Monetization of ADoM gameplay videos?

[Kawa]

Hello, ADoM forum folk!

So there's recently been quite a bit of discussion going around the Internet after Nintendo decided to claim all advertising revenue on gameplay videos (generally Let's Plays, with additional commentary and editing beyond raw gameplay footage) made by fans of their games on Youtube. The alternative, for those of you that don't know, is that this revenue goes to the maker of the video.

I was wondering if there is an official policy in place for making ad revenue off of Ancient Domains of Mystery footage, and if so, if it could be given here publicly, as future reference for those who would consider making such video.

Thanks!
Kawa

[Grey]

You'd probably have to ask Thomas directly. I can't see that you'd get much revenue from an ADOM vid...

[Frankie]

but what about streaming?

[gut]

Sifir's vid is the most popular, and some episodes have a few hundred views (I think).
Not really a lot of potential there.

[grobblewobble]

So Nintendo now demands money from anyone who wanted to make free commercials for them? How smart.

[Silfir]

The lowest-viewed episode of the actual Let's Play is 27, with 619. The others range between there and just over 1000 (with highlight episodes shooting well over 1000, like the heretofore final episode) except for the ones at the beginning, with several thousand, and episode one specifically with 22k.

I considered completing the monetization steps, but every time I arrived at the conclusion that I was going to make pittance at most and inflict ads on the few viewers I do get, and I didn't feel comfortable doing that. In the end I never felt like it was worth bothering Thomas to ask whether he would allow it. I would certainly appreciate to hear his official stance on the subject, though! The replay value of ADOM is immeasurable and the main attraction lies in actually playing it, so it's not like ADOM Let's Plays could ever be anything but free advertisement. This is the same with any video game, anyway; watching someone else play it never has quite the same oomph as actually getting to do it yourself. On the other hand, guys like Total Biscuit have enormous audiences to unleash on the games they're covering, and being denied advertisement revenue is the very thing that's going to put them off from covering a game. Nintendo are being a bunch of nitwits on this.

I'm planning to do a Let's Play on the final release of ADOM 1.2.0 regardless of whether I would be able to advertise on them or not (really only makes sense if I do it right away, so all the returning viewers get a chance to make me some delicious moolah right away), but again; the attention from "big" Let's Players can help propel a game into bestseller status. Games like FTL have received a great deal of spotlight that's helped make their success possible. Thomas would be nuts if he pulled a Nintendo on this topic; he should make an official announcement to that effect before the Big Release. Professional Let's Players depend on ad revenue; deny it to them and your game simply isn't going to get covered. It's sort of like shorting people by filling drinks below the marker in a restaurant; you lose big amounts of money because your customers are going to be pissed and take their business elsewhere.

Tune in next time when I give completely uneducated advice to the crew of your other favorite indie games!

[GordonOverkill]

I'm planning to do a Let's Play on the final release of ADOM 1.2.0

Guess I am not the only one who considers this pretty great news :-)

[Grey]

Thomas would be nuts if he pulled a Nintendo on this topic; he should make an official announcement to that effect before the Big Release.

Nintendo are nuts to pull a Nintendo on this :P The backlash has been pretty strong, and as well as hurting the free advertisement that Let's Plays provide it also negatively affects their reputation as a whole.

[adom-admin]

Hello, ADoM forum folk!

So there's recently been quite a bit of discussion going around the Internet after Nintendo decided to claim all advertising revenue on gameplay videos (generally Let's Plays, with additional commentary and editing beyond raw gameplay footage) made by fans of their games on Youtube. The alternative, for those of you that don't know, is that this revenue goes to the maker of the video.

I was wondering if there is an official policy in place for making ad revenue off of Ancient Domains of Mystery footage, and if so, if it could be given here publicly, as future reference for those who would consider making such video.

Thanks!
Kawa

Wow, I'm probably a bit late to voice my opinion but it's pretty simple:

1. If someone earns money _with_ ADOM, it should be me (primarily in order to be able to finance the further development of ADOM and the awesome people nowadays working on it).

2. If someone earns money with stuff _advertising_ ADOM (e.g. the mentioned Let's Play videos) that's perfectly fine for me. It's good for ADOM so I don't mind. The easiest procedure for all this is to contact me under creator(at)ancientdomainsofmystery.com and talk with me about your idea. I'm pretty sure we'll usually find a trivial solution.

So please go ahead with Let's Play videos and similar stuff as long as you let me know about it.

I had requests in the past which I didn't like (e.g. writing a book situated in Ancardia): That's a different thing IMHO and as long as you don't have a believable list of past credits I wouldn't allow that as the chance for damage to my Ancardian idea is much higher than the chance for anything useful coming out of it. Or in other words: I'd have to see the finished book to be able to judge about allowing it or not. Thus: Not so great as an idea ;-)

Hopefully this clears some things up. Otherwise mail me ;-)

Cheers
Thomas