WhoLetsPlay Will Help Content Creators Avoid Copyright Conundrums

[StewShearerOld]

WhoLetsPlay Will Help Content Creators Avoid Copyright Conundrums

Game developer Lars Doucet has formed WhoLetsPlay which aims to give content creators tools and knowledge to avoid and combat infringement claims.

At least on the videogame front, things haven't been going well at YouTube lately. Thanks to the long-archaic standards of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130557-Devs-May-Be-Waiving-Their-Rights-By-Allowing-YouTube-Gameplay-Video>current copyright law and recent policy changes implemented by the video upload site, countless YouTubers' using video clips and music from outside sources have found their content and channels subject to new infringement claims even where there are <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130667-YouTube-Issued-Copyright-Claims-Against-Miracle-of-Sound>none to be found. These claims, in turn, have led some to lose money from potential ad revenue and left many others wondering if YouTube <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/8565-Copyright-War>can still be trusted as a viable platform for independently created video content.

Hoping to give the Let's Play community more resources in the ongoing battle, game developer Lars Doucet, the co-founder of Level Up Labs and maker of games like <a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LarsDoucet/20121109/181316/Tourettes_Quest.php>Tourette's Quest, has formed the non-profit <a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LarsDoucet/20131219/207483/WhoLetsPlay__Protecting_Game_Videos.php>WhoLetsPlay. The new organization aims to create a resource for content creators where they'll find information about which companies are open to people using footage and music from their properties for outside use. It is also working with legal professionals to create a broad copyright note that creators can paste into licensing agreements to help avoid future problems. "We want to create standardized licensing terms that can be a stand-alone rider, or a paragraph of some sort you can copy-paste into existing music agreements," said Doucet.

Ultimately, Doucet hopes WhoLetsPlay will be able to offer content creators the knowledge they need to "educate [themselves] on these legal minefields in a simple and clear way." The first step in this process is the creation of an official website, which will feature a "Known Bad Actors" list detailing which companies employ YouTube's Content ID option the most aggressively. "We can warn developers and musicians not to work with them," said Doucet. "It could be useful to know if doing business with someone is likely to get your fans in trouble."

Source: <a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/19/5227846/developer-forms-group-to-fight-youtube-copyright-claims>Polygon


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[putowtin]

This could be helpful?. but

What would be more helpful is for google to stop acting like idiots over this whole thing and for the studios that don't want videos of their games to realise that it actually promotes their games and thus create more buyers!

 

[josemlopes]

Dont the videos still remain viewable? Like all it happens is that they dont get money from it?

If thats the situation then I dont really care, people were doing Lets Plays before Youtube started that whole "earn money with ads" thing and if money is the only thing motivating these guys to do videos then fuck them.

And lets players shouldnt even be payed anything, all they do is play something that someone else made and talk about whatever is crossing their minds, by those standards then any online post could come with an add attached and the poster would make money out of his comment, no matter how shitty it is since people still ended up watching (DSP, Pewdiepie, Totalbiscuit, etc...)

EDIT: And if money is needed to keep the thing alive (games do cost money but even then Im talking about the ones with higher production values then just Fraps and indie games) then do it like the other guys that moved out of Youtube a long time ago like TGWTG or like what Classic Game Room did now, they still do it on Youtube but also created their own site.

 

[Smooth Operator]

That is quite the campaign he took upon him, this is really no small legal clusterfuck and I wouldn't want to be dealing with it.

But it has to be pointed out that under Googles current rules even a completely legitimate video can stay in limbo for a month (the period in which videos make the most money), and no that money will not later be transferred to the rightful owner.
And just so we are clear the new Google bot system is crashing everyone's party, legit reviews, news shows and discussions even completely original works get claims and have to combat the system while money for their work goes to whoever showed up in the matchmaking database.

 

[Pixelspeech]

Dont the videos still remain viewable? Like all it happens is that they dont get money from it?

If thats the situation then I dont really care, people were doing Lets Plays before Youtube started that whole "earn money with ads" thing and if money is the only thing motivating these guys to do videos then fuck them.

And lets players shouldnt even be payed anything, all they do is play something that someone else made and talk about whatever is crossing their minds, by those standards then any online post could come with an add attached and the poster would make money out of his comment, no matter how shitty it is since people still ended up watching (DSP, Pewdiepie, Totalbiscuit, etc...)

