Day One: Garry's Incident Developer Copyright Claims Critical Video

[King of Asgaard]

As the rather newspaper-esque thread title (complete with inadvertent alliteration ) says, Wild Games Studio, the developer for the rather critically panned Day One: Garry's Incident, has copyright claimed TotalBiscuit's 'WTF is...?' video for easily debunked public reasons, though realistically, probably for being quite critical of the game.

I'll let his rebuttal video explain it in more detail:

Now, this is obviously a wrong practise, as harsh, yet justified criticism is not a valid motive for such a response, and thusly, not the point of the thread.

The purpose of this thread is two-fold.
Firstly, it's to raise awareness of the situation and inform those who may not know.
Secondly, to ask a question: What's stopping other similarly 'wronged' developers from doing the same thing, and on the same bases presented by Wild Games Studio? Is a precedent being set here, or will this blow over like so many controversies before it?

Finally, if this thread is in the wrong forum, I apologise, and humbly request the mods to transfer it to its proper home.

EDIT: A response has been brought to my attention, courtesy of AzrealMaximillion, from the illustrious Nerd Cubed, who are commenting on the situation.

 

[Corven]

Yeah the copyright system youtube employs is just plain bad, I've just had to deal with three music videos I helped film and edit being flagged on the bands official youtube channel by a company that the band uses for promotion and distribution. The shoot first ask questions later flagging system needs an overhaul or some sort of oversight.

As to your second question, what will stop other dev's from doing this is that hopefully they are people who can take criticism like adults as well as being able to look at the amount of bad PR this company will receive over their underhanded tactics.

 

[shrekfan246]

Secondly, to ask a question: What's stopping other similarly 'wronged' developers from doing the same thing, and on the same bases presented by Wild Games Studio? Is a precedent being set here, or will this blow over like so many controversies before it?

What's stopping them is (hopefully) their sense of morality and the ability to actually accept criticism.

I don't know if Wild Games really have enough weight to set a precedent, to be honest, even with other indie studios, but TotalBiscuit bringing attention to it could if Google/Youtube don't change the copyright claimant rules. For better or worse, really; Bad press on top of bad games is likely to have the opposite effect any developer trying this would hope for.

 

[bliebblob]

Oh good someone made this thread already, saves me the trouble.

But yeah, I saw the original video and the game is indeed a trainwreck. Pretty much WarZ- oh I'm sorry, infestation survivor stories, all over again.

Soooo... At least try not to send deaththreats to their families this time, 'kay internet?

 

[King of Asgaard]

Secondly, to ask a question: What's stopping other similarly 'wronged' developers from doing the same thing, and on the same bases presented by Wild Games Studio? Is a precedent being set here, or will this blow over like so many controversies before it?

I don't know if Wild Games really have enough weight to set a precedent, to be honest, even with other indie studios, but TotalBiscuit bringing attention to it could if Google/Youtube don't change the copyright claimant rules. For better or worse, really; Bad press on top of bad games is likely to have the opposite effect any developer trying this would hope for.

That's what I'm worried about. Had TotalBiscuit not made the video, the issue would have gone unnoticed and, maybe after contesting the claim, returned to the status quo. But, what with his channel being respectably large, the video could be an invitation for other unscrupulous developers to do the same thing while Youtube sorts their shit out (or, most likely, doesn't, knowing Youtube).

 

[shrekfan246]

the video could be an invitation for other unscrupulous developers to do the same thing while Youtube sorts their shit out (or, most likely, doesn't, knowing Youtube).

At the same time, TB has a point in that channels such as his own are large enough that if Google/Youtube don't sort their shit out, they're going to see their own ad revenue plummet as well. These people aren't only making money for themselves, after all, and Google would do well to be reminded that they're not an untouchable business.

 

[Roxas1359]

Don't get me started on how broken and terribly implemented the YouTube Copyright system is. I do LPs on YouTube so I'm used to seeing how terrible it can get...>.>

Edit: After watching the video I actually have to completely agree with TB for once...I feel dirty for typing that. But he is right, the smaller channels aren't protected as well as the bigger ones, and while I've managed to saver off on getting copyright strikes it's still difficult to do. And for the record I don't even monetize my videos, the monetization actually helps protect people from the Content Match IDs at times, but since I don't monetize I'm just an open target.

