Issues with 2K Games and Civilization DLC

[Anhellia]

Hi guys!

I made video about my issues with 2K Games and DLCs for Civilization V, you can find it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCNQqaGX8Xw

I really liked doing playthrought and review vids about Civ games, I had a lots of plans about covering all the Civ games + Alpha Centauri, but after getting 2K Games response about it I'm not going to do that.

The direction where this company is going is facebook games and DLC, I seriously doubt it they'll ever release a title worth to be a successor of Civ IV.

Sorry about rant, hope you will enjoy the vid

 

[The_J]

for the end of the video .

@problem: Not sure to who you've talked to, but i guess he/she just didn't have a clue what you're asking for.
There are already tons of videos about Civ5 on Youtube, and AFAIK nobody had any problems with that.

 

[Anhellia]

I'm sorry maybe I wasn't clear about it. I know I can make videos, but I can't add youtube ads to them, because if I do I will get sued by 2K games. Also DLC in Civ 5 is a big joke.

 

[anandus]

I'm a bit confused.

Are you allowed to add Youtube ads if you're not using DLC?

 

[The_J]

That are two separate issues .

@problem: Okay, i thought there was a small part in the vid which i did not understand, thanks for clarifying.
Um...well...then don't add ads. Don't see it as a big problem.

 

[Mavfin]

That are two separate issues .
Um...well...then don't add ads. Don't see it as a big problem.

Yeah, most companies don't permit you to make money from ads in videos showcasing their intellectual property. SOP.

 

[nokmirt]

You are right about a lot of what you said about the game. The DLC does not really add any new content to make the game better. On top of that it is too expensive for something that should be free content, new civs+scenarios. CiIII and CiIV came with scenarios and civs for free. But you did have to pay for further scenarios and civs in expansions, which I believe is fair, but at least the vanilla versions came with some extra scenarios and civs+extras. So far they have been too lazy to make an expansion. I do hope that changes in the near future here. DLC is just not cutting it.

I am not sure exactly what you meant on the promotion thing, and if it is that 2K does not like the extra promotion, well then its their loss. Free advertising and the spread of influence about their product should be acceptable to them. They of course would not want you making money on their product, because what corporation would want to give up their hoarded wealth, or for that matter potential wealth to someone else (If they lost a penny they'd feel like they were dieing.). They sit on their money and play down how broke they are, to justify the fact that they cannot spend money to fix the game properly, and we all know they could do so. They do not want to spend the money to do it, because their greedy. What they don't understand is that by keeping the game in poor shape; they are only in the long run cutting their own throats, it is simple to say a game which develops into something better, SELLS BETTER!

Anyway, there are tons of videos on youtube, and my ever favorite Let's Play videos, by Madjinn, Wainy, and Bibor, among others.

 

[forty2j]

Anyone got a transcript? Apologizes, but I can't find my way through this particular accent (Russian or Eastern European)?

I tried turning on Google's "Transcribe Audio", and it gave me some hilarious but ultimately useless results.

 

[Tatran]

What a hypocrisy from 2k.
The company itself puts spammy adds at the civ5 set up screen without giving
the rightful owner of the product the option to refuse to receive this kind of crap.

To the OP : silence is golden

 

[eris]

If I understand, which is difficult from the dialogue, I think I disagree with you. You can put up TouTube videos, and people are doing that. You cannot make money off of 2K's product by sell YouTube ads connected with those videos.

They don't care about your "free advertising" as much as they care about the legal responsibility of even being perceived as being involved in some sort of financial transaction with someone they have not locked into a contracted relationship. Corporations listen both to their worst fears and lawyers. That this surprises you, let alone moves you to outrage, leads me to believe you may not understand, or possibly do not care, what a necessarily paranoid approach a US company must take towards business decisions. Especially a company that has already had some very interesting legal experience, like 2K.

