YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki recently came up on stage at the company’s first-ever Gaming Creator Summit and answered some very challenging questions by the creator community.
The event held at the end of October in Palm Springs hosted around one hundred creators from around the world. Throughout the three-day summit, the notable creators and platform executives got a chance to socialize with each other and get answers to some of their impending queries.
During the program, Mathew Patrick, aka MatPat, the creator of the popular channels, ‘The Game Theorists’ and ‘The Film Theorists’ asked Susan regarding the biased policy for gaming creators. He said that many moderators of the gaming niche channels feel as they are ‘second-class’ citizens on YouTube, even though they are delivering significant value to the video streaming platform.
In her response, Susan Wojcicki said that she has a team that is specifically working on gaming projects. According to her, the team dedicated to gaming projects was put together just after her appointment as CEO in 2014 and is responsible for the gaming channels monetization. This includes Channel Memberships, Super Chat, and the recently launched Super Stickers. She also said that YouTube is working on other ways to improve monetization methods for gaming creators.
Patrick also inquired how the European Union’s new copyright directive Article 17 would affect the gaming creators. Since many gamers don’t own the copyright of the content they use in their videos, there is a good chance of their livelihood being cut off from the passing of the legislation.
However, Wojcicki assured the team of gathered creators and said that YouTube is constantly in touch with different policymakers and is hopeful that they can work out some ways to make the changes work for the creators as well.
During her time on stage, CEO YouTube also talked about the full rollout of the Self Certification tool that the company is allowing to a number of creators in July. Through this tool, the creators can check whether their uploaded video is safe for all ads, safe for limited ads, or are not suitable for ads at all. This keeps the creators in sync with YouTube’s rating policy and makes the policies more transparent for both the parties.
She said that they are expecting a full rollout of the Self Certification tool soon and are hopeful that it will help resolve many issues for the creators.
However, Patrick, one of the creators who received Self Certification since July immediately said that many gamers have no idea if the violence that is part of many video games accounts as real violence. He further said that the protocol is easy for non-gaming creators as they can immediately determine whether the content in their video contains violence, sex or abusive language. However, the gaming sector usually involves some form of violence such as occasional shooting, punching, and stabbing.
Up until now, YouTube had never been cleared whether the violence depicted in video games is similar to real violence. Wojcicki clarified this issue and said game violence is very different from real violence. But she did agree that gaming creators have to be careful when marking their videos for ad-safety. To rectify the issue, the company is working on a system that would enable YouTube gaming creators to make the right decision. She did not reveal many details but did say that an official announcement regarding the problem would be issued in the next few days.
Featured Photo: Getty
Read next: YouTube Clears Up Confusion Regarding Terms of Service
The event held at the end of October in Palm Springs hosted around one hundred creators from around the world. Throughout the three-day summit, the notable creators and platform executives got a chance to socialize with each other and get answers to some of their impending queries.
During the program, Mathew Patrick, aka MatPat, the creator of the popular channels, ‘The Game Theorists’ and ‘The Film Theorists’ asked Susan regarding the biased policy for gaming creators. He said that many moderators of the gaming niche channels feel as they are ‘second-class’ citizens on YouTube, even though they are delivering significant value to the video streaming platform.
In her response, Susan Wojcicki said that she has a team that is specifically working on gaming projects. According to her, the team dedicated to gaming projects was put together just after her appointment as CEO in 2014 and is responsible for the gaming channels monetization. This includes Channel Memberships, Super Chat, and the recently launched Super Stickers. She also said that YouTube is working on other ways to improve monetization methods for gaming creators.
Patrick also inquired how the European Union’s new copyright directive Article 17 would affect the gaming creators. Since many gamers don’t own the copyright of the content they use in their videos, there is a good chance of their livelihood being cut off from the passing of the legislation.
However, Wojcicki assured the team of gathered creators and said that YouTube is constantly in touch with different policymakers and is hopeful that they can work out some ways to make the changes work for the creators as well.
During her time on stage, CEO YouTube also talked about the full rollout of the Self Certification tool that the company is allowing to a number of creators in July. Through this tool, the creators can check whether their uploaded video is safe for all ads, safe for limited ads, or are not suitable for ads at all. This keeps the creators in sync with YouTube’s rating policy and makes the policies more transparent for both the parties.
She said that they are expecting a full rollout of the Self Certification tool soon and are hopeful that it will help resolve many issues for the creators.
🚨 Very Epic News! 🚨— John Swan 🦢 (@JohnSwanYT) November 8, 2019
Self certification is coming, confirmed by @SusanWojcicki herself. A step in the right direction to solve the demonitisation issues. pic.twitter.com/Wd9nHhnWau
However, Patrick, one of the creators who received Self Certification since July immediately said that many gamers have no idea if the violence that is part of many video games accounts as real violence. He further said that the protocol is easy for non-gaming creators as they can immediately determine whether the content in their video contains violence, sex or abusive language. However, the gaming sector usually involves some form of violence such as occasional shooting, punching, and stabbing.
Up until now, YouTube had never been cleared whether the violence depicted in video games is similar to real violence. Wojcicki clarified this issue and said game violence is very different from real violence. But she did agree that gaming creators have to be careful when marking their videos for ad-safety. To rectify the issue, the company is working on a system that would enable YouTube gaming creators to make the right decision. She did not reveal many details but did say that an official announcement regarding the problem would be issued in the next few days.
Featured Photo: Getty
Read next: YouTube Clears Up Confusion Regarding Terms of Service
