YouTube rolls out fewer restrictions for violence in video games

The video hosting service will be relaxing; it’s moderation standards and begins treating video games the same way it does movies and television shows.

YouTube users have taken to Twitter to show their happiness with the company’s decision. YouTube said in their post:

“We know there’s a difference between real-world violence and scripted or simulated violence – such as what you see in movies, TV shows, or video games – so we want to make sure we’re enforcing our violent or graphic content policies consistently,”

YouTube has taken a lot of flak from content creators the company has been known to take unilateral decisions that have impacted content creators ability to generate income.

This will mean that fewer YouTube videos will be age-restricted will help increase the reach of gaming-related content which depicts fictional violence.

Different standards for measuring game violence

It would seem that YouTube are admitting that they had held video game violence to a different standard than movie and TV shows.

Presumably, YouTube will still need to consider the actual age restrictions that video games received, and they are certainly won’t be giving video game violence a free pass. I don’t think they would even be allowed to do that legally.

YouTube confirmed as much when they added that they would still consider age-restricting game-related content where the video’s primary focus is around violent and gory imagery.

YouTube was, however, quick to add that these guidelines would be applied to apply age restrictions only. The new rules would not affect YouTube’s highly divisive monetization policy.

‘Advertiser-friendly’ content

YouTube took the decision previously to designate content as “advertiser-friendly”. The designation became critical for content creators as advertiser-unfriendly content would no longer earn them income.

YouTube argued that certain types of content were not a good fit for advertisers. It’s slightly understandable that YouTube would want to protect its valuable advertising revenue by keeping brands away from controversial material.

Overall though it penalized a lot of content creators with massive audiences. Many of these video creators have had to move to a different platform or change the content they create in order to keep the lights on for their channel.

Video policy vs content and views

YouTube can do what they want; it’s their website, after all. However, they would do well to remember that very few YouTube users follow just one type of channel. The strength of the platform is the wide variety of content and views.

While its decision to change its policy on video game violence is appreciated, YouTube needs to take a similar look at its policies around monetisation perhaps.

The more incentive there is to create new and diverse content, the more value their platform has for users and advertisers alike.