Vimeo bans video game clips for lack of 'creative expression'
Looking to host your video game clips on Vimeo? Too bad, since they just dropped the banhammer on your Pac-Man high score clip.
On Monday, video host Vimeo announced it would no longer allow video game-related content to be uploaded to its site. According to the post on the company blog, this includes "game walk-throughs, game strategy videos, depictions of player vs. player battles, raids, fraps, or any other video gaming videos that simply depict individuals playing a video game."
The post goes on to mention that the reason for the new ban is twofold: one, for the sake of the company's servers which have slowed to a crawl having to transcode all of this content, as well as what community director Blake Whitman calls a lack of "creative expression" from people simply holding down the record button for content that statistically has ended up being larger, and longer, than the majority of that found on the rest of the site.
The good news is that not all video game-related videos will be getting the axe. For example, machinima, which uses video games as a platform to create scripted stories, will not be deleted. Also, any game-related clips that have been uploaded to the service and that are scheduled for removal will be hosted until September 1, giving creators over a month to get it off and hosted elsewhere.
There are several sites that specialize in video game clips. One of the more popular ones out there, and my personal favorite, is WeGame, which has far more generous upload limits and video transfer from YouTube. For many, I think the reason to flock to Vimeo was simply the quality, as the site is one of the few to offer high-definition video hosting and playback, as well as download links to grab the original files.