves and branch out. For example, TotalBiscuit is partnered with multiple companies that regularly ask him to promote and owns several e-sports teams. Husky, due to his popularity, is now a popular e-sports commentator and mentor. Both of them started out as plain LP'ers, the majority of which made it their living to churn out 3 videos a day and edit each video for 3-4 hours. It's an actual, legitimate job. Nearly every successful LPer does more than "plays games and makes random jokes," unless your name is PewDiePie.
What I'm saying is that Nintendo is, in theory, hurting both themselves and the thriving gaming community found on Youtube. I believe that in comparison to Nintendo's actual revenue, the monetary compensation they get from Youtube ads is minimal. The Youtube gaming community, believe it or not, has an inordinate amount of influence on a fraction of the gaming community, and the majority of these people are monetized like the ones I just mentioned. TotalBiscuit himself champions Fire Emblem Awakening as the 3DS's best game, a Nintendo published title. Essentially, this discourages Youtube gamers, especially the big names, to create videos with footage of Nintendo games, which causes them to lose out on essentially free advertising. They need this free advertising now more than ever, with the struggle to find support for the WiiU. It's not even just LP's I think. There's also first impressions, reviews, parody videos, and many more.
I don't even want to get into the whole "copyright" or whatever debate. It's all about fair use. No one in hell watches LPs or any other gaming video just to watch someone play it from start to finish in it's entirety. People watch it to understand more about the game or to be entertained, both of which come from the commentators. In that case, it's not Nintendo's to keep, especially if they don't want the entire gaming community against them. Someone at Nintendo's marketing division must've been really stupid if he/she thought that providing less incentive for people on Youtube to give them free advertising towards a large fraction of the gaming market in exchange for what is virtually pocket change to Nintendo is a good idea.
And yes, LPler is not a real job. If you have a job interview in the future, what do you intend to say to your employer? That you made your money with sharing videos of other's intellectual property? Well, good luck for your next interview then.
... There are a lot of people who do this as their full time job. There are people who are essentially well-of from doing them, there are people who thrive on doing them. But like it or not, basically anything that earns you a sustainable income and doesn't involve you going into crime or selling your body is a job. There are people whose jobs are to show up to places and sign autographs. LPers put in hell of a lot more effort than those guys. I am familiar with ones that churn out videos until 2AM in the morning and edit for hours on end. It's not as hard as say, a construction worker, but there is a level of effort and creativity that successful LPers have that make them such. Youtube money is as good as any. Calling their line of work illegitimate ignores the effort that they put towards creating these videos and sustaining their fanbase.
If the videos in question are illegal, simply remove them. Nintendon't get to decide that they are legal enough to allow, but illegal enough to take the profit. Grey area. Let's see a lawsuit.
Not really. That is a bad, bad, bad idea in every way conceivable. Not only do they not get anything out of taking them down, but they also alienate a portion of their fanbase. A lawsuit would make it worse. It's not about law. This is all about what they're trying to do. They're trying to make sure that they still stay visible on the web, but that they make money on it. I believe that this was their line of thought, but it backfired pretty heavily on them.
Feels good to be back.
@
BigOnYa:
@
K3Nv2:
)