EDIT: And if money is needed to keep the thing alive (games do cost money but even then Im talking about the ones with higher production values then just Fraps and indie games) then do it like the other guys that moved out of Youtube a long time ago like TGWTG or like what Classic Game Room did now, they still do it on Youtube but also created their own site.

I can see where you are coming from, but I do have to disagree. We have video content with high production values nowadays because people can devote their entire workday to making and editing them, which would not be possible if they couldn't earn money from it.

 

[kailus13]

<which aims to give content creators to tools and knowledge

There seems to be an extra "to" in there.

Good luck to the guy. Woulod this actually work though, considering that even the actual artists are being affected?

 

[Mr. Q]

Glad to know someone is helping content creators out of this mess since YouTube/Google cannot be asked from atop their mountain of money. YouTube/Google need to get their shit together and stop pissing off and pissing on these people. Otherwise, this is going to lead to a mass revolt that will hurt the corporations big time.

 

[Erttheking]

Dont the videos still remain viewable? Like all it happens is that they dont get money from it?

If thats the situation then I dont really care, people were doing Lets Plays before Youtube started that whole "earn money with ads" thing and if money is the only thing motivating these guys to do videos then fuck them.

And lets players shouldnt even be payed anything, all they do is play something that someone else made and talk about whatever is crossing their minds, by those standards then any online post could come with an add attached and the poster would make money out of his comment, no matter how shitty it is since people still ended up watching (DSP, Pewdiepie, Totalbiscuit, etc...)

EDIT: And if money is needed to keep the thing alive (games do cost money but even then Im talking about the ones with higher production values then just Fraps and indie games) then do it like the other guys that moved out of Youtube a long time ago like TGWTG or like what Classic Game Room did now, they still do it on Youtube but also created their own site.

Yeah I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. You seem to be under the impression that Let's Plays are easy to do. I've been told by my friend who does them that not only do they require a lot of equipment, they also require a lot of time. Also, you seem to be under the impression that every last lets player is raking in cash. If they aren't a massive name, odds are they make a few bucks. And if it's a Youtube channel with millions of views, clearly they're doing something to entertain people, and if they do that for a living, well, why SHOULDN'T they get paid for it? I don't get how you could get behind something that takes the average content creator and fucks him over.

As for leaving Youtube, I ask, why run away from the problem? That's not going to solve anything. Why run away from something instead of trying to fix it?

 

[LordLundar]

While I like the idea, a lot of this blowup stemmed from a combination of people already navigating the legal minefield getting dinged from an outdated database and a massive abuse of an automated system that has minimal oversight and negligible measures to prevent said abuse. There's very little about this mess that this organization can actually fix and the best choice for most people affected by this is to go to another system.

As for leaving Youtube, I ask, why run away from the problem? That's not going to solve anything. Why run away from something instead of trying to fix it?

Because it isn't running away, it's voting with the wallet. Petitions and screaming rants won't go anywhere when a company has dug their heels in and are still making money off of it. The only way to enact change in this concept is to cause the company to lose money and you do that by not dealing with them.

 

[Erttheking]

While I like the idea, a lot of this blowup stemmed from a combination of people already navigating the legal minefield getting dinged from an outdated database and a massive abuse of an automated system that has minimal oversight and negligible measures to prevent said abuse. There's very little about this mess that this organization can actually fix and the best choice for most people affected by this is to go to another system.

As for leaving Youtube, I ask, why run away from the problem? That's not going to solve anything. Why run away from something instead of trying to fix it?

Because it isn't running away, it's voting with the wallet. Petitions and screaming rants won't go anywhere when a company has dug their heels in and are still making money off of it. The only way to enact change in this concept is to cause the company to lose money and you do that by not dealing with them.

Making it so that Youtube losses and serious money from this would require a mass migration of millions of viewers and god knows how many content creators. I don't see that happening.

 

[Weaver]

lol I was already talking to a lawyer about making like a GPL style license for internet footage recording.

Guess I don't have to do it now.

The list is, unfortunately, kind of just gusswork. A license would force devs to actually verify that, say, their royalty free music they put into the game isn't going to get flagged on youtube. For instance, Game Dev Tycoon gives people permission to LP the game but the music in the game is registered in contentID because they licensed the music for the game.

 

[Avaholic03]

This could be helpful?. but

What would be more helpful is for google to stop acting like idiots over this whole thing and for the studios that don't want videos of their games to realise that it actually promotes their games and thus create more buyers!

You should research the issue more before leaping to conclusions.

