Some questions: My first attempt at a profitable website.

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Matt919

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Jul 11, 2010
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I play an online game. I've setup a blog via wordpress and I find it quite easy writing content for it as I play the game and enjoy it.

Some questions:


  1. What copyright issues do I need to be aware of when writing a game guide I've emailed the company but 2 weeks later they haven't responded and I really want to start writing the guide. I ask because I saw on another forum (digital point) the gamemakers were asking the user to remove his ebook for copyright infringement.
  2. In my blog titles I've been using my keywords like this, lets say my keyword is 'game news'. My titles are like this: Game news: Blah blah blah. Will this use of the colon have any negative effect as the word news is kind of changed if you see what I mean.
  3. I've joined an affliate program for game time codes (extend game time), you can actually convert them to in game currency though the process is sometimes confusing to new players so I setup a page for how to do it my menu on my page is: Home (my blog), About Me, Buy Legal In game currency and then I was going to add another page for my game guide with just another link on the menu. Is there anyway I could draw attention to these pages (well just the one at the moment) without making it seem my website is just trying to flog you shit, which it is of course.

This is my first attempt at anything to do with Affliate Marketing or making money online so go easy as my e-feelings are very sensitive.
 


The question you need to ask is "Could someone look at my site, and think that it's official?" If the answer is no then you're good to go. The laws and rulings are pretty clear that you are allowed to make fan or hate sites for any product without facing legal issues.

However, if you start including logos in material that you sell, then you could face issues because you suddenly go from a fan, to a seller. For example, if I'm a WoW fan, and I make an ebook about WoW which is covered in Blizzard logos, then I can be sued and should expect a C&D. If however I make it very clear the guide is unofficial, and make my own versions of the logos, there isn't much Blizzard can do about it.

One of my fan sites I created a long long time ago received two C&D's from the copyright holder. The site does not have any income at all, and I really couldn't care less. You know what I did about the C&D's? Absolutely nothing. There is absolutely no proof I received them, and all of the arguments in them against me refer to 'features' they think the site has, but it doesn't. The company is just pissed off that I rank above them in the serps for their own product. It's been a year now, and I haven't received any follow-up on the C&D's.
 
Insomniac said:
The question you need to ask is "Could someone look at my site, and think that it's official?" If the answer is no then you're good to go. The laws and rulings are pretty clear that you are allowed to make fan or hate sites for any product without facing legal issues.

However, if you start including logos in material that you sell, then you could face issues because you suddenly go from a fan, to a seller. For example, if I'm a WoW fan, and I make an ebook about WoW which is covered in Blizzard logos, then I can be sued and should expect a C&D. If however I make it very clear the guide is unofficial, and make my own versions of the logos, there isn't much Blizzard can do about it.

One of my fan sites I created a long long time ago received two C&D's from the copyright holder. The site does not have any income at all, and I really couldn't care less. You know what I did about the C&D's? Absolutely nothing. There is absolutely no proof I received them, and all of the arguments in them against me refer to 'features' they think the site has, but it doesn't. The company is just pissed off that I rank above them in the serps for their own product. It's been a year now, and I haven't received any follow-up on the C&D's.
Click to expand...

That makes sense, I have in game screenshots on my blog but am I correct in thinking that I wouldn't be able to include any in game screenshots in my guide?
 
It gets a little grey when the screenshots aren't for news purposes. If you don't plan on selling the content you should be fine regardless since it comes under being a fan site.

Take a look at the games other 'fan sites' and see what they are doing. If the company isn't chasing them down and throwing out C&D's then you should be fine. Also check out some of the more recent EFF rulings regarding the DMCA. I seem to remember a bunch of stuff regarding video content that might be in your favour.

Oh, and one thing to consider. Most online games are popular for 1-4 years. Going past a C&D is expensive and most companies won't do it. If you push the limits hard and plan for a 1 year exit strategy, you might find yourself riding out the best years of the games existence, before selling the site off and letting someone else ride out the downfall or C&D's.
 
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