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Month: August 2013

OK AG Scott Pruitt Goes After Google For Illegal YouTube Videos

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has made an interesting request for Google and its service YouTube. Pruitt, concerned over the presence of illegal content in videos posted to YouTube, has requested that Google provide a number of videos the service removed over the last few years due to violations of YouTube’s terms of service as well as an accounting of how much money YouTube has made due to those videos.

In their letter, the attorneys general expressed particular concerns about Google’s practice of advertising with videos produced by “foreign pharmacies that promote the sale of prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet and others without a prescription.”

Videos promoting the sale of counterfeit goods and those that provide step-by-step instructions for making fake ID cards and passports are also of concern to Pruitt and Bruning, according to the letter.

Additionally, Pruitt would like to see more work done to remove the monetization of such videos. However, even by Pruitt’s own admission, this would be difficult.

“We understand that YouTube is an open platform and that not all content can or should be policed,” Pruitt and Bruning wrote in the letter. “Nevertheless, the fact that Google actively seeks to profit from the posting of these types of videos on YouTube — a website known to be particularly popular among children and teens — is very troubling.”

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StellarBrink Cancels Current Kickstarter; Starting New One Soon

StellarBrink Logo

In an announcement sent to Kickstarter backers today, StellarBrink creator Daniel Kole has announced the cancellation of the current Kickstarter. In the update, he notes the changing of the game from an MMO to a single player/multiplayer experience. With that change, some of the reward tiers no longer applied.

Thank you for your support for Stellarbrink! I am writing today to let you know that I have cancelled the current Kickstarter, in order to revamp all of the reward tiers, making them even better and more enjoyable to you. In it’s earlier life, Stellarbrink was envisioned as an MMO, but I have since decided to alter that course, and go with a fuller and more feature-packed singleplayer/multiplayer experience. For this reason the in game credits being offered to you have become obsolete, and I wish to offer you gifts that will be relevant and worth your hard-earned cash.

While this is a setback in getting this game funded, it is not the end. He does have a new Kickstarter campaign in the works with completely revamped reward tiers to match the change in direction for the game.

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Are Stretch Goals Right For Your Crowdfunding Campaign?

crowdfunding Indiegogo KickstarterYou have all seen them. You may have backed a crowdfunding project because of them. But the question remains, are they good for your business? Kickstarter has finally written a blog post on the topic and it pretty much meshes with how I have always thought of them.

For a typical stretch goal a creator will promise to release their game in additional formats or add extra functions if certain funding goals are hit. But expanding a project’s scope can change the creative vision and put the whole project at risk. We’ve seen stretch goals leave some projects overwhelmed, over-budget, and behind schedule.

Many Kickstarter projects end up significantly overfunded, and creators often use those funds to improve the project’s end product. More funding might mean higher-quality materials and other improvements that thank backers with a better-made thing. For other creators overfunding means the project turns a profit. Both are great outcomes. Stretch goals, on the other hand, trade long-term risk for a short-term gain. Tread carefully.

This is pretty much how I have always looked at stretch goals. While they may seem like a good way to spend that extra money or attract additional backers, if you do not plan them out correctly, they can be a bad thing for your project. I would personally like to see that extra money just go toward general polish on the game rather than extra features that may or may not work out or that may or may not ever get completed.

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Oklahoma Game Developer’s Letter To Senator Coburn Sent

Oklahoma Senator Tom CoburnToday, Oklahoma game developers sent its letter to Senator Coburn regarding his co-sponsorship of S. 134 Violent Content Research Act of 2013. This bill if passed would require the National Academy of Sciences to perform studies into the connection between violent games and violent actions. The primary issue with this legislation is that the bill’s sponsor has shown a heavy bias against the games industry which leads us to believe that any studies resulting from this bill could be tainted by his bias.

Senator Coburn has many times come out against the funding for such studies and it is unclear why he would support a bill that could potentially waste tax payer money as well as dilute the valuable research that can be done outside the influence of bias.

The below letter was sent to Senator Coburn as well as members of the media based in Oklahoma and throughout the US.  

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