Google isn't "acting like idiots", they're just covering their ass. They can't actually review every video uploaded, so the content ID system helps them avoid copyright issues. It's not a perfect system by any means, but it's pretty much as good as they can do considering the staggering amount of content they process. There are certainly ways they could improve (like punishing those making false claims), but it's hard to review and analyze all the different situations without devoting massive resources (aka: money) to the problem.

Also, game studios usually aren't the ones making the content ID claims. In fact, many people who generate these claims aren't even doing it on purpose. There's a lot of mis-information about how to protect your own work, and especially with video games which many people playing the games share the same assets (cutscenes, music, etc), if one person accidentally claims it as their own, then everyone else using it gets an automated strike against them.

In short, it's just an imperfect system that unfortunately favors only those big companies who can afford a legal department and the many hours it takes to cut through the BS. Scott Manley explains both sides of it quite well in his recent video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ls47fGMsS8

 

[josemlopes]

Dont the videos still remain viewable? Like all it happens is that they dont get money from it?

If thats the situation then I dont really care, people were doing Lets Plays before Youtube started that whole "earn money with ads" thing and if money is the only thing motivating these guys to do videos then fuck them.

And lets players shouldnt even be payed anything, all they do is play something that someone else made and talk about whatever is crossing their minds, by those standards then any online post could come with an add attached and the poster would make money out of his comment, no matter how shitty it is since people still ended up watching (DSP, Pewdiepie, Totalbiscuit, etc...)

EDIT: And if money is needed to keep the thing alive (games do cost money but even then Im talking about the ones with higher production values then just Fraps and indie games) then do it like the other guys that moved out of Youtube a long time ago like TGWTG or like what Classic Game Room did now, they still do it on Youtube but also created their own site.

Yeah I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. You seem to be under the impression that Let's Plays are easy to do. I've been told by my friend who does them that not only do they require a lot of equipment, they also require a lot of time. Also, you seem to be under the impression that every last lets player is raking in cash. If they aren't a massive name, odds are they make a few bucks. And if it's a Youtube channel with millions of views, clearly they're doing something to entertain people, and if they do that for a living, well, why SHOULDN'T they get paid for it? I don't get how you could get behind something that takes the average content creator and fucks him over.

As for leaving Youtube, I ask, why run away from the problem? That's not going to solve anything. Why run away from something instead of trying to fix it?

Ask your friend if he does it for the money? I bet he say he doesnt and he is probably right as there are a lot of things people do because they enjoy doing it, here is something I did:

This still isnt the entire thing, but even I never planned on it being something that I could earn money from (even if it got popular), the finished thing will use a music from the Timesplitters 2 soundtrack (after Free Radical closed I think that it can be used freely) but even then I know that the music alone is basicly 50% of the finished product and in no fucking way could I ever think about asking money for something that wasnt 100% done by me (since the money would only be going to me and not shared to the person that did the song).

I did (am still doing) this for fun because thats what a lot of people do. Lets Players on the other hand think that adding your voice and opinion over someone elses work suddenly makes it their creation and that not even the guys that made the original work deserve any part of the money that is being made.

In the end I think that Lets Players that demand to earn money from their videos are fucking douchebags that wanted to ride the easy money train.

Here is a quality Lets Play by someone that didnt do it for the money:

See, its all there, and in no way does someone need to quit his job to deliver a quality video (it just probably means that it will take longer to finish but for things like these time isnt important).

 

[Erttheking]

Dont the videos still remain viewable? Like all it happens is that they dont get money from it?

If thats the situation then I dont really care, people were doing Lets Plays before Youtube started that whole "earn money with ads" thing and if money is the only thing motivating these guys to do videos then fuck them.

And lets players shouldnt even be payed anything, all they do is play something that someone else made and talk about whatever is crossing their minds, by those standards then any online post could come with an add attached and the poster would make money out of his comment, no matter how shitty it is since people still ended up watching (DSP, Pewdiepie, Totalbiscuit, etc...)

EDIT: And if money is needed to keep the thing alive (games do cost money but even then Im talking about the ones with higher production values then just Fraps and indie games) then do it like the other guys that moved out of Youtube a long time ago like TGWTG or like what Classic Game Room did now, they still do it on Youtube but also created their own site.

