I’ve been letting this one run its course before I tossed out my comments, but in thinking about it this is something that I just have to weigh in on, given how deeply it’s tied into the very nature of YouTube, and the Retrogaming scene. I love giving social commentary, so this is about as perfect to go into as anything else that’s come up the past few months.
Now, getting to the meat of the matter is something pretty straightforward. YouTube user and retrogamer Villordsutch uploaded a video on March 16th explaining how fellow retrogaming YouTuber Top Hat Gaming Man used his footage in a video on the ZX 81 computer without his permission, to quote Vil, “ripping (him) off.”
UPDATE: The situation has been resolved, amazingly. HERE IS THE FOLLOW UP ARTICLE. ENJOY!
To that end, Vil has taken down the video calling out Top Hat Gaming Man. I am leaving links up, however, for history sake, for now.
This is cut and dry – the footage that THGM used in his video is Villordsucth’s footage, no doubt about that. However, I do disagree with one element of this:
Top Hat Gaming Man never actually claims the footage is his outright – yes, he uses it in his video without proper credit, but he does not claim explicitly that he is playing these games – he simply shows them off.
That being said, THGM certainly should have provided proper credit – I can understand zooming in the footage so that it looks better in the video he was producing, showing more of the game itself, but still, adding a credit would have been a proper gesture.
This should be where this ends, but oh no, this is where the drama really gets going!
Of course, starting off, we have the original reply that Top Hat Gaming Man made in regards to the claim.
In this screenshot, THGM discusses his feelings on the issue, and how sourcing footage goes in other scenarios. I can’t say I completely agree with him here, but he does have valid points for the most part, give or take. Also note that he mentions the “claiming he is playing the games” element as well. Just because it’s in someone’s video doesn’t mean explicitly that the content is theirs, quite simply, so things must be taken with a grain of salt, as they say.
A point to focus on here is the fact that this could have all been resolved in private messages, it didn’t need to become a public issue like it has become. THGM also brings up the interesting idea of asking permission from the companies that make the games, and pulls a “where does it end” slippery slope argument on permission – a little hyperbolic in this case, but a valid enough thought with regards to fair use.
Providing credit still would have been only proper though, I still stand with that. THGM makes his feelings well known though in the above.
Coming up next, we have a comment from Kim Justice that deserves being looked at. You might remember me mentioning her in the past as well – yeah, seems like this incident has a nice cross section with many UK Retrogaming YouTubers that I happen to like.
While I have screenshots of this exchange, and will share them here, I’ll add the full text below as much of it was lost when Prince Watercress got these screenshots for me:
“I was providing my own thoughts on this matter in another thread which seems to be gone now…odd that. Very odd. Anyway, first off – the contemplation of DMCA should be right out for this, seriously. This is not a legal matter. This is something that could have very easily been solved in private, in fact…I have to ask why this went public at all? I’ve seen other comments from you, Villord, where you say that Top Hat should have contacted you, but why did you not contact him? This shouldn’t have escalated to such a situation when it could have so easily been resolved in private. In most situations when a credit is asked for a credit is going to be given…and if an apology is also warranted for some situations, that will be given too. Ideally credits should be there yes but things do get overlooked and/or errors of various kinds are made. It’s a great shame that this has occured in public when it really didn’t have to at all.” – Kim Justice
Apparently, some people have been bringing up the idea of Vil filing a DMCA takedown against the video. This is an absolutely absurd proposition, as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is designed to protect copyright holders against the outright digital piracy of their work – it was not intended to be, and should never be used, as a weapon like this, over something so damned trivial to boot! Hell, the weaponization of the DMCA is its own issue on YouTube, and a violation of Fair Use laws, which are also, guess what, a part of the DMCA!
Kim continues to hit the nail on the head by expressing that Vil should have contacted THGM first, rather than turned this into the issue it has become. A very fair point coming from a woman who herself knows YouTube quite well, not not only that, this is something that should have been obvious! Just a quick “hey, looks like you used my footage in your video. I don’t quite like that, can you credit me somewhere please, or maybe re-do the video without my footage if you don’t want to give me credit?” It’s not a hard thing to do…
Vil responded in a manner that shows just how upset he is about this, but also doesn’t quite help his point – it comes off a bit more desperate and angry than anything else, I hate to say:
“I came on here earlier to respond to your comments, after seeing them on my phone Kim, however I assumed you removed them for your own reasons. With that not being the case I’ve no idea why they went. As for you question on why did I not contact him? I’m not the one at fault here. I haven’t done anything wrong. This isn’t my mistake. I haven’t stolen somebodies work and attempted to pass it off as my own, by removing the branding. He has, do you understand that. I’m not the one who has done something wrong that’s Top Hat Gaming Man. For over a month Top Hat Gaming Man sat with that video there generating incoming for himself knowing that my video was wedged within. At no point did he think ‘I better message Vil via Facebook, twitter, email or some other medium to let him know I’ve taken something from his active channel, stripped the branding off it and not credited him for it! Because what I’ve done is bang out of order and everyone knows it’. So this isn’t an overlooked error as you put it, he has ripped the video, edited perfectly so people shouldn’t have known it was mine and passed it off as his own. So why didn’t I contact him to point out his “overlooked error”, because he never made one he purposely took my work and manipulated to make it appear to be his own. I’ve stated numerous times, if Top Hat Gaming Man knocked on my door a month or so ago and asked if he could use the footage, offering to link back in the description I would have said yes. It’s YouTube, we’re retrogamers, this is a community however it appears he didn’t think like that on this occasion. As for his apology. Well looking on his Twitter page at the moment he’s signed off with. “After a fun day of Fake News. It is time for bed, cheerio!” So that really holds a lot of weight doesn’t it! I didn’t do anything wrong he did. He’s stealing peoples work and making out it’s his own, do you not see why that’s wrong?” Villordsutch
In one of the replies Vil made to Kim, he states the above, expanding on how he feels things should have gone. Again, valid enough – THGM shouldn’t have just used the footage outright in the way he did, but the wording that Vil uses here is just taking things way out of context. He is treating it as far more severe of an action than it was!