 

[apocalypse105]

You are right about a lot of what you said about the game. The DLC does not really add any new content to make the game better. On top of that it is too expensive for something that should be free content, new civs+scenarios. CiIII and CiIV came with scenarios and civs for free. But you did have to pay for further scenarios and civs in expansions, which I believe is fair, but at least the vanilla versions came with some extra scenarios and civs+extras. So far they have been too lazy to make an expansion. I do hope that changes in the near future here. DLC is just not cutting it.

I am not sure exactly what you meant on the promotion thing, and if it is that 2K does not like the extra promotion, well then its their loss. Free advertising and the spread of influence about their product should be acceptable to them. They of course would not want you making money on their product, because what corporation would want to give up their hoarded wealth, or for that matter potential wealth to someone else (If they lost a penny they'd feel like they were dieing.). They sit on their money and play down how broke they are, to justify the fact that they cannot spend money to fix the game properly, and we all know they could do so. They do not want to spend the money to do it, because their greedy. What they don't understand is that by keeping the game in poor shape; they are only in the long run cutting their own throats, it is simple to say a game which develops into something better, SELLS BETTER!

Anyway, there are tons of videos on youtube, and my ever favorite Let's Play videos, by Madjinn, Wainy, and Bibor, among others.

The last DLC should be free it add new wonders so it ads new gameplay and new strategies for every civilization not just one extra civ

 

[Anhellia]

Ok, so let me expain my situation a little more.

I'm currently working part-time and since I'm partner with youtube (have the option to run ads in my videos) I was threating youtube as a second "job". Also since few weeks I'm a blogger on gaming portal. So my "gaming journalist career" is growing and I am hoping to quit regular job and try to get more profits out of youtube/blogs.

I was interested a lot in Civilization games because I love the playstyle of them (+ I think Alpha Centauri is one of the best games ever) and love the comunity (which is mentioned in vid). I am aware that there is a lot of Civ vids on youtube, the people you mentioned (Madjinn, Wainy, and Bibor) are great, I agree 100% with that but they are doing playthrought videos. Nothing wrong with that aside of fact they are extremly long. So my idea was to be more focused about mods review, discussion about patches, etc. (rather shorter videos).

But after getting respond of 2K Games I was disappointed. As youtube partner I need permission of game publisher to use their content in my videos, otherwise they can sue me. And if I will make videos that are not allowed to have adds I might have my youtube partner rights removed. So basicly to make videos about Civ games I would have to make another channel. On top of that Civ vids take a looong time to make and that's whats scares me as it wouldn't be much profitable for me. (I know how it sounds, but I barely have spare time for other things then blogging, making videos, working, having a little pesonal life.

@nokmirt I'm not selling their stuff, just putting adds over it They lose nothing when I'm doing so. As you will still play Civilization no matter if I make 1000 vids about this game. But if you don't have this game and you watch any Civ video you might be like: you know what? I like, it is interesting, maybe I'll buy this game... So it's a win, win situation. That's why I don't understant their decisions.

Take expample of Blizzard as succesful company. You might hate them, but you might not say they are not selling millions of copies of their games. (Blizzard allows anyone to put ads on youtube or other channels over their content) They understand it's free promotion, and their game is more popular that way. Also people are still buying all of their games because of modding scenes for every title. It is same reason why Civ 4 was so succesful (great modding scene, people were buying Civ 4 just to play awesome mods). Now have a look how limited is modding for Civ 5? Why is it limited? Because 2K doesn't allow that? Why they don't allow that? Because fans can make better Civilizations/content then 2K could ergo noone would buy DLC and where would be profit for them?

@forty2j I'll make transcript for you and for everyone that couldn't understand me. I'll post here info when it will be done.

@eris Some major companies allows that (like Blizzard) also I have personal permission from some indie developers to do reviews/ playthroughts of their games. They do understand it's free publicity. They were even kind enought to help me with some advices, additional info about games, etc.

If I forgot to explain something, please ask it again ^^

Sorry about long post, and sorry about english mistakes.

