Early Access and NDA for video live broadcast

[Zoeila]

lame. i wonder how much this has to do with people that monetize their vids ruining it for others?

[Philderbeast]

As we announced previously, video and audio taken during early access may not be posted or streamed.

Users are able to record video during early access (and previously, Beta 4) but may not post the video until launch.

this is NOT enforceable under law at this stage.

I just checked loading the game and the agreement i agreed to does not cover media usage at all. and as i was not made to go through this agreement to access the game, you have no way to prove i agreed to that, and that would make you attempting to enforce this open to being sued for not providing a product that is fit for service.

If it is Square's intention to prevent us from streaming video/audio then these terms must be updated prior to launch to ensure that they are complete and legal in accordance with the laws of the countries of your users.

[infiltration]

...

You could still play even if the NDA is lifted, I don't see the logic in your first argument - no one is forcing you to make videos or watch them. And no, pretty much every game, not just MMOs, these days lift their NDAs post-alpha due to the enormous free marketing potential to be had online.

Take a look at Twitch front page and you'll see Hearthstone hitting 20k+ viewers daily - yet it has been out for only about a week in closed beta; does SE not realise how foolish they're being? Not to mention when you put such a tight cap on ingame footage being released it really does send a negative signal to the market that either says "our game is incomplete" or "it is too shit to show you" or both.

Good game, but SE seem to have some awful decision-makers in their company.

[Xikeroth]

@ infiltration

Not everyone will have early access. In fact many of people that want to play didn't pre-order at all, so they won't have it. Its not hard to understand. I don't see why you are complaining about NOT being allowed to make videos. Its not hard to understand. I don't care for twitch or game streaming at all. It doesn't bother me. What I am pointing out is how immature people are to have to be "FIRST" to post something about a game so that they can get views before others or maybe more views. That's all this crying is about. They want views that is all they are complaining about. They want to be able to have a large number of views since not many people can play.

Another point: Hearthstone also isn't an MMORPG so they didn't put a strict NDA on it.

The NDA being in place isn't rare. NDAs are in place until official launch. I already said this. Early Access is NOT official launch. Just have to deal with it for a couple days.

[Sidrat]

Why would they not want free advertisement for their game on twitch streams etc.?

[Goddhand]

this is NOT enforceable under law at this stage.

I just checked loading the game and the agreement i agreed to does not cover media usage at all. and as i was not made to go through this agreement to access the game, you have no way to prove i agreed to that, and that would make you attempting to enforce this open to being sued for not providing a product that is fit for service.

If it is Square's intention to prevent us from streaming video/audio then these terms must be updated prior to launch to ensure that they are complete and legal in accordance with the laws of the countries of your users.

they're going to make you agree to it prior to joining early access, right after you login and just before character select.

they reserve the right to deny service, and you COULD sue them for it, but the best you'll get is a game refund out of small claims court. legally speaking.

[Xikeroth]

Why would they not want free advertisement for their game on twitch streams etc.?

They will get plenty of that after official launch. its only 3 days. Most MMO players wait until after the initial launch of a game to start playing.

[Goddhand]

Not everyone will have early access. In fact many of people that want to play didn't pre-order at all, so they won't have it.

I paid for the game. I want to stream it. I don't care if other people never buy the game, I want to stream my copy of my game for my purposes.

What I am pointing out is how immature people are to have to be "FIRST" to post something about a game so that they can get views before others or maybe more views. That's all this crying is about. They want views that is all they are complaining about.

If that's what you believe I can't explain it to you, but let's just say streaming something with FFXIV's reputation is NOT going to make me a youtube star.

NDAs are in place until official launch. I already said this. Early Access is NOT official launch.

Then don't use early access as an incentive for purchases.

[infiltration]

...

Your line of reasoning seems to be "I don't see why..." or "I don't care about..." and then you go on to say "it's not hard to understand" - the world doesn't revolve around you.

Fact of the matter is: streaming or making videos at this stage of the game's development will not harm you or anyone else. It's basically free advertisement from the community (community being the keyword). Don't SE (and you) want more people playing this game?

Just because Hearthstone isn't an MMO doesn't mean that it's a game that doesn't go through testing phases, marketing and what not. I was merely citing it as a recent example of the potential that SE has missed out on here. FYI it did have a strict NDA policy which was recently dropped.

Finally, nobody is saying early access is the official launch so you can stop stressing that. Having an NDA this close to release, especially without reason, in this day and age is just a sign of SE being out of touch.

[Wolfyboy]

I don't honestly think SE is making a horrible decision. Lets face it, the MMO community is judgemental as ****! Just look at the error 3102 and 9000, despite being errors outside of the game due to the stress everyone put on the server people still complained to the high heavens. In this day and age you got to hide everything because the MMO community is still far to immature to handle the slightest of things. Regardless, it is only 3 days and if that tests the patience of the audience that streamers display this to then they would never last past the first week anyway.

As other people said, when a game launches it usually has some problems and this gives SE some time to stabilize everything for your show. My words don't have the power to stop your from streaming as I'm unimportant to that decision some of you wish to make, however, you must understand the possible consequences of your actions.

Just wanted to edit in that I'm glad SE has been so open about its development decisions. I also hope I didn't sound harsh; but people like blowing the smallest of problems out of proportion. Have you seen the beta forums before getting closed? People stomping their feet at the sever issues and canceling their pre-order because of it. People are fickle and a slight problem during early access (huge amount of people causing: not enough realms, long que times, errors (they might not be completely fixed by now but has had some progress), etc) can turn people away from this game forever despite it being a really good game (well until I see endgame's longevity, ofc. :P)