May I post a KSP youtube Video? May I monitize it?

[DrBurst]

I went over the license and it is unclear. This is the section most relevant:

4. COPYRIGHT

All title, including but not limited to copyrights, in and to the SOFTWARE PRODUCT and any copies thereof are owned by Electro Chango S.A. de C.V. or its suppliers. All title and intellectual property rights in and to the content which may be accessed through use of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is the property of the respective content owner and may be protected by applicable copyright or other intellectual property laws and treaties. This EULA grants you no rights to use such content. All rights not expressly granted are reserved by Electro Chango S.A. de C.V..

My interpretation is that I need to ask permission. Is this thought correct? Do you think the devs will say yes to me posting KSP youtube videos? What about monetizing them?

[GoodGuy]

Well, check out all those Let\'s Plays on KSP. Don\'t remember them asking. Well, one asked.

[RedDwarfIV]

You may post YouTube videos. I think it would be a courtesy to Squad if you would ask permission before capitalising on it.

[Token White Guy]

I respect fellow LPers and what they do but I never monetize my videos of games out of the respect for the developers. It\'s their product being shown. Just because I put my voice behind it doesn\'t make the product my own. I would wait until Squad makes their judgment.

[White Owl]

It\'s like this. It may not be completely 100% legal according to all the fine printed letters of the law (kudos to you for checking, though), but no game developer in their right mind will ever complain about free, effective advertising. So it\'s no harm, no foul. If the game owners ever do have reason to be upset with you - for things like posting videos of closed betas in violation of an NDA, for example - then the worst that could happen is they\'ll take your video down. If you\'re a repeat offender Youtube might delete your whole account.

But monetizing is a whole different ball game. Once money is involved, people start taking permissions very seriously. And you\'re only talking about gaining a few pennies after thousands and thousands of views. It really isn\'t worth the hassle.

My advice: go ahead and post videos. Be sure to leave a link to kerbalspaceprogram.com in the video descriptions. But treat the videos as a hobby, and go do some honest work instead to make money.

[Token White Guy]

I enjoy your work, WO! Keep it up.

It\'s like this. It may not be completely 100% legal according to all the fine printed letters of the law (kudos to you for checking, though), but no game developer in their right mind will ever complain about free, effective advertising. So it\'s no harm, no foul. If the game owners ever do have reason to be upset with you - for things like posting videos of closed betas in violation of an NDA, for example - then the worst that could happen is they\'ll take your video down. If you\'re a repeat offender Youtube might delete your whole account.

But monetizing is a whole different ball game. Once money is involved, people start taking permissions very seriously. And you\'re only talking about gaining a few pennies after thousands and thousands of views. It really isn\'t worth the hassle.

My advice: go ahead and post videos. Be sure to leave a link to kerbalspaceprogram.com in the video descriptions. But treat the videos as a hobby, and go do some honest work instead to make money.

[Vasili]

Speaking as someone who bought the game after watching an LP, I think the benefits outweigh the fact that you could be making some money per video.

[Martonaut]

Speaking as someone who bought the game after watching an LP, I think the benefits outweigh the fact that you could be making some money per video.

i bougth the game cuz a LP2, and now ill try to make my own to 'return the favor' , LPs are 'free promotion' .. now about the legal stuff.

i know there is something called 'fair use' of the content of a videogame, people that do reviews show the game to do their reviews, they profit and dont need to pay the dev. same goes for E-sports and i think LP\'s are in the same category , but im not sure. what i know is that u CAN\'T use the content of the game to do your own and then profit, i mean u cant make a 'space video' out of the content of KSP and profit, you need to say its a game and that is from squad and stuff.

the real legal terms about that 'fair use' i dont know so you migth want to check it out.

[Rascal Nag]

For normal videos, I believe Harvester said it was not only allowed, but encouraged. But for monetizing it, I think it would be best to have permission. A little mantra that I think is good to recognize here:

It\'s all fun and games until money is involved - then it\'s a lawsuit.

Of course, I doubt it would end up in such a serious state. But still, in matters of money I think it\'s best to err on the side of caution.

[noneyabidnis]

I too bought the game after seeing a video of it on Youtube. And I\'ve recommended it to a bunch of people.

[hebdomad]

I\'ve researched this at my final year at university, so listen up.

Give credit where credit is due. So leave links to the KSP website and anything that\'s not your work.

