Ok, now we're on the same page. I agree that a few minutes of gameplay would fall into Fair Use. However I don't think any court would allow "Long Plays" which are basicly showing the entire game. It doesn't matter if games are for playing just like books are for reading or movies are for watching. You can't reproduce a book in audio or a movie in text. It's the content that is owned, not the way it is experienced.

Hi guys, I'm the author of the original article which is linked very early on in this thread, (http://c-techworld.com/?p=197)
Just wanted to chip in my comment, just in case anybody who read the article thinks that I have a swayed opinion etc.
While I think it's wrong that Youtubers can't make a little money, because that's what the most of it is, a little money, I think it's even worse that EA is actually making the money. While it's well within the respective companies right's to do what they are doing, it's just a bit of a poor way of treating the customers who have made their games a success.
There is no "definitive" conclusion to the argument, there will always be those who agree with the Youtubers, and those who agree with the companies, and those who just aren't bothered. It would be great if there was a scheme of some sort, where the ordinary person can make a video using for example Halo, put it on Youtube and make a little money off it. In return, Microsoft would get a percentage, say, as a royalty payment. Whether or not this will happen? Who knows, maybe down the line.

Chris Harding

Great article man.

Thanks! I'm just glad that it's been taken on board by a fair few people, and the discussions that have stemmed from it have been brilliant. It's always interesting to know what others think about similar topics.

I understand their it when someone is making money off of their work and didn't get permission to do so from the company that owns the rights to them. But going after someone who's just playing for free, is kind of stupid to me because it's free advertisement.

Regardless of laws, there is a certain element of fandom that these kinds of videos provide that they will not be able to attract through advertisement. Things such as long plays, as someone mentioned, encourage gameplay of games both old and new.

Someone else also mentioned that LPing, parodying, and the many other types of gameplay videos that are out there do have an important distinction from posting songs, movies ect...which is that in order to experience the gameplay the user actually has to own the content (in most cases.) Gameplay can't be reproudced from watching videos, however, it might encourage sales (this is my assumption, I've never seen stats that verify this, but wouldn't be surprised just the same.)

It's the same thing the music industry has done with sheet music, making it illegal in some cases to produce your own sheet music and distribute it (paid or free.) A good part of the music community who actually play music that want to be able to learn a song, but in order to do so have to do it either by ear (which ior by actually purchasing song books, many of which are not accurate. One should also consider that most music publishers have not gotten with the times. Many of us using digital sheet music readers with playback capabability such as Guitar Pro (paid software) and do not offer content in these digital formats (of which I would happily pay for if it were availble.)

While, in an ideal world, turning the fandom of people like us of video games, music, or whatever your favorite medium is should damage their bottom line and show that without fan support, especially in this day and age, improves their revenue, it either A) hurts it or B) they don't understand how this contribution helps their bottom line. Trying to restrict these things is only indicative of how far behind the times these companies are, how far copyright has fallen behind the consumer, and hopefully these new enforcements will demonstrate that...