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.

 

[JDR]

Good nows for Jorphdan!

View attachment 375522

Sly posted this a few pages back

I guess Paramandur has blocked me, too. Why I have no idea because as far as I know I've never interacted with him.

 

[Parmandur]

Source?

I don't think we should ever again accept WOTC doing something nice goes unsourced. (No offense meant, @Paramandur, as I feel like you post quality stuff, but WOTC has been exceptionally vile for years.)

Same source as the takedown occurring, Jordphan posted it on Twitter

"Wizards_DnD was able to clear this up! The strike was removed this morning. I have since set the video to private, just because of all the attention. Happy and relieved"

x.com

x.com

 

[Senior_WotC_Janitor]

Well right now the product is not available legally.

Copies of the PH were sold at GenCon.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I guess Paramandur has blocked me, too. Why I have no idea because as far as I know I've never interacted with him.

Were you guilty of thoughtcrime?

 

[Nikosandros]

This thread is a perfect example on how conversations can be a little bit weird with all the blocking and ignoring going on...

 

[OptionalRule]

I can understand why WotC wouldn't want images of every page from their new Player's Handbook online. However, this controversy is largely a situation of their own making.

Flip-throughs have been common practice for years. WotC releases the book at GenCon, a month ahead of the regular release, as a marketing strategy. That's fair enough. However, when selling these early copies, they should have included a clear disclaimer asking people not to do flip-throughs, given how prevalent they've become.

For content creators who received advance copies, WotC should have included a clause in their Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or at least explicitly requested that they refrain from doing flip-throughs. Whether you agree with the practice of flip-throughs or not is beside the point - they are a reality in today's content landscape.

This situation ultimately stems from WotC's failure to manage communication effectively. The inconsistent approach - where some flip-through videos were left up while others received copyright strikes - has only exacerbated the problem. If they weren't going to remove 100% of these videos, then targeting select channels, especially those with significant goodwill in the community, in this clumsy manner has likely caused more damage than good.

EDIT: I'll note too, apparently many of the strikes were against videos that blurred or didn't show the pages. I believe Jorphan says she blurred the pages and had a strike anyway.

 

[TiQuinn]

This thread is a perfect example on how conversations can be a little bit weird with all the blocking and ignoring going on...

Well at this rate, Blocker Boy is going to be talking to himself.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Cancer exists, but we should try and stop that too.

Sure, but you oughtta do what you can to not kill the patient while you're battling the cancer.

 

[JDR]

Were you guilty of a thoughtcrime?

Who knows?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Show me one independent author of a book who wanted EVERY SINGLE PAGE OF THEIR BOOK DISPLAYED ON YOUTUBE IN ORDER before the book is even available to the wider public.

I cannot believe the disingenuous approach to this topic from some. Almost all videos made by people who had early access were not warned or taken down. Like 99% of them. How are you guys not mentioning the enormous elephant in the room - that this was only the guys who literally scanned the overwhelming majority of the book in a page by page video who got the notice, and only for those particular videos doing that?

Because that's not what happened and not who we are defending.