Yeah I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. You seem to be under the impression that Let's Plays are easy to do. I've been told by my friend who does them that not only do they require a lot of equipment, they also require a lot of time. Also, you seem to be under the impression that every last lets player is raking in cash. If they aren't a massive name, odds are they make a few bucks. And if it's a Youtube channel with millions of views, clearly they're doing something to entertain people, and if they do that for a living, well, why SHOULDN'T they get paid for it? I don't get how you could get behind something that takes the average content creator and fucks him over.

As for leaving Youtube, I ask, why run away from the problem? That's not going to solve anything. Why run away from something instead of trying to fix it?

Ask your friend if he does it for the money? I bet he say he doesnt and he is probably right as there are a lot of things people do because they enjoy doing it, here is something I did:

This still isnt the entire thing, but even I never planned on it being something that I could earn money from (even if it got popular), the finished thing will use a music from the Timesplitters 2 soundtrack (after Free Radical closed I think that it can be used freely) but even then I know that the music alone is basicly 50% of the finished product and in no fucking way could I ever think about asking money for something that wasnt 100% done by me (since the money would only be going to me and not shared to the person that did the song).

I did (am still doing) this for fun because thats what a lot of people do. Lets Players on the other hand think that adding your voice and opinion over someone elses work suddenly makes it their creation and that not even the guys that made the original work deserve any part of the money that is being made.

In the end I think that Lets Players that demand to earn money from their videos are fucking douchebags that wanted to ride the easy money train.

Here is a quality Lets Play by someone that didnt do it for the money:

See, its all there, and in no way does someone need to quit his job to deliver a quality video (it just probably means that it will take longer to finish but for things like these time isnt important).

Like I said, if you're not a huge name, you'll get a few bucks if you're lucky. I don't think people like my friend who do it for fun are the "fucking douchebags" that you speak of. The people who do earn major money from this are people like Achievement Hunter, who put up let's plays so often than it's a hair away from being daily. They constantly are finding new games to play, editing the videos, and working on it. I fail to see the "easy money" in that, it's hard work. Also the "easy money train" seems to come from the old idea that it's only a real job if it makes you miserable. I hate that idea. If Achievement Hunter had to stop making videos because they weren't getting money from it, it would really suck because I enjoy their videos, they work hard to entertain MILLIONS of people. They aren't just phoning it in and getting an easy paycheck.

So people who make lets plays apparently owe money to the original creator? What about reviews that play gameplay clips? Do they owe money to the creators too? And no one is claiming that the game is "their" creation. People don't watch lets plays for the games, they watch it for the personality. Or are people like the Nostalgia Critic and MST3K just running the easy money train too and should pay money to the people who made the movies

I'm sorry, but your attitude seems really anti-content creator and pro-big business.

 

[Raioken18]

Uhhh... They have been taking down reviews as well. Which is crazy if you give review content control to the actual publishers.

But I don't get why this is news? I got modded on Youtube in like my second month of making videos, back in 2011.

I'd made a few tutorials of different tactics to use when playing Battlefield Bad Company 2, effective sniping, taking out tanks from different positions. Then I made a video on how you could strap C4 to a quad bike and floor it towards a tank, jump off then detonate to effectively counter tanks. It was really mad, in a few of them I destroy multiple tanks with the one bike then finish off entire teams XD. Anyway my account was banned, copyright infringement for displaying gameplay footage, all videos were removed. I still felt like it was because of the quad bikes thing. Apparently it was considered an exploit.

For Reviews, I think it's pretty obvious, it's a review, control of that content should be that of the reviewer. It's covered under fair use, and really isn't about stealing IP as much as informing others of IP quality, in which gameplay footage is necessary.

For the LP'ers, I want to say that they should give some of their income to developers. But they'd need to be making money first lol. Though I suppose a lot of my LP experience has been with Minecraft and there is a lot more personal contribution to content than games usually have, if you were spoiling a narrative while playing a game I can see why there would be a problem but for multiplayer and procedurally generated games the narrative is being developer entirely by the LP'er. Hard to gauge..

 

[josemlopes]

snip

First of all, your friend probably isnt a douchebag as I said that in my opinion only the ones that demand money out of their videos (DSP comes to mind) are douchebags, I actually respect the ones that do it for free (and they can still do it, Youtube isnt going to stop them, it just wont give them money).

Second, to make an LP it really doesnt take that much effort or time, time editing really comes down to what you want out of it (almost raw footage or a lot of quick cuts), it can take less then the time it took to play what was recorded as it can take more but even then unless you are seriously editing the footage there really is no excuse for the editing to take about three times more the time it took to record. And effort really only shows up when the gameplay is being recorded in keeping the viewer interested through dialog, to edit cuts you really dont have to know that much.

