Thursday, May 16, 2013

Did someone really pay to get me 1000 subs?

I know I've joked about it before, but it's looking more and more like it's not just a joke anymore. Let me explain: prior to that unexplained surge, I was at around 9970, and that number had been stagnating for a while. And now, after it, it's hanging at around 10970, and still stagnating. Meaning that I got almost exactly 1000 subs from that surge, and it ended just as quickly as it started. A nice round number like that... let's just say I'm not sold on it being a coincidence.

Just how much do 1000 subs on these shady-ass sites cost, anyway?

40 comments:

  1. As another unfortunate event, you won't be able to keep most of your videos "Ads-Free" anymore. Personally, I think the hate towards this decision is getting way out of hand, as while it's kinda mean for Nintendo to do this, it's not really that big of a deal. (AdBlock will stay my friend for a good while I think.)

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    1. It is already mine, be it on Firefox, Safari, or my YouTube client on my iPhone. I do so enjoy not sitting through ten minute ads just to get to a fifteen minute video...

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    2. At this point, if you don't have AdBlock, you will get no sympathy from me if you complain.

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    3. At least you do not have to consider giving ME any because I really do have the ad-blocking software for both of my browsers, and my YouTube client on my phone does not play ads either...

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    4. Just wondering Slowflake, have any of your videos been tagged yet?

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    5. And I disagree about it not being a big deal. Remember, some people make a LIVING off of Youtube, so if the videos that they make to survive are no longer generating any money, then it suddenly becomes a huge issue. I believe *cough*Chuggaaconroy*cough*, NintendoCapriSun, Josh Jepson and another of other big LPers make a living by doing what they do, so their livelyhood is at stake here.

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    6. Content ID tagged by Nintendo, meaning that they'll generate Ad revenue for your work. This is what this incident is about.

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    7. Oh, that. Hell if I know.

      And Chugga zombies in an all-out war against Nintendo... I'll get the popcorn. I hate popcorn, but I'll make an exception just this once.

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    8. Still, living off LPs on Youtube is not what I consider being productive. They'll just have to get a job like everybody else, that's all.

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    9. If you hate popcorn, I will eat it. Just make sure it is an extra large with extra butter. The point is that we will enjoy seeing zombies at age 8 whine at Nintendo as if it will do something...it is just that I will probably get a heart attack from all the buttered popcorn, not you...

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    10. Need to specify something else. LPing is supposed to be a HOBBY, not a job, which is why this is my opinion and probably also Slowflake's since he doesn't seem to care all that much either.

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    11. I'm just hoping something happens and PewDiePie's income gets cut off too. Then maybe LPing can become respectable again.

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    12. I won't be enjoying the shitstorm coming at Nintendo though... I kinda like Nintendo as a company and while I kinda understand why people would be pissed about that, I still think this is going way too far...

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    13. Funny Slowflake, I have YOU of all people to blame for my finding out about PDP (I think from your Wind Waker LP).
      Anyway, my opinion on the matter is that I find it a tad too selective that there's such an outcry for Nintendo to do this but when other companies do it there's hardly much but a few mumbles. I mean, does it suck a tad sure but at the end of the day, if your 5 year plan involved making a living via what is essentially copyright infringement, you need to reconsider your options. [Disclaimer: I refuse to whitelist youtube for AdBlock so no one's getting money on my views anyway]. I empathize with the LPers but I can't in good conscience side with them on this one. Anyway this supposed "shit storm" is probably overstated. Most people that buy games don't watch LPs and not all LP watchers will buy a given game they watch anyway. Anytime the internets throws a bitch fit, they later get demonstrated that it's all for naught.

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    14. To The Seeker of All Equations:

      What isn't productive about creating content for YouTube? LPers create entertainment for sometimes hundreds of thousands of people, depending on their sub count. If I were them, I would be insulted at the notion that what they do isn't a 'real' job, considering how much work goes into creating some of these LPs. For people who want to earn money, they usually have to go well beyond playing a video game and recording it. In fact, by all accounts, 40-50 hour weeks are not uncommon. It's certainly not the hardest job in the world, but why shouldn't they make an income from it when their entertainment is in demand? Earning money from their videos does not mean that they lose their passion for LPing or something, it just means that they are good enough to have people willing to pay for their content.

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    15. It's not the case for ALL LPers, which is why cleaning up is probably the best option. It's sad that good LPers have to pay for this decision, but hey, in Quebec, that's how we roll, the good citizens always pay for the others who abused the system. I'm used to it by now and I'll stop complaining.

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    16. The issue isn't is it productive, it's being productive off the property of another entity without their permission. Unless Nintendo made a written agreement for them to use their games for these videos, they pretty much are violating copyright and thus aren't entitled to full money made on the product/service. You can argue that 100% of ad money going to Nintendo is too much, but to say 0% should is near indefensible. Forget it's Nintendo, assume it's Company X, and some Joe Q instead of a favorite LPer, if you are too vested to consider this rationally.

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    17. At the same time they're giving the game free publicity, showing off its features and giving people a nice reference, giving praise and criticism of the game and they're not claiming the game as their own. Surely that would fall under the category of "fair use"?