From a legal side it\'s kind of a grey area. A lot of people have monitize \'let\'s plays\' and have earned a living off it, but that\'s normally a deal with YouTube and the Let\'s player. Firstly you have to have enough views to make it worth while. Youtube won\'t even consider it unless you have the numbers under your belt.

From a developers perspective, it\'s more like free advertising. Do be warned though, it\'s never happened from memory but developers and publishers do have the right to send cease and desist orders, so don\'t be a jerk about it.

Also the most popular \'let\'s player\'s play a wide variety of games. Their options, views, and personality are the content, not necessarily the game they play. YouTube won\'t give you a cent if it\'s just game play with music over the top.

Have a look at Youtubes partners program here to learn more about it.

http://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/partner.html

What will get you into trouble however is selling merchandise with copyrighted material you don\'t own. So putting KSP graphics on T-shirts with your name on it is a big No no... Hope that helps.

[DYJ]

Of course you can make KSP videos and post them on youtube. We not only allow them, we encourage it.

That other thread was about using unaccessible game material to make animations and such, like having the character models outside of the game. We\'re still waiting for a response from the legal people on that matter.

Cheers

Quote from HarvesteR from this thread: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=3237.msg33298#msg33298

While he doesn\'t directly address monetizing my interpretation of this is that you are free to do so.

[TinnedEpic]

I am also curious about this. I mean fair enough if Monetization is out of the question I\'m happy to upload without it. Monetization only gets you small change anyways.

[DrBurst]

Ok, after reading the advice it seems it is safe to upload KSP videos but monitoring is out of the question. Thanks, I\'m going to start making videos soon when once I finish balancing the audio.

[DrBurst]

It\'s like this. It may not be completely 100% legal according to all the fine printed letters of the law (kudos to you for checking, though), but no game developer in their right mind will ever complain about free, effective advertising. So it\'s no harm, no foul. If the game owners ever do have reason to be upset with you - for things like posting videos of closed betas in violation of an NDA, for example - then the worst that could happen is they\'ll take your video down. If you\'re a repeat offender Youtube might delete your whole account.

But monetizing is a whole different ball game. Once money is involved, people start taking permissions very seriously. And you\'re only talking about gaining a few pennies after thousands and thousands of views. It really isn\'t worth the hassle.

My advice: go ahead and post videos. Be sure to leave a link to kerbalspaceprogram.com in the video descriptions. But treat the videos as a hobby, and go do some honest work instead to make money.

Thanks, btw, epic youtube channel. Subbed.

[GWBBQ]

Copyright and fair use is something I deal with at work, and here\'s my opinion (not to be interpreted as legal advice or guidance.) This only applies if you are in the US.

I find the Stanford University guidelines very useful, although there are many others. Fair Use law in the US is purposefully vague.

Factor 1: Purpose and Character

Simply by playing the game and demonstrating its content, you have not transformed or added to the original work in a significant way. Adding commentary and instructional content that uses the gameplay video as a reference rather than the core of what you are presenting will strengthen your argument for use of the game content.

Factor 2: Nature of the Copyrighted Work

It\'s an actively published work. No question about it.

Factor 3: Amount and Substantiality

Anything worth making a Youtube video about is a substantial portion of the copyrighted work. It also qualifies as 'the heart of the work' if it\'s a core component of the game (in a sandbox game like KSP, I would qualify most gameplay video that would draw large numbers of viewers under this category.)

Factor 4: Market Effect

Your videos do not diminish the saleability of KSP -- in fact, they probably increase it -- This factor is not much of a concern for your videos.

In conclusion, you achieve 2 of 4 fair use criteria. This means that a fair use defense of content is questionable and would almost certainly result in a court hearing if you were sued under US law. Unless you solidly meet all 4 fair use criteria or solidly meet 3 and believe that you satisfy the fourth in good faith, I recommend seeking permission of the copyright holder before using any content under the auspices of fair use law.

[illectro]

As someone who\'s been making KSP Youtube videos for almost a year (http://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg?feature=mhee ) here\'s my experience.

The EULA posted in public does not give people permission to monetize, however depending on the content, and the reviewer sometimes videos are approved for revenue share, and other times they are removed, getting too many removed from rev share will make future videos harder to monetize since the number of rejections is weighed when they review it.

So I\'d establish a decent catalog of good videos without rev share and then contact Squad directly for permission.

[DrBurst]

What about asking for donations?