The only thing I am against is LPers asking for money for something that they barely contributed, if the games arent that important then they should just record themselfs like a VLOG (Rooster Teeth actually does that a lot). I dont see how that is against user-created content, they can still do this but if they want money out of it they better make something by themselfs instead of piggybacking something made by someone else. Does it really make much sense that a guy recording indie games and merely talking about them makes more money then the indie developers themselfs?

 

[The Bucket]

Dont the videos still remain viewable? Like all it happens is that they dont get money from it?

If thats the situation then I dont really care, people were doing Lets Plays before Youtube started that whole "earn money with ads" thing and if money is the only thing motivating these guys to do videos then fuck them.

And lets players shouldnt even be payed anything, all they do is play something that someone else made and talk about whatever is crossing their minds, by those standards then any online post could come with an add attached and the poster would make money out of his comment, no matter how shitty it is since people still ended up watching (DSP, Pewdiepie, Totalbiscuit, etc...)

EDIT: And if money is needed to keep the thing alive (games do cost money but even then Im talking about the ones with higher production values then just Fraps and indie games) then do it like the other guys that moved out of Youtube a long time ago like TGWTG or like what Classic Game Room did now, they still do it on Youtube but also created their own site.

Yeah I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. You seem to be under the impression that Let's Plays are easy to do. I've been told by my friend who does them that not only do they require a lot of equipment, they also require a lot of time. Also, you seem to be under the impression that every last lets player is raking in cash. If they aren't a massive name, odds are they make a few bucks. And if it's a Youtube channel with millions of views, clearly they're doing something to entertain people, and if they do that for a living, well, why SHOULDN'T they get paid for it? I don't get how you could get behind something that takes the average content creator and fucks him over.

As for leaving Youtube, I ask, why run away from the problem? That's not going to solve anything. Why run away from something instead of trying to fix it?

Ask your friend if he does it for the money? I bet he say he doesnt and he is probably right as there are a lot of things people do because they enjoy doing it, here is something I did:

This still isnt the entire thing, but even I never planned on it being something that I could earn money from (even if it got popular), the finished thing will use a music from the Timesplitters 2 soundtrack (after Free Radical closed I think that it can be used freely) but even then I know that the music alone is basicly 50% of the finished product and in no fucking way could I ever think about asking money for something that wasnt 100% done by me (since the money would only be going to me and not shared to the person that did the song).

I did (am still doing) this for fun because thats what a lot of people do. Lets Players on the other hand think that adding your voice and opinion over someone elses work suddenly makes it their creation and that not even the guys that made the original work deserve any part of the money that is being made.

In the end I think that Lets Players that demand to earn money from their videos are fucking douchebags that wanted to ride the easy money train.

Here is a quality Lets Play by someone that didnt do it for the money:

See, its all there, and in no way does someone need to quit his job to deliver a quality video (it just probably means that it will take longer to finish but for things like these time isnt important).

You make it sound like they're pulling the money direct from the users pockets, when instead it would go to Youtube otherwise. Why shouldn't they get a cut of it if the hosting site is making thousands off views of their channel?

 

[Erttheking]

snip

First of all, your friend probably isnt a douchebag as I said that in my opinion only the ones that demand money out of their videos (DSP comes to mind) are douchebags, I actually respect the ones that do it for free (and they can still do it, Youtube isnt going to stop them, it just wont give them money).

Second, to make an LP it really doesnt take that much effort or time, time editing really comes down to what you want out of it (almost raw footage or a lot of quick cuts), it can take less then the time it took to play what was recorded as it can take more but even then unless you are seriously editing the footage there really is no excuse for the editing to take about three times more the time it took to record. And effort really only shows up when the gameplay is being recorded in keeping the viewer interested through dialog, to edit cuts you really dont have to know that much.

The only thing I am against is LPers asking for money for something that they barely contributed, if the games arent that important then they should just record themselfs like a VLOG (Rooster Teeth actually does that a lot). I dont see how that is against user-created content, they can still do this but if they want money out of it they better make something by themselfs instead of piggybacking something made by someone else. Does it really make much sense that a guy recording indie games and merely talking about them makes more money then the indie developers themselfs?