His reluctance to contact THGM privately over the matter is the big issue. Why is that such a taboo thing? I don’t get it, if good behaviour dictates he should have contacted you, Vil, before putting the footage in his video, I would think it equally dictates you should have gotten in contact with him directly before you turned it into some public drama! It could have been resolved fine, and with an apology.
Instead, things have gone quite downhill. You will notice Vil makes reference to THGM’s tweets in his reply to Kim. THGM is known to be a “not give a fuck” kind of person – it’s a part of his character online, certainly, but clearly the actual man behind the character is tired of it all, and I don’t blame him, I would be too.
Vil seems to treat these tweets as signs of THGM somehow being a bad person, as opposed to him just being tired of this bullshit the moment it started, because I’m pretty damn sure Top Hat Gaming Man did just that – got tired of this as soon as he made his original reply to Vil on the issue.
Let me state again, for clarity, that I understand why Villordsutch feels the way he does. I really do. HOWEVER, I feel his actions regarding this went from a somewhat bad start, to being outright terrible, and making a mountain out of a molehill.
I know I would hate if someone stole my footage, but if they were a decent YouTuber, I’d message them about it. THGM may be a somewhat abrasive character, sure, but he certainly would work with Vil on the issue, as stated in the original reply he made.
Having already been “called out” however, I see zero reason for Top Hat Gaming Man to be a nice guy in this. Things went past the civil stage the second Vil decided to do the video and make as big a deal out of it as he did. To expect civility after the fact is absurd to me.
Regarding THGM’s tweets on the subject, they themselves are interesting enough, to be sure….
https://twitter.com/TopHatGamingMan/status/974758002187292672
https://twitter.com/TopHatGamingMan/status/974801693622833152
https://twitter.com/TopHatGamingMan/status/974801693622833152
https://twitter.com/TopHatGamingMan/status/975082311913000961
There was also a lovely point during this where apparently someone was saying he was Greek (rather than from the UK), and this somehow was the root of his actions.
Yeah, I don’t get it either.
https://twitter.com/TopHatGamingMan/status/975321075365146624
https://twitter.com/TopHatGamingMan/status/975681685856686080
https://twitter.com/TopHatGamingMan/status/975684926799515649
So, by now, it’s been a few days, and the arguments still keep happening, fans of one channel fighting the other, accusations being thrown around, people who have not a fucking clue how Copyright law works chiming in here and there, and on and on it goes.
Nonstop drama, all because of a video being, shall we say, borrowed.
Now, again, don’t read me wrong – I feel like Top Hat Gaming Man would have done better to have not used others footage without explicit permission. That being said, this is also rather trivial in the long run, and Villordsutch has made a bit more of a deal out of this than it should be.
Still, I can totally relate to Vil being as upset as he is about this. I just think he went about it the wrong way.
Others, however, their reactions are the real hilarity here. I haven’t focused on many of them because, why start more drama than is already here? If you want to check it out on your own, go for it. Look at the comments on the original video Vil uploaded, or replies on twitter.. they are a hoot!
I just wanted to show this little situation as I (and my buddy Watercress) saw it – it’s pretty damned crazy, honestly, how much this has grown. Hell, I devoted this article to it. Why?
Social commentary. That’s all, and rather than comment on the original video and have a bunch of people try to start shit, this works out better and gets this bit of unnecessary drama out there for the world to see and try to figure out on their own.
It’s just old video games. It isn’t that serious.
…Oh, and here is Top Hat Gaming Man’s original video. It’s worth checking out.
Actually, nevermind, THGM took the video down. I’ve seen reports that claim other footage used in the video was also from Vil, but at this stage I can no longer try to verify this myself.
I repeat, this has all been resolved which is a subject I discuss alongside the aftermath, here!