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.

 

[TiQuinn]

It is, full flip throughs like that are a copyright problem that YouTube is really jittery about: hence why anyone can report a copyright strike, not just the copyright holder. They could have even run afoul of an algorithm, which I know YouTube does for copyrighted music.

Only one channel that I know of has done a full flip through and they’ve been a problem child for a long time, and I’m honestly surprised they were included in any pre-release planning at all. Jorphdan and Mike Shea are not of that ilk at all.

 

[Remathilis]

It is also very possible we will learn more once regular business hours start on the West Coast tomorrow.

Maybe.

 

[Parmandur]

Only one channel that I know of has done a full flip through and they’ve been a problem child for a long time, and I’m honestly surprised they were included in any pre-release planning at all. Jorphdan and Mike Shea are not of that ilk at all.

So it seems that Jorphdan takedown came from this 3rd party law firm, seems there is a "right hamd not knowing what the left hand is doing" situatuon here, though again the channels that did not violate YouTube ToS didn't run into any trouble:

Our Team - The Reynolds Law Firm, LLP | Attorneys

Meet our dedicated team at The Reynolds Law Firm, LLP. Our attorneys are committed to providing exceptional legal services tailored to your needs.

www.reynoldslaw.us

 

[TiQuinn]

So it seems that Jorphdan takedown came from this 3rd party law firm, seems there is a "right hamd not knowing what the left hand is doing" situatuon here, though again the channels that did not violate YouTube ToS didn't run into any trouble:

Our Team - The Reynolds Law Firm, LLP | Attorneys

Meet our dedicated team at The Reynolds Law Firm, LLP. Our attorneys are committed to providing exceptional legal services tailored to your needs.

www.reynoldslaw.us

View attachment 375343

You keep saying “violate YouTube TOS” like this is some sort of “tsk tsk shame on you”. These channels were contacted by WotC and given early access to the Players Handbook to provide early reviews as part of their marketing plan to stoke interest, and nothing in their terms said that they couldn’t post images from the book.

 

[Parmandur]

You keep saying “violate YouTube TOS” like this is some sort of “tsk tsk shame on you”. These channels were contacted by WotC and given early access to the Players Handbook to provide early reviews as part of their marketing plan to stoke interest, and nothing in their terms said that they couldn’t post images from the book.

I mean, YouTube will give strikes proactively, for their own protection. Many content creators knew to avoid this situation, and how.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

One difference is that, in this case, they came to me hoping I’d make a nice video for them about their new book and I did. And then they make me deface it with new rules after the fact. I wish I had never gotten the book.

Yeah, that sucks. I didn't think, like some people here have suggested, that WotC made their rules clear and then you defied them. It seemed to me like WotC moved the goal posts after passing you the puck, so to speak.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

So it seems that Jorphdan takedown came from this 3rd party law firm, seems there is a "right hamd not knowing what the left hand is doing" situatuon here, though again the channels that did not violate YouTube ToS didn't run into any trouble:

Our Team - The Reynolds Law Firm, LLP | Attorneys

Meet our dedicated team at The Reynolds Law Firm, LLP. Our attorneys are committed to providing exceptional legal services tailored to your needs.

www.reynoldslaw.us

View attachment 375343

This has nothing to do with YouTube TOS violations, let's be clear. Copyright strikes are themselves often issues in violation of YouTube TOS. For example, my wife did a Sims 3 video, with the sound off entirely to make sure she didn't get a copyright strike, and talked over it, and it was raining at the time, and she got sent a copyright strike on the basis that some company owned the sound of the rain, which, hilariously dystopian stuff aside, was obviously crooked and violation of the YouTube TOS itself. But there are absolutely consequences attached to that. She refuted it and pushed it back so they have to respond, and obviously as they were scammers they didn't respond. But either way accusing people of violating YouTube TOS, not of falling afoul of copyright law is quite misleading in my view. They're separate things. I'd advise you to stop repeating that phrase like it means anything, because all it is, is misleading.

I mean, YouTube will give strikes proactively, for their own protection.

There's absolutely no evidence this happened in this case. And there's clear evidence, that YOU YOURSELF have posted, that it did not. So please stop advancing this unsupported theory. I've never even heard of YouTube doing this outside of:

A) Music.

B) Actual footage that belongs to someone - i.e. actual video being nicked.

More to the point, do we know if Reynolds Law also wrote the polite request letter sent to Mike Shea?

If so, then this becomes more interesting, because it would look like not "one hand doesn't know what the other is doing", but rather "We care about some of these guys, just copyright strike the rest". If they didn't, that is noteworthy.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

I gotta admit that while I kinda get it, the proposition that somebody is going to screenshot nearly 400 pages from a YouTube video and then painstakingly print them all out and cobble together their own terrible-looking version of the Player's Handbook is actually pretty funny. If somebody were to actually go to all that effort, I'd be more impressed than anything else.

But of course, nobody is going to do that because it's waaaaaay too much effort. And even if one really industrious person did, does that even matter? It's hardly likely that people are going to do it in droves.

A terrible-looking PDF of the entire 384-page book comprised of painstakingly cobbled together screenshots was already available online by Friday 5pm, and the link is still up for everyone to view.

I get why WotC wants to protect their copyrights and fight against piracy, but this is really bad that so many Youtubers all claim that they abided by the original guidance only to have their videos taken down and copyright claims filed against them. They aren't even accomplishing anything other than pissing away any chance at winning back some customer goodwill after the OGL fiasco - anyone who is fine with a compilation of fuzzy Youtube screenshots obviously wasn't going to buy the book anyways

 

[FitzTheRuke]

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

It's not just extraordinary of ENPublishing - it's smart business. Only short-sighted egoists (read: corporate suits) think otherwise.

 

[Parmandur]

More to the point, do we know if Reynolds Law also wrote the polite request letter sent to Mike Shea?

No, but I would wager "no" since people were describing the reachout as being from WotC themselves, not a lawyer.

Again, while it would ij fact have been correct to be so cynical in advabce, I don't think it was necessarily on SotC to explain how to make YouTube previews, since so many creators did so successfully.