I'm still failing to see how when people are putting up videos that have advertisements put on them by Youtube making youtube a load of money and the maker of the Youtube video getting a cut off of it is a bad thing.

Even if it doesn't take that much work, the point stands that people are enjoying the videos that they point up. Providing entertainment is a service. People tend to get paid for providing services.

Define "barely contributed". Total Biscuit just talks over video games that he plays, that could technically qualify as barely contributed. Yet he's an extreme popular youtuber because he gives helpful insight into video games and help people decide what they would like and wouldn't like to buy. And he does his show regularly and efficiently because he works full time on it because he gets paid. This "barely contributed" argument is way too vague for me to go on. Yeah, Roosterteeth does make blogs. However, they also make Let's Plays that I enjoy greatly and frankly I never bothered with the blogs. What is wrong with me wanting to enjoy them, and them making money off of it so that they can keep doing it on a regular basis? It is very anti-creator. This whole policy is anti-creator because Let's Players, reviewers, people who put the works that THEY created on THEIR youtube channels are getting flagged because of how utterly incompetent this policy is and how stupid Youtube is being about it. And you are defending it just because you feel like some Youtubers don't try hard enough. That's like defending a forest being burned down because you don't like some of the trees. And a lot of people do like those trees, they enjoy them and well, they're not hurting anyone. They are entertaining people, effort isn't something you can use to measure something to deserve if something is worthwhile or not. If they are accomplishing an objective that results in them providing a service to people and them getting paid for it, then I really don't see the problem.

More than the indie developer? Uh...citation needed. Do you have numbers that Let's Players make to compare to the numbers that indie devs make? Not to mention I think if he's that much of a big name and did a video on the indie game, I think he just gave the dev a free multi-million dollar ad campaign right there. Also can I ask you a question? If you're not ok with Let's Players making so much money for minimal effort, how come you're ok with Youtube making millions of dollars by taking other people's videos and slapping ads on them? That sounds like barely contributing to me.

 

[Strazdas]

If thats the situation then I dont really care, people were doing Lets Plays before Youtube started that whole "earn money with ads" thing and if money is the only thing motivating these guys to do videos then fuck them.

And lets players shouldnt even be payed anything, all they do is play something that someone else made and talk about whatever is crossing their minds, by those standards then any online post could come with an add attached and the poster would make money out of his comment, no matter how shitty it is since people still ended up watching (DSP, Pewdiepie, Totalbiscuit, etc...)

Havent peple got tired of this false claims yet?
I guess if the only motivation to go to work for you is to make money so you wouldnt starve to death, then you deserve to be hated, right?
Also shitty is subjective. They are popular, therefore obviuosly majority does not think they are shitty.

Second, to make an LP it really doesnt take that much effort or time, time editing really comes down to what you want out of it (almost raw footage or a lot of quick cuts), it can take less then the time it took to play what was recorded as it can take more but even then unless you are seriously editing the footage there really is no excuse for the editing to take about three times more the time it took to record. And effort really only shows up when the gameplay is being recorded in keeping the viewer interested through dialog, to edit cuts you really dont have to know that much.

The only thing I am against is LPers asking for money for something that they barely contributed, if the games arent that important then they should just record themselfs like a VLOG (Rooster Teeth actually does that a lot). I dont see how that is against user-created content, they can still do this but if they want money out of it they better make something by themselfs instead of piggybacking something made by someone else. Does it really make much sense that a guy recording indie games and merely talking about them makes more money then the indie developers themselfs?

Please do not speak about that which you obviuosly got no idea about. To say that LP does not take effort or time is ridiculous and i shouldnt even need to explain to you why. sigh.

And LPs didnt "Barely contribute". They are the main contribution. We wach the videos for the people, not for the game. They are NOT, and i repeat, NOT piggybacking on something made by somone else. If you consider it piggybacking then by eating you are piggybacking on a guy that manfuactured a spoon and now must pay them for it. The true piggybacking here is YOUTUBE pigybacking on the content LPers create making money.
ANd lets be honest here, there are no people that earn more from LPs than the game developers themselves. Do you know how much LPers get per view from ads? around 0.0001 dollar. you need 10k views just to earn 1 buck. Only the ones that have views in millions or close to it could be considered "rich". And even then most of it goes back to investing into equipment, ect.

 

[likalaruku]

That'd be nice. Almost every person I'm subscribed to has a game-related show in one way or another. The rest all make music video parodies or follow baby animals around. Games, music, cats: Is Youtube even good for anything else?