Monetization of our projects?

[Rhamos Vhailejh]

Hello. I just wanted to know if anyone knows if it's legal to monetize video footage of our custom maps on Youtube. In and amongst their legal mumbo jumbo on Youtube, it says (paraphrasing) "monetization of extended footage of a user playing a video game is ineligible, unless that footage is directly required for the context of an accompanying commentary, and extended footage of any software is eligible for monetization if the video is of an educational nature." And that's literally 100% of what I've been able to find on the subject in the documentation on Youtube.

I figured that this (the Hive forums) would probably be the best place to ask, since this is where I'll find the highest concentration of people who might know the answer to this question. Did I miss something, or am I only allowed to monetize footage of play of my custom map if there is accompanying commentary? Or what's going on here? Any additional information would be helpful, really. It's all so bloody esoteric.

PS: I'm not really looking for suppositional answers based on the data I've provided, but more from people who actually have experience in this field and/or thoroughly know what they're talking about.

 

[gorillabull]

like your quote says you cant make money from a video of you only playing something, you also have to do a commentary
thats how people like this guy make money

 

[JCarrill0]

like your quote says you cant make money from a video of you only playing something, you also have to do a commentary
thats how people like this guy make money

so wait, Azothan makes money doing what he does?

 

[Crazed_seal2]

Really depends on the game and the company behind the game.

 

[Magtheridon96]

so wait, Azothan makes money doing what he does?

He can. I'm sure anyone in his place would monetize them~

 

[Nuclear]

Starcraft is a heavily monetized eSport, which leads me to believe that they don't really mind someone monetizing their gameplay footage.

 

[Rhamos Vhailejh]

like your quote says you cant make money from a video of you only playing something, you also have to do a commentary

This would make perfect sense to me if it was footage of just regular Warcraft III, as opposed to something created with the World Editor, with which Blizzard admittedly has no affiliation. So because of this, I still feel confused on the matter. And if it does turn out to be the case that I still can't monetize footage of my own World Edits, then would be okay to monetize a trailer video of my World Edits? It does specifically say that "extended" footage of playing a game without commentary isn't eligible. A trailer is far from "extended play", right?

Starcraft is a heavily monetized eSport, which leads me to believe that they don't really mind someone monetizing their gameplay footage.

I could be totally off-base here, but I wanna' say that that's just in South Korea, where American copyright laws wouldn't really have very much impact at all. Given that I'm Canadian, I'm preeeeetty sure that the reach of American copyright law extends at least this far.

Another question I would have pertaining to this, which only just occurred to me now, is if I wanted to get in contact with Blizzard to ask their permission to monetize footage of my World Edits, how would I go about doing that? I more or less live under a rock, and I know nothing of such things.

 

[Nuclear]

I could be totally off-base here, but I wanna' say that that's just in South Korea, where American copyright laws wouldn't really have very much impact at all. Given that I'm Canadian, I'm preeeeetty sure that the reach of American copyright law extends at least this far.

SC2 is monetized a lot on Youtube (owned by Google) and Twitch (soon to be owned by Google) etc, which are based in USA. And I'm sure the Koreans would honor American copyright laws, I mean, becoming a sort of a pirate country would really sour the relations

Another question I would have pertaining to this, which only just occurred to me now, is if I wanted to get in contact with Blizzard to ask their permission to monetize footage of my World Edits, how would I go about doing that? I more or less live under a rock, and I know nothing of such things.

Just don't ask and monetize it anyway. They probably won't respond. The worst that can happen is that the monetization will be redirected to Blizzard's purse if they take action (which they won't).

 

[Rhamos Vhailejh]

SC2 is monetized a lot on Youtube (owned by Google) and Twitch (soon to be owned by Google) etc, which are based in USA. And I'm sure the Koreans would honor American copyright laws, I mean, becoming a sort of a pirate country would really sour the relations

There's a part of me that wants to say that this is only because Blizzard themselves has monetized those videos (people who hold copyrights can monetize other people's videos which contain their copyrighted material), but then if that's the case, then the logical side of me has to ask "then why have my videos not become monetized by Blizzard after over two years?"
EDIT: Also, I thought that South Korea just already was like that. I guess I stand corrected. I love cultural information, but I remain blithely ignorant on a lot of things which I'd like to know more about. =P

Just don't ask and monetize it anyway. They probably won't respond. The worst that can happen is that the monetization will be redirected to Blizzard's purse if they take action (which they won't).

I like this answer a lot. In the (apparently) unlikely event that they do take action, are you sure I wouldn't get a strike against my channel? Or a few dozen strikes, since I have many such videos.

Also, isn't Blizzard kind of known for not giving any shits whatsoever about fanmade stuff until and unless it becomes disgustingly popular? Like Unbreakable getting Enhancement Shamans nerfed to hell and back in WoW for example?

 

[Solu9]

Check out the heaps upon heaps of Blizzard game footage out there. They don't give a rats ass about it, well unless you begin to make money off it

 

[Rhamos Vhailejh]

Check out the heaps upon heaps of Blizzard game footage out there. They don't give a rats ass about it, well unless you begin to make money off it

Well isn't that the whole point here, is that I'd be making money off it by monetizing the videos? Or does making money from the ad revenue on the videos not count as the same thing as making money from the videos themselves? Or do you more specifically mean "large sums of money off it"? I'm confused. Would they give a rat's ass or wouldn't they?