 

[IKWerewolf]

I've just had a long conversation with a friend about this video. The only relevant factor is the email exchange, if they did agree to this what went wrong in between?

 

[Alfador_VII]

I've just had a long conversation with a friend about this video. The only relevant factor is the email exchange, if they did agree to this what went wrong in between?

What went wrong is TotalBiscuit was very critical of the game, and his video topped the Youtube search rankings. Then the dev thought it would be a good idea to go after TB.

Very bad move, and sets a bad precedent

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

The inevitable Change.org petition asking for Steam to take the game down has been created.

https://www.change.org/petitions/valve-corporation-remove-day-one-garry-s-incident-from-the-steam-store#share

There are also mirrors of the original WTF video, just go to the Steam Discussion page and scroll down a bit.

Its worth a look, think Revelations 2012 being knocked up by The WarZ and then drinking for the entire pregnancy while staring longingly at FarCry3.

 

[SpaceGhost]

No antagonism intended, Ed, to your post. Here is TB's stance:

I don't think Day One Garry's Incident should be taken off Steam. This petition going around is not something I support. #notahypocrite [https://twitter.com/search?q=%23notahypocrite&src=hash]

? TotalBOOscuit (@Totalbiscuit) October 20, 2013 [https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/statuses/392053298137538560]

I did not see an ad on my first viewing of his response video, in which he will be donating all revenues to the EFF, so I went to https://www.eff.org/ and donated a few bucks, myself. I did see the ad on my second view of the video, but I don't begrudge the donation in any respect.

 

[SpaceGhost]

Well, that was fast. Per Luke Plunkett via Kotaku http://kotaku.com/studio-accused-of-blocking-youtube-vid-over-criticism-1448796126 :

[blockquote]We contacted Wild Games for comment, and were told by "Stephane" that, "after seeing all the negative impact today we decided to withdraw our complaint to YouTube."[/blockquote]

 

[A3sir]

Well, that was fast. Per Luke Plunkett via Kotaku http://kotaku.com/studio-accused-of-blocking-youtube-vid-over-criticism-1448796126 :

[blockquote]We contacted Wild Games for comment, and were told by "Stephane" that, "after seeing all the negative impact today we decided to withdraw our complaint to YouTube."[/blockquote]

Too little, too late I feel. The damage is done. Many gamers, including ones that generally don't watch TB have been made aware of the business practices of Wild Games Studio. I feel this is the sort of thing that can completely destroy a indie company. I will be surprised if they ever bring out another game.

 

[Abomination]

Looks like Jim has some new fodder for the Jimquisition next week... or even this week if he snaps to.

 

[Abomination]

Well, that was fast. Per Luke Plunkett via Kotaku http://kotaku.com/studio-accused-of-blocking-youtube-vid-over-criticism-1448796126 :

[blockquote]We contacted Wild Games for comment, and were told by "Stephane" that, "after seeing all the negative impact today we decided to withdraw our complaint to YouTube."[/blockquote]

Nice to see them reacting to outrage but it would have been better to engage their brain in the first place and not attempt to censor a critic.

Making up for this slight is going to require a lot more than undoing the damage caused. On the bright side it might be a good way to convince Youtube to change their censorship rules.

 

[Ironshroom]

Why is it that every single "survival" game turns out to have unnecessary bullshit

 

[Ironshroom]

Why is it that every single "survival" game turns out to have unnecessary bullshit

Because actual survival is bullshit. But instead of having a player stop to eat/drink/sleep or discharge waste, they have you do other arbitrary bullshit.

Nah, I mean that the developers are pure dicks and decide to purposefully piss off the internet by pulling a move like this. At what point did they think that pissing off TotalBiscuit would have done any good?

 

[Roxas1359]

Nah, I mean that the developers are pure dicks and decide to purposefully piss off the internet by pulling a move like this. At what point did they think that pissing off TotalBiscuit would have done any good?

I think developers just don't seem to understand how large of an impact the internet personas on YouTube actually do have when it comes to the industry. I mean hell even some of the big game companies have learned this the hard way and now seem to be getting smarter about it. Remember a few months back with the Nintendo thing, and how big that got really quickly and how much bad PR it did for Nintendo; or when the agreements for the new FF IVX came out and they weren't gonna allow for LPs, and how quickly Square Enix retracted that after seeing the outrage on the internet.