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.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I'm going to be honest: it's kind of refreshing to see them do the normal corporate idiocy that everyone does with Youtube and it's terrible copyright strike policy instead of inventing some wild new corporate idiocy.

It's mostly because my expectations struck hell and had to deploy drills, but I'm not even mad at this point.

Okay, I'm mad, but at Youtube for their biting the hand that feeds behavior that enabled this.

 

[Corinnguard]

DnD Shorts, apparently, either doesn't understand how to do reviews, or was acting in bad faith.

Does anyone know if he has done other reviews prior to his 2024 PHB review?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Man, D&D Shorts cannot win.

He had to do a twenty minute video explaining that he hadn't sold out of Hasbro to get his review copy before the embargo went down.

Is he a stooge? Is he a filthy traitor?

He's a canary in the D&D community coal mine is what he is.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Does anyone know if he has done other reviews prior to his 2024 PHB review?

Yes. Like everyone else who got them, he does reviews on his channel. Not as much as, say, Questing Beast, but it's not weird to see him review a third-party 5E book.

His bread and butter is ranking subclasses and multiclass combos and the like, though.

 

[Iosue]

Does anyone know if he has done other reviews prior to his 2024 PHB review?

I'm being somewhat facetious. Of course he knows how to do reviews: he did one in addition to his page-through video. I have no doubt he knew exactly what he was doing.

 

[mamba]

though I am guessing you would have been more cool with it had they told you ahead of time not to do a flip through

SF did not do a flip through, he showed maybe 30 pages overall, just some examples he was talking about. They still wanted him to blur at least 75% of each page in the video... this is utter nonsense, a failure at every level. They should want people talking about their books and seeing the art and other bits and pieces, instead they get talked about for being the biggest idiots on the block

 

[Umbran]

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

Mod Note:
Somewhere you got the idea that it was okay to mock individuals on these boards.

It is not. So you are done in this discussion.

Folks, this thread isn't about discussing use of the ignore feature. If you cannot get back on topic, you will be joining TiQuinn here.

 

[mamba]

Probably assumed they knew better, as many of the reviewers did.

I don't know about you, but I would not expect that I cannot show anything from the preview copy WotC sent me. Not doing a full page through, sure, but basically not showing anything at all and just talking about it?

SlyFlourish showed maybe 30 pages, not even the full page, just different parts of the book he focused on, and then WotC told him that at least 75% of the page has to be blurred in the video. To me that is utter madness, they should be glad that people market their stuff for free

 

[Parmandur]

I don't know about you, but I would not expect that I cannot show anything from the preview copy WotC sent me. Not doing a full page through, sure, but basically not showing anything at all and just talking about it?

SlyFlourish showed maybe 30 pages, not even the full page, just different parts of the book he focused on, and then WotC told him that at least 75% of the page has to be blurred in the video. To me that is utter madness, they should be glad that people market their stuff for free

Yet that is what most reviewers already had done.

 

[mamba]

The only takedown orders were for those who gave screenshots of 75%+ of the actual pages of the PHB. Which is clear, blatant, obvious copyright infringement.

showing the majority of a page or a spread is not copyright infringement. We are not talking about 75%+ of the book here but of individual pages