In World of Tanks, selected YouTubers act as “Community Contributors” who receive early access to new content and special tanks from the developer Wargaming. They then showcase these in their videos to their fans, which should please both WG and the YouTubers. However, in the case of one YouTuber, there was an unpleasant incident along with accusations of censorship.
For the upcoming Grand Finals 2017, Wargaming has released a special premium tank. The Chrysler K is a heavy tank available as a premium version for 80 USD. To present the new vehicle, numerous Community Contributors were given access to it.
World of Tanks – Angry YouTube Video Leads to Controversy
One of these selected YouTubers is SirFoch. SirFoch is known for being quite harsh and not holding back.
True to his reputation, SirFoch expressed his outrage in a video about the Chrysler K in a particularly unrefined manner regarding the alleged Pay2Win qualities of the tank.
The tank is simply too strong, the front armor is nearly impenetrable without expensive premium ammunition, and the tank has no frontal weak points. Not even at the MG ports (which are major weak points for most tanks) that can be seen on the model. These would be just graphics and have no impact on the armor.
This makes the Chrysler K a massive Pay2Win monster, and Wargaming a greedy scumbag company only after the money of poor players. However, SirFoch did not express all this coolly, factually, and politely. Instead, he garnished his 1:46 minute long video with various swear words and insulting comments towards Wargaming. The video contains the word “Fuck” 14 times and ends with a hearty “Fuck You, Wargaming!”
World of Tanks – “Delete the Video, or Else…”
This form of publicity was certainly not well received by Wargaming, and soon Community Manager Ph3lan addressed SirFoch. Ph3lan informed SirFoch that his days as a Community Contributor were numbered due to this action. Wargaming does not tolerate such insults.
Furthermore, he should take down the relevant video. SirFoch initially refused to do so, which is why Ph3lan became a bit clearer. If SirFoch did not remove the video, they would contact YouTube and issue a Copyright Strike. This would mean Sir Foch could never report on World of Tanks content on YouTube again and his channel with 57 thousand subscribers would be in serious danger.
Wargaming – Criticism is Allowed, But No Defamation
SirFoch then removed the video, but took screenshots of the conversation with Ph3lan and uploaded them as proof that Wargaming censors his opinion. Wargaming did not want this to go unchallenged and therefore, Ph3lan published a long Q&A statement in the World of Tanks forum regarding the whole matter:
- They have always appreciated SirFoch as a Contributor, even if he occasionally was a bit harsh
- They tolerate criticism of Wargaming and its products, but no insults to the company or its employees
- Community Contributors are not Wargaming employees, but still represent the company. Therefore, such behavior as exhibited by SirFoch is damaging to the business and insulting.
- The threat of a Copyright Strike indeed occurred, but only after SirFoch had refused to remove the video despite sufficient justification. Since the video was deemed defamatory by Wargaming, this was the only way to get rid of it.
- SirFoch is welcome to continue making videos about Wargaming games, but please without being insulting.
Meanwhile, SirFoch has released another video explaining the fate of the first video (which has since appeared on other channels) and criticizes Wargaming in a somewhat more moderated tone. At the same time, he also announces that he might not cover Wargaming anymore in the future, and he is not pleased with the alleged censorship of his content by Wargaming.
What do you think about the matter? Do you understand Wargaming’s behavior, who are reluctant to be insulted and abused? Or do you think SirFoch is right that Wargaming is censoring him, and they should not have threatened him with Copyright Strikes? Let us know in the comments.
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