Piracy/Copyright Streaming Question

[Chiakscare]

Hi! This is more a topic for moderators since they'll know more...

I'm wondering if, while streaming, if the game plays copyrighted music; does that break any rules we have hear? I don't think it counts as piracy but my co-streamer asked about it.

Are we okay to stream such games that have copyrighted music from artists; the game in question is non-commercial.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Zevia]

Not just about music - the question was really more about what's the feeling on streaming games if we suddenly recognize it's using copyrighted materials?

I mean, what if someone says, "Hey, can you stream my game?", we say sure, then suddenly we start seeing Chrono Trigger sprites, hearing Final Fantasy music, and things of that nature? We're not using them in our project, but at the same time, we're now playing material that we know for sure the creator didn't have license to use. Is that, in a sense, supporting piracy? Would it seem too overboard to stop a stream and say, "I'm sorry, but we can't play games that we know are using unlicensed resources."

It's never really been something that crossed my mind before, but since your new RPGMakerTV project has a big focus on showcasing things for and by the community, I started wondering how comfortable I would really be with showcasing something that's committed piracy and I know it. Obviously, I can just personally choose not to if it's not a big deal, but I wasn't sure what the official stance would be on the topic.

 

[Palsa]

On a related subject, what about games with legal resources, such as music from a resource pack or from one of the monthly ReStaff releases?

I would recommend playing into the game about ten minutes, and then replaying it for your stream when your satisfied that it doesn't have any, or alternately confirm from the maker in advance.

They might have a no stream policy of their own.

 

[Chiakscare]

On a related subject, what about games with legal resources, such as music from a resource pack or from one of the monthly ReStaff releases?

I would recommend playing into the game about ten minutes, and then replaying it for your stream when your satisfied that it doesn't have any, or alternately confirm from the maker in advance.

They might have a no stream policy of their own.

We'll be asking in advance before playing any game on stream just to make sure of any such policy; the legal resources and the like shouldn't be an issue since they're essentially given to us to make games...

I'd like to know more about this as well!

 

[Zevia]

They might have a no stream policy of their own.

This is an interesting thought. I've never seen a game's thread explicitly state whether or not it's available to be streamed - I'd rather assumed that anything that's publicly posted to the forums is up for public play, unless otherwise stated. Perhaps we could get a clarification, though? Should the assumption be that no game is available to be streamed without explicit permission first, or that all games are available unless explicitly stated not to be?

 

[Palsa]

This is an interesting thought. I've never seen a game's thread explicitly state whether or not it's available to be streamed - I'd rather assumed that anything that's publicly posted to the forums is up for public play, unless otherwise stated. Perhaps we could get a clarification, though? Should the assumption be that no game is available to be streamed without explicit permission first, or that all games are available unless explicitly stated not to be?

Yeah, the reason I brought that up is because I heard that Deep-Sea Prisoner, whose developed free games like Mogeko Castle, has requested for people to no longer stream their games.

Personally I wouldn't mind it if someone streamed one that I made, but that's just me.

 

[Chiakscare]

Yeah, the reason I brought that up is because I heard that Deep-Sea Prisoner, whose developed free games like Mogeko Castle, has requested for people to no longer stream their games.

Personally I wouldn't mind it if someone streamed one that I made, but that's just me.

Well, that can be arranged if you want your game to be streamed. ^.~

 

[Shaz]

There is nothing wrong with you livestreaming a "let's play" if your viewers hear the music that the game uses.


If that music is ripped, it could be an issue, but the issue is more with the person who put it into the game than with you streaming it. That doesn't necessarily mean there ISN'T a problem with you streaming it (tbh I don't know and you'll have to wait for someone else who understands it a little better to answer that one).

 

[Tsukihime]

I have received copyright infringement notices from third-party companies that buy up licensing rights. In these cases, I made videos of me playing games and uploaded them to youtube. The notices informed me that the music in question are licensed by whomever and I was illegally using the material in my videos.


So I would imagine even if the staff are perfectly fine with it, those companies may not be.

 

[Palsa]

I have received copyright infringement notices from third-party companies that buy up licensing rights. In these cases, I made videos of me playing games and uploaded them to youtube. The notices informed me that the music in question are licensed by whomever and I was illegally using the material in my videos.

So I would imagine even if the staff are perfectly fine with it, those companies may not be.

A lot of those are false though, one of my family members uploaded a video using a song from the YouTube library, and they got a copyright notice from some person that didn't own the rights to the song.

There are also some bots that look for keywords and automatically send out reports without checking the content of the video.

I've also seen some videos from YouTubers that have challenged them and won, but again it depends on the circumstances.

 

[The Mighty Palm]

i hope not. like I use ripped music a lot as placeholders for the real thing later. My IGMC entry was filled with Zelda ost and Effects before I put the real stuff in.Could I get banned for that?

or if someone streams an unreleased demo of my game. is THAT ban-worthy?

 

[Zevia]

From this thread, Shaz posted the following information:

As far as content, knowingly using pirated content is ban-worthy.  You can't be blamed for the actions of another person if you don't know what they're doing is wrong.  This doesn't mean you should put your head in the sand and avoid asking - even though you may not be banned, if we find out the other person used pirated resources, your game wouldn't be allowed to be shared here, and it might also affect your reputation on the forum.

 

[Andar]

I have received copyright infringement notices from third-party companies that buy up licensing rights. In these cases, I made videos of me playing games and uploaded them to youtube.

A lot of those are false though,

Some of those infringment notices might be false, as there are people trying to cash in on anything, but the laws mentioned in those notices are not.

You always need the licence to use anything publically, no matter how and where.

Livestreaming is difficult to detect in time for a C&D unless you store the video somewhere for later use.

Youtube only works (in a lot of cases) because Youtube has reached an agreement with the copyright (especially music copyright) companies to pay them part of the money they make from advertisement for the right of their users to play their music in the background of videos.

That however is far from universal - here in Germany Youtube has only a partial agreement with GEMA (the company handling payment for public music use), so in about half the cases I cannot watch a let's play (or any video) but get an automatic referal that youtube can't display the video in my country because it MIGHT contain music they have no agreement with the GEMA for.

Note the MIGHT- they can't check the actual video content for everything, so that is simply based on where the video was uploaded from (they have agreements with GEMA for German Musicians and several big international companies, but couldn't agree for some other international portfolios).

So yes, even a Let's Play IS a copyright infringment - it's just that those are usually advertisements for the game and therefore ignored. But companies have been known to take down those let's plays that give their games bad reviews or connect them with unwanted other themes (or cases where someone made money from advertisement without getting them a share, there are companies requesting a share of any advert money to allow you to Let's Play their games).

You as the regular streamer or uploader are only save from that in a lot of cases because youtube (and probably the other streaming sites) made contracts for sharing advert money.

But if those contracts doesn't exist or if your stream/video has some other problems for the IP holder, then they can send an C&D because you are using their material illegally.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

Yeah, technically any company could take down a let's play of their product. Not many want to though because of the bad press it would cause, and the fact that most lets plays are just free marketing.