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.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Nope. I’m done. I wasted two days on this that I didn’t have.

Hey, if it means anything to you, I found your video to be interesting and informative, and I watched it all the way through. And for the record, I generally can't stand YouTube content, however well intended. So thanks for making it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

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.

Also, this is nonsense, to be clear. This is not why anyone can. Anyone can because YouTube makes absolutely no effort whatsoever to check who actually owns something.

You've clearly never clicked it, or you'd know that it's NOT for "helpful strangers" to intervene - you have to CLAIM to own it:

Submit a copyright removal request - YouTube Help

If your copyright-protected work was posted on YouTube without your authorisation, you can submit a copyright removal request to request that the content be removed. Submitting a copyright removal req

support.google.com

This is the second time today you haven't "Read the manual", @Parmandur and thus started giving out bad info.

Please re: tech matters in future could you not? Could you please not make stuff up based on your "I didn't look into this at all but..." understand? It's what we call in the UK "picking up [cigarette butts]".

 

[Ruin Explorer]

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.

I don't think we can assume "no" in this case. I'll be interested to see if more info comes out.

And your second point seems obviously wrong when some fairly major creators, who've created content for many years, got into trouble on this. You seem to be pretending this is some common problem - it isn't. And you've been providing incorrect information about YouTube's TOS and copyright strikes and I wish you'd stop that.

EDIT - I need to point out that @Parmandur has blocked me whilst he is repeatedly providing incorrect information. Politely I would suggest to all readers that you should not believe what @Parmandur is saying re: copyright strikes or YouTube's TOS. I can't counter future misinformation on this front unfortunately, but so far there has been misinformation from @Parmandur.

 

[TiQuinn]

since so many creators did so successfully.

Again, just because some channels didn’t post images does not mean that those that did were in the wrong.

 

[Parmandur]

Again, just because some channels didn’t post images does not mean that those that did were in the wrong.

They knew how to make preview material correctly without causing a mess. Some didn't.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Hey, if it means anything to you, I found your video to be interesting and informative, and I watched it all the way through. And for the record, I generally can't stand YouTube content, however well intended. So thanks for making it.

Thank you!

 

[jasper]

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.

Actually, I suppose an intrepid person might cobble together a PDF of the screenshots and sell it online as a complete Player's Handbook.... but then if somebody really wanted to do that, I imagine they'd get hold of a copy of the book and scan the pages. But that will always be the case with books--screenshotting YouTube videos seems like a really bad way to do that!

Hey pirates. each pirate picks 2 pages. 150 pirates. 8 hour work each. New pirate copy in three days once they send their work to pirate captain.
Some You tubers did tell they were still on a gag order on certain pages. So if they flashed those pages, they are in the wrong.
The rest is both sides not getting together to tell/ask what is allowed.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't think we can assume "no" in this case. I'll be interested to see if more info comes out.

And your second point seems obviously wrong when some fairly major creators, who've created content for many years, got into trouble on this. You seem to be pretending this is some common problem - it isn't. And you've been providing incorrect information about YouTube's TOS and copyright strikes and I wish you'd stop that.

EDIT - I need to point out that @Parmandur has blocked me whilst he is repeatedly providing incorrect information. Politely I would suggest to all readers that you should not believe what @Parmandur is saying re: copyright strikes or YouTube's TOS. I can't counter future misinformation on this front unfortunately, but so far there has been misinformation from @Parmandur.

Don't feel bad. @Parmandur blocked me a while back.

 

[TiQuinn]

I don't think we can assume "no" in this case. I'll be interested to see if more info comes out.

And your second point seems obviously wrong when some fairly major creators, who've created content for many years, got into trouble on this. You seem to be pretending this is some common problem - it isn't. And you've been providing incorrect information about YouTube's TOS and copyright strikes and I wish you'd stop that.

EDIT - I need to point out that @Parmandur has blocked me whilst he is repeatedly providing incorrect information. Politely I would suggest to all readers that you should not believe what @Parmandur is saying re: copyright strikes or YouTube's TOS. I can't counter future misinformation on this front unfortunately, but so far there has been misinformation from @Parmandur.

Yes, they’ve blocked me as well which is funny because they replied first but I can’t see whatever they posted. Oh well, I’m fine with not reading blatant misinformation.

 

[TheTortleDon]

Also, this is nonsense, to be clear. This is not why anyone can. Anyone can because YouTube makes absolutely no effort whatsoever to check who actually owns something.

You've clearly never clicked it, or you'd know that it's NOT for "helpful strangers" to intervene - you have to CLAIM to own it:

Submit a copyright removal request - YouTube Help

If your copyright-protected work was posted on YouTube without your authorisation, you can submit a copyright removal request to request that the content be removed. Submitting a copyright removal req

support.google.com

This is the second time today you haven't "Read the manual", @Parmandur and thus started giving out bad info.

Please re: tech matters in future could you not? Could you please not make stuff up based on your "I didn't look into this at all but..." understand? It's what we call in the UK "picking up [cigarette butts]".

Parmandur has been picking up [cigarette butts] since he showed up here. He's clearly misinformed victim blaming.