 

[nokmirt]

The last DLC should be free it add new wonders so it ads new gameplay and new strategies for every civilization not just one extra civ

I agree all vanilla DLCs should be free. The content should be part of the original game and so we should not have to pay for it. Of course I already did pay for it, but really it is CiV vanilla content which should be part of the game automatically. If it was not for steam it would be. What is DLC? It is simply a mod, it is not standalone. If it was an expansion I could see having to pay for it, but that last DLC is simply a mod. To apply those changes to the game they go through a mod, and that mod is based on content for the vanilla version of the game, therefore, at the expense of this run on sentence, it should be, undeniably FREE!!!

@nokmirt I'm not selling their stuff, just putting adds over it They lose nothing when I'm doing so. As you will still play Civilization no matter if I make 1000 vids about this game. But if you don't have this game and you watch any Civ video you might be like: you know what? I like, it is interesting, maybe I'll buy this game... So it's a win, win situation. That's why I don't understant their decisions.

I understand where you are coming from. I do not see their problem with it, like I said extra advertising you do not have to pay for goes a long way. Like you said it helps the game become more well known and people get to see a bit about how it works. It is a win win situation and good for business, if 2K is upset it is their loss.

 

[_hero_]

But after getting respond of 2K Games I was disappointed. As youtube partner I need permission of game publisher to use their content in my videos, otherwise they can sue me. And if I will make videos that are not allowed to have adds I might have my youtube partner rights removed. So basicly to make videos about Civ games I would have to make another channel. On top of that Civ vids take a looong time to make and that's whats scares me as it wouldn't be much profitable for me. (I know how it sounds, but I barely have spare time for other things then blogging, making videos, working, having a little pesonal life.

You're problem is really with the legal system of U.S. not with 2k. Anyone can sue you for anything, the fact that 2K would probably win because of various convoluted laws is what you should really be mad about.

 

[nokmirt]

You're problem is really with the legal system of U.S. not with 2k. Anyone can sue you for anything, the fact that 2K would probably win because of various convoluted laws is what you should really be mad about.

Thats funny since he got the email directly from 2K.

 

[_hero_]

Thats funny since he got the email directly from 2K.

Doesn't matter. In a sane world 2K wouldn't have a case IMO and he'd have no reason to not continue doing what he's doing.

 

[nokmirt]

Doesn't matter. In a sane world 2K wouldn't have a case IMO and he'd have no reason to not continue doing what he's doing.

They do not have to stop him, they chose to stop him. Besides what he is doing is not illegal anyway. Whatever he makes a video of should not matter, he has the right to put adds on his videos. He is in this case giving those idiots free publicity and advertising to boot. For them to complain about that is totally crazy IMO!

 

[forty2j]

Doesn't matter. In a sane world 2K wouldn't have a case IMO and he'd have no reason to not continue doing what he's doing.

This is key. We don't live in a sane world. We live in a world where the OP can post a video talking about a "bait the hook" combat strategy while showing Civ screens, Google can associate that with an ad for hookers ("escort services"), and 2K will face a class action lawsuit from parents for promoting prostitution (again). Some companies are apparently more willing to accept the risk, but 2K's got history.

 

[The_J]

Besides what he is doing is not illegal anyway.

That depends on how much money is associated with the ads, see US Bill S 978. If he makes over all the time quite a bunch, then it's illegal.


And hey: It's 2Ks content. It's their right to decide what happens with it.
If they don't want promotion with ads, then they are allowed to.

 

[nokmirt]

That depends on how much money is associated with the ads, see US Bill S 978. If he makes over all the time quite a bunch, then it's illegal.


And hey: It's 2Ks content. It's their right to decide what happens with it.
If they don't want promotion with ads, then they are allowed to.

Well then J thats their headache and loss, but your right it is their product, they do have a say. Is youtube a US company? Is Anhellia a US citizen? Because if it or he is not our Congress has no say how much money those ads make. Or does it? We do police the world or so it seems, with utter disregard for our own domestic troubles back here in the home of the brave. In any case, the US government has more than enough on its plate being as bureaucratic as it is, than to worry about ads from youtube and how much money they make. Those politicians are lucky enough if they are able grab the daily paper and a coffee without screwing something up.