Vimeo, Where’s the love for indie developers?

October 26 2011, 6:16pm

Vimeo, touting itself as the cooler, hipper version of Youtube, has recently come under fire for denying independent game developers the opportunity to showcase gameplay videos without paying for a premium membership. To showcase gameplay videos developers must pay $199/year for a pro membership. This membership allows gameplay videos to be reviewed on a case-by-case approval basis before becoming viewable by the public. The independent game community is crying foul. Independent developers believe that Vimeo is purposely singling out and calling into question the artistic integrity of video games. Denying developers the opportunity to showcase under the same guidelines as film, music, or any other works of art devalues indie games as an artistic medium. Leading the case against Vimeo’s gameplay policies is Brandon Boyer, the chairman of the Independent Games Festival. Boyer passionately stands up for independent developers saying: “If you are an artist of any stripe: if you dance, sing, draw, paint, cook, write, film, knit, even create motion graphics, generative art, creative code with the same exact digital tools used to make games — audiovisual representation of your work is welcome on vimeo.com at absolutely no charge. If, and only if, you extend that art a step further into something goal-oriented, digital art, or play, or however they shallowly and narrowly define “video games”, you are the only artists stopped at the gates and instead get shaken down for two hundred dollars a year to join their club, and even then that community still has no access to your content without their case-by-case approval.” Read more of Boyer’s editorial in Kotaku on their website. What do you think? Is Vimeo being unfair by narrowing limiting the types of video uploads acceptable for video game developers? Would you pay the Professional membership fee to display your gameplay videos on the site? Source: Kotaku