Why Blizzard’s decision to crack down on porn memes for Overwatch is odd

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The golden rule of the Internet is Rule 34. It’s not some lofty dictum about caring for others, but the simple principle that if something exists there will be porn of it.

And Blizzard’s new massively popular game Overwatch is a prime example. Its ensemble cast of brightly colored, physical spectacles has inspired hordes of Internet dwellers to pump out metric tons of high-grade, computer-generated pornography.

Pornhub even has data on the insane demand for Overwatch erotica.

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But it seems the only entity unhappy with this craze is Blizzard itself.

Many of the Overwatch videos received DMCA takedown notices. The number of videos on popular online porn sites dwindled from hundreds to fewer than 10, and video game porn fetishists everywhere shed a tear.

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From a Reddit thread on r/Overwatch.

The issue at the heart of the matter is fair use. The filmmakers use character models from the actual game found online but modify them, to add sex organs and other adjustments.

The key principle to fair use is that the copyrighted material must be “transformative.” So is adding a dick enough to transform a work? This is a matter better left to the Supreme Court.

According to spornm, the pornmaker who raised this pressing issue to the public. A fair amount of work goes in to manipulating Blizzard’s models.

People take the model out of the Overwatch files and import them into blender or anther 3d modeling program. From there they make the model usable for animation and if they are making the model for porn use they will also have to build new textures for the body. One model can have up to 5 or so guys helping out, the community  is good like that. Tracer’s model has better high-res textures, a fully working rig including for things like toes (so many people forget the toes). Plus jigglebones added to the hair and jacket bones. (Basically save you from animating boob and hair movement.)

Another issue is Blizzard’s selective DMCA targeting. Plenty of videos on YouTube use these supposedly copyrighted models for non-pornographic purposes. Essentially fan-made skits or trailers. Will these content creators have to fear takedowns at Blizzard’s discretion?

(An example of the PG side of Overwatch filmmaking.)

But the real question is why Blizzard is being so prudish about this? Plenty of other game franchises have similar adult content floating around the web undisturbed.

Spornm alone has made videos for Witcher 3, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Catwoman, Watch Dogs, Starcraft and more, yet Overwatch was the first franchise to give him guff.

While most companies don’t care if their intellectual property is made to do naughty things, some do retaliate. HBO waged a crackdown after Telltale Games released a Game of Thrones game and people used their models in porn.

The biggest video game porn producer, StudioFOW, even had a legal battle with Blizzard after they made a video of World of Warcraft characters boning. The studio sat out of the Overwatch frenzy in order to avoid a subsequent one.

Blizzard’s aggressive crackdown is sure to activate the Streisand Effect, or the principle that any attempt to hide or censor something on the Internet will only make it more ubiquitous. Overwatch enthusiasts everywhere are probably only ramping up porn production in the face of Blizzard’s puritanical oppression.

Blizzard did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

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