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    18. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use You may want to look up what exactly "fair use" is. Using footage for a review, I'd say, is fair use. Showing a whole game in its entirety without permission, it's not. People keep bringing up "oh it's free publicity" and I have yet to see anyone give proof. Sure it may publicize a game that's ALREADY WELL KNOWN and for everyone of those you got people that won't play the game because they got the videos for that. That's what these companies affirm, and to claim it's fair use the burden of proof is on the DEFENSE, that is the LPers here, to show that they are not infringing. No shit it's not their game, that doesn't matter. Documentaries aren't claiming some footage as their own, that doesn't mean they can't violate the fair use idea, and that's what this is more like really. At the end, they are profiting on someone else's IP, plain and simple, and I'm really getting sick of people defending them without addressing the criticisms, it's just blindly "Well I like them so what they are doing must be good to these companies somehow". I'm no saint on copyright issues but so far I find the pro-LPer stances shoddy at best.

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    19. It's not a matter of publicity. Although fair use can be murky at times, it's pretty well-accepted that adding commentary to video game footage is covered under fair use, and is your property. This was accepted by the community, and encouraged by Nintendo itself, some time after the whole LP-banning fiasco a few years ago that resulted in a lot of LPers being banned from YouTube, only to return because they were falsely flagged.

      Nintendo has been one of the biggest supporters of fair use by LPers, and that's why it's so surprising that Nintendo has turned around to claim ad revenue. According to TheRunawayGuys, Nintendo specifically asked them to make a video on New Super Mario Bros. 2, and they now want the ad revenue for even that video.

      Let me reiterate: Adding commentary to game footage makes it your property, through-and-through, and you should have every right to claim 100% of the ad revenue from such a video.

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    20. My previous comment was too lengthy, and instead of paragraphs, I could do it in sentences.

      The fair use law in the US is such you have to be backed by a major channel in order for the claim to not be dragged along.

      At least Nintendo is letting their content stay up, some providers do worse, even on content originally created on YouTube that THEY took. It may be my business/Accounting sense talking, but at least they are making money by keeping it up.

      Should they get all of the revenue? Yes if non partner, no on partner channels.

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    21. The commentary is fair use, but THE VIDEO IS NOT. What don't you understand? Look up Rifftrax to understand. They commentate over movies, but don't release movies with their commentary over it typically (exceptions exist for old public domain stuff) because only the audio is fair use, the video is still subject to copyright. Address that, then we'll talk.

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    22. I personally think this guy also has a pretty good opinion on the matter.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VznthhFj-uI

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    23. I guess this reply is to all of you. At least people like Slow and, eventually, myself are pretty much doing the games for free anyway; so the only thing we would get is personal satisfaction and the entertainment of others. Besides, Slow pretty much assumes most of his fan base has Adblock, and when I start and am at the point to be forced to have ads, I could tell the poor, misguided souls to download it...

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  2. I do not use them, so I do not know. This may sound absurd (especially coming from me), but maybe those 1,000 people actually genuinely enjoy your work and want to see exactly when you upload new videos. It remains yet to be seen if those 1,000 will behave, but it is still food for thought...

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    1. But my views didn't exactly go up all of a sudden, either.

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    2. Unless people have read comments where I mention you and take them seriously, the surge is really not my fault...

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    3. I mentioned you in an Archfeind video like, 3 months ago, but that didnt help at all

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  3. TB did something on this
    worth watching I guess:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yX4io2O4EI

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    1. oops I mean the largest comment thread, not Slowflakes's post.
      this is relevant to the largest comment thread

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    2. I stopped caring after reading the title. Again someone who is dramatizing over money he'll be losing.

      They are not specifically "targeting" Let's Players, they're targeting video footage for their games as a whole.

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    3. You do know Totalbiscuit isn't an LPer and hares most right?

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    4. No, I didn't know and after your comment I decided to give it a chance and he is right, this is a big misunderstanding. But from my cultural point of view, in a region where the masses constantly pays for the abuse of a minority, I still won't loose my respect for Nintendo if they still decide to go all the way through with this.

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    5. Why is that OK? Why is it OK for a large group of people to lose rights or privileges because of a small group? What I'm getting out of what you say is "It's a hard problem to fix, so I guess everyone just has to suffer." Are you actually advocating for that?

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    6. We tried to complain about things like that, but then we began to be known as the people who start strikes all the time for nothing. It's useless to complain. I gave up on that now. I just divides people of the same community into 2 sides for bad reasons. I don't want to be part of a shitstorm again... never again...

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    7. The fact that you gave up resisting that kind of attitude does not make it just.

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    8. Let's face it, we have no power here. Like that "TB" said, he already contacted some major reviewing website which are trying to contact Nintendo about this non-discriminating ID issue. If they can't do anything, then we can't as well. We can however try to slap some sense into ALL those website manager to contact Nintendo about it. The more message they receive about how much of a misunderstanding this is, the more likely they will reconsider their options on the matter.

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  4. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

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