A little while ago I advanced further in my DeusEx play. (Starting off the parts of the game I have never encountered before, so from this point on the playthrough is completely blind.) Then forgot to post an update about it - until now.
When preparing the new video harvest for sharing, I unexpectedly ran into a no-longer-uploads-allowed situation. No idea what triggered it - just a week prior I had been uploading 20+ minute Machinarium footage with no issues; I also checked my account's status, and even though the over-zealous new content ID thingie had produced a bunch of copyright notices (some of them from known copyright trolls, once already disputed and removed, I might add), the account's reportedly in good standing.
In any case, while I sort this out - without actually flaunting my phone number around, which all service providers now seem so keen to obtain -, I'm working around the situation simply by doing my uploads in 15-minute segments. (I did try to keep the episodes themselves shorter but that didn't work so well.)
So, speaking of new DeusEx session, here are all the parts of first episode.
These last few weeks I have been circulating this magnum opus among my contacts (in Estonian as well as in English). Now that I've caught up with the "present day"in my weekly chronology posts, it's time to publish it here as well. Playing dirty - sure enough. But hey, at least I'm broadcasting my own sensitive information in the process too.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: 23 November 2013 00:05 Subject: Social Spam: a bad case of Relatives, please help spreading the word [I apologize in advance for such an out-of-nowhere Carpet Spamming. Viral news-spreading seems like a good extra remedy for the difficult situation I'm in. I’ve already sent out dozens of these in Estonian, now I’m reaching out in English.] Dear folks I turn to you in a gruesome exotic ailment - I have come down with a bad case of Relatives. Just one to be exact - my uncle.
For once, my recorded playthrough does not stretch out over months and even years. Last weekend I posted my first steps in Primordia. Now it is time for conclusions. The now-complete playlist is over here.
Ever since I uploaded my first gameplay videos to Youtube, i have received five copyright infringement notices. The first one totally freaked me out. It was a whole new territory of information and I had no clue how to handle this. I wasn't so much surprised (I had combined the game footage with classical, recognizable pieces) but I was clueless. Except that I knew very well I had my "rights" sorted out. So, i returned to the source for consultation - Incompetech's FAQ page, that is. See, Kevin has done all the homework for people who use the music on his site. So, once the initial panic diffused and craftiness kicked in, I found the 'dispute' option and simply copied the FAQ link into the explanation box. These two notices were taken back immediately.
My third notice actually did surprise me. Once again, I'd combined game footage with music from Incompetech reserves. Except this time I was pretty sure those were all Kevin's own originals. And the name of the piece I was supposedly using without permission wasn't even among the material. Processing this dispute took a wee bit longer, but a few hours later it was taken back as well.
Enter present day. I had already uploaded a bunch of Fallout: New Vegas gameplay videos and not had one problem with the material. And then, as I had entered the add-on scenario, the ingame radio was playing some catchy tunes - which I had forgot to turn off at first. And two of these tunes (not all of them - just these two) triggered a copyright notice from a fishy-sounding company called AdRev. Now, once again, I experienced some initial panic: the situation was new again because I had no idea what licences and rights might apply in case of letting others hear the music that played while you played. Then the Crafty Mode kicked in and I begun my quests to find out:
a) what sorts of rules apply to these two songs; and
b) what's the deal with AdRev.
I wasn't able to find out sure-fire intel about the songs, though many clues indicate that they're probably in Public Domain. (While the whole game soundtrack is publicly available in several places, I wasn't able to track down the licensing information to go with it.) I did, however, come across abundant intel and lament on AdRev and the likes. First there was this Google group dedicated on the topic. While my ingame radio case isn't as clear-cut as the "my video is silent" kind of instances, it became clear that this wasn't about legit claims or honest mistakes. There was also this page but it seemed too advanced for the issue at hand.
Then I found the videos from the many Youtubers who had had similar problems. I want to help spreading the word at least a little bit:
As for me, I feel I need to do some more homework before I hit the 'dispute' button on this - to make sure I've got all bases covered. In the future, I would also like to see these two reasons added to the dispute form:
* "I discard your claim because you are a copyright troll. Shoo!"
and
* "Oh, come on. This is simply ridiculous."
Lifehacker just posted this article where they emphasise the importance of "knowing what you show up for".
Here's what they conclude:
"If you're working hard and not being recognized it's a good idea to look at what you're working hard on. /.../ If 90% of success in life is showing up, the other 10% depends on what you're showing up for."
I am currently at the point in my work where I called "FOUL!" towards the system and am now working my way out of there - and I'm trying to invent my own universe in the process.
Among other things they say this:
"The scary part about it is that it's very easy to feel like you're wasting your time. This is because if you're pursuing opportunities where your success is uncapped, you're going to have to start from scratch. There's no system, so you have to build one. Your 1000th blog post may be read by a million people, but your first one will only be read by your mom (if you're lucky)."
It's like they're talking about me! Yay! (Except my mom doesn't read my blog right now. I haven't told anybody about it yet.)
