D&D (2024) D&D Player's Handbook Video Redactions & Takedowns

There's a lot of YouTube videos looking at the brand new Player's Handbook right now, and some of them include the YouTuber in question flipping through the new book on screen. A couple of those video creators have been asked by WotC to redact some of the content of their videos, with one finding that their video had been taken down entirely due to copyright claims from the company. It appears to be the folks who are flipping through the whole book on-screen who are running into this issue which, it seems, is based on piracy concerns.

Jorphdan posted on Twitter that "Despite fulfilling [WotC's] requests for the flip through video I was issues a copyright strike on my channel. Three strikes TERMINATES your channel. I don't think going over the 2024 PHB is worth losing my channel I've been working on since 2017. I'm pretty upset as none of this was said up front and when notified I did comply with their requirements. And I see other creators still have their videos up. Videos that are not unlike mine. Covering WotC is not worth losing my channel... Meanwhile please subscribe to my D&D free channel the Jocular Junction, where I'll most likely be making the majority of my TTRPG videos."

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Mike Shea, aka Sly Flourish, also posted a walkthrough of the Player's Handbook. While he didn't receive a copyright takedown action, after an email from WotC he has blurred out all the page images. "Note, I blurred out pictures of the book after Hasbro sent me an email saying they worried people would take screenshots of the book and build their own. Yes, it's complete b******t, but we must all do our part to ensure four billion dollar companies maximize shareholder value."

Popular YouTuber DnD Shorts had a video entitled 100% Walkthrough of the New Player's Handbook in D&D. That video is no longer available. However, his full spoilers review is still online.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I recall Wizards of the Coast making the barebones of fifth edition D&D rules available for free online back in 2014, which seemed extraordinary to me.

That really isn't unusual for RPGs. As long as we've had the Internet, we've had free sample versions of paid products.

For a very direct comparison, Paizo put out this very same Thursday 266 pages of playtest material for Starfinder 2e.

At what point does this "cut off one's nose to spite one's face" argument become not a logical argument, but the vagitus of a community that has been entitled for so long that it has lost sight of how intellectual property -- and in fact respect for the creation of others -- works?

Corporations do not deserve your defense, nor do they respect creators themselves. This should be evaluated purely as the marketing campaign it is.

 

[Nikosandros]

Doesn't matter if they can't steal it.
What matters is if it's easy.

You don't want to be the one making the piracy easy.

I think that a scanned PDF is easier and much more readable than something taken from the still frames off a YouTube videos. It's not like previous WotC's books weren't pirated.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Perhaps I am one of only a few who find it odd that anyone would think that being delivered an early version of a book for promotional purposes would entitle that person to systematically reveal many pages of the book in video or photographic format?

I recall Wizards of the Coast making the barebones of fifth edition D&D rules available for free online back in 2014, which seemed extraordinary to me. I also recall that same company making whole cloth adventures available for free in 2020 as gift to the community when many people were shut in. These are extraordinary efforts of community engagement. Perhaps they have set up the community here to be unreasonably expectant of free deliveries and gifts?

Could someone point me to a different publisher who would not respond with a request that copyright material be removed from an Internet platform? I agree that an initial direct communication with the Youtube video creator would be preferential, but we do not know who or how many people are responsible for protecting the copyrighted material and asking for someone else to do that might be easy for us to do, but it could be a tremendously heavy workload to impose on someone else when they have a host of other duties and responsibilites.

It strikes me as common sense that a publisher would not want the contents of its book revealed online. There is a reason the "sneak peaks" of books on Amazon and other retail sites are always quite limited.

Some have argued that it would be so laborous to bootleg a version of the Player's Handbook from jpegs of screenshots or what have you. Perhaps, but all piracy requires work and the labor of the bootlegger does not mean that people do not have the right to protect their creations. Why would such a line of reasoning deter Wizards of the Coast...or any other company or, in fact, any solitary author/publisher from wanting to keep copyrighted material off the Internet. I am sure that the Youtubers involved would not want their videos copied and distributed through other channels where they no longer have a means of monetizing them.

At what point does this "cut off one's nose to spite one's face" argument become not a logical argument, but the vagitus of a community that has been entitled for so long that it has lost sight of how intellectual property -- and in fact respect for the creation of others -- works?

Every other publisher I’ve worked with has been happy for me to preview their books on my show. I myself give blanket permission to anyone who wants to show my products on their YouTube channel.

Ive never had anyone, after working with dozens of publishers, ever act like this before.

 

[Morrus]

You don't want to be the one making the piracy easy.

But only one pirate has to do the work. And they will. Then they make it easy for everybody after them. It's not a question of lots of people doing hard (pirate) work, it's lots of people quickly downloading one other person's hard (pirate) work.

Fighting piracy is a losing game, because it only takes one of them, and your content is out there. And once it's out, it's out.

But anyway. I agree that the likelihood of this happening from these videos is near non-existent. Of course it will happen when somebody scans the actual book--and the book is out there now.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Doesn't matter if they can't steal it.
What matters is if it's easy.

You don't want to be the one making the piracy easy.

I don't see that as an issue. Piracy is inevitable, and IMO does very little to affect actual sales.

 

[TiQuinn]

I recall Wizards of the Coast making the barebones of fifth edition D&D rules available for free online back in 2014, which seemed extraordinary to me. I also recall that same company making whole cloth adventures available for free in 2020 as gift to the community when many people were shut in. These are extraordinary efforts of community engagement. Perhaps they have set up the community here to be unreasonably expectant of free deliveries and gifts?

Big difference between releasing to the community and releasing to YouTube channels. Not the same ballpark, not the same league, not even the same sport.

 

[Hatmatter]

That really isn't unusual for RPGs. As long as we've had the Internet, we've had free sample versions of paid products.

For a very direct comparison, Paizo put out this very same Thursday 266 pages of playtest material for Starfinder 2e.


Corporations do not deserve your defense, nor do they respect creators themselves. This should be evaluated purely as the marketing campaign it is.

Thanks, Fluffy, I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Hatmatter]

All the rules for Level Up are officially online, so it's not "every company" as you say. It's a choice WotC decided to make, and the consequences are theirs as well.

That is extraordinary, then, of ENWorld. Good for them.

 

[Minigiant]

But only one pirate has to do the work. And they will. Then they make it easy for everybody after them. It's not a question of lots of people doing hard (pirate) work, it's lots of people quickly downloading one other person's hard (pirate) work.

Fighting piracy is a losing game, because it only takes one of them, and your content is out there. And once it's out, it's out.

I'm not talking about the actual pirate.

I'm talking about my player Derek and Raymond who are cheap bastards and would 1000% used DNDshorts video to build their characters and never buy the PHB despite them making a whole lot more than me, Minigiant, the DM.

And unfortunately the number of people who would actually build their characters based off of YouTube videos information instead of buying the actual book is increasing by the day.

 

[Nikosandros]

That is extraordinary, then, of ENWorld. Good for them.

Paizo also does this.