General Discussion

[Orla-Ireland]

Totalbiscut, Husky, TGS. All the massive game networks 'Don't support this. So your young, about sixteen, Machinima comes to you asking you to sigh with them to make money, but little do you know that one little word, would bind you for life to the company, think of the many people that has fallen into this trap..

TotalBiscut and Athene talk about the issue: http://youtu.be/3yTB_7l9U9Q

The kid that kicked it all of: http://youtu.be/gFZYRqdNPdc

Top topic on Reddit : http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/td8ej/machinima_refuses_to_break_contract_and_says_you/

[AstroZombie1]

I'd think people would have more important things to worry/get worked up about then again they are teenagers and I concede that clause is too far. 

[Mike939]

I heard about this yesterday, I wonder what will happen.

[Chuk_Chuk]

So the problem is If he wants to post gameplay videos he must do it with machinima (or what ever their process is)?

[chrisa3211]

"...this Agreement shall commence on the effective date and continue in perpetuity unless otherwise terminated by Machinima in its sole discretion, with or without cause, upon the provision to Director of 10 days notice at the address or email first set forth above..."

Well it's certainly ethically questionable, as for legality I couldn't say.

I'd guess a lot of directors with Machinima signed into the contract without properly reading it and are now regretting it. Sure, asking someone to hand over their channel for perpetuity is dodgy, but if you signed the contract (providing the terms set out are legal, mind) then what do you expect?

There *are* alternatives (The Game Station partners gaming channels) so it's not like people can either sign with Machinima or not monetise their videos.

[Orla-Ireland]

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Chuk_Chuk wrote:
So the problem is If he wants to post gameplay videos he must do it with machinima (or what ever their process is)?

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Indeed, In the contract it says in short that your only allowed one channel for gaming, you can have other channels for the likes of vlogs, but that one channel is now locked into gaming, if he makes an other channel and does games on it he'll brake the contract and then that's bad news. The real problem is that because of the way the contract is worded, its making people sigh to Machinima, not knowing that its for life because of the way the thing has been put down in words.

When you try to leave them. They get you into a Skype call with 6 other '' Bosses '' and they pick on the Teens making them stay, they may offer more money etc. But if you keep saying no they turn around and say '' Well you did sigh for life with us, so your stuck here''. 

Machinima has went under DDOS attacks, Dislike spams forcing them to remove company videos etc.. So I hope they reply, and change the contract.

[Orla-Ireland]

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chrisa3211 wrote:
"...this Agreement shall commence on the effective date and continue in perpetuity unless otherwise terminated by Machinima in its sole discretion, with or without cause, upon the provision to Director of 10 days notice at the address or email first set forth above..."

Well it's certainly ethically questionable, as for legality I couldn't say.

I'd guess a lot of directors with Machinima signed into the contract without properly reading it and are now regretting it. Sure, asking someone to hand over their channel for perpetuity is dodgy, but if you signed the contract (providing the terms set out are legal, mind) then what do you expect?

There *are* alternatives (The Game Station partners gaming channels) so it's not like people can either sign with Machinima or not monetise their videos.

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But how many 16 year olds will understand what  perpetuity means? Like TB said, You'd basically need some kind of education in contracts to understand what it all means. 

[xLegioNx]

They deserve to be thrown to the wolves for taking advantage of children. If they're going to take advantage of young people at least do it with some tact like other companies do. Apparently it's not legally binding. To put it shortly (and according to some people better educated than myself on the law/contracts) you can't be in a contract for the rest of your life or more than 5 years without a need for renewal or some kind of exit. Hopefully after a few court cases (which some of the bigger partnered machinima content providers are doing) they'll revise that section of the contract.

[chrisa3211]

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Orla-Ireland wrote:

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chrisa3211 wrote:
"...this Agreement shall commence on the effective date and continue in perpetuity unless otherwise terminated by Machinima in its sole discretion, with or without cause, upon the provision to Director of 10 days notice at the address or email first set forth above..."

Well it's certainly ethically questionable, as for legality I couldn't say.

I'd guess a lot of directors with Machinima signed into the contract without properly reading it and are now regretting it. Sure, asking someone to hand over their channel for perpetuity is dodgy, but if you signed the contract (providing the terms set out are legal, mind) then what do you expect?

There *are* alternatives (The Game Station partners gaming channels) so it's not like people can either sign with Machinima or not monetise their videos.

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But how many 16 year olds will understand what  perpetuity means? Like TB said, You'd basically need some kind of education in contracts to understand what it all means. 

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To that I'd say two things:

1. I'm pretty sure minors need the approval of a parent/guardian to enter into a Machinima contract.

2. If you don't understand a contract, it doesn't take a genius to know not to sign it. It's not too hard to consult a friend, lawyer or the citizens advice bureau before signing.

[Strangesam]

Don't know? - Don't sign...