League of Angels ads using (without permission and without credit) DOA series video

SC234

New Member
Also, a Ninja Gaiden image is being used by The Viking Style in Pakistan (http://www.thevikingstyle.com, http://thevikingstyle.com, and https://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-NEW-VIKING-RESTAURANT-AND-LOUNGE/304654027546#!/photo.php?fbid=241262179376669&set=a.219962461506641.1073741827.219750831527804&type=1&theater). I told Team NINJA.

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Saint Patrick

New Member
So, I do not think accusing RYM of laziness and hypocrisy was a stretch. Irresponsibility might have been a stretch. To be clear (better late than never, I hope), I blame RYM less than I blame Google, particularly because they rely on donations in addition to ad revenue and because they have fewer than 200 mostly volunteer staff.

And while I blame Google less than I blame the guilty criminals behind League of Angels and its ads, their revenue ($42.97 billion) and net income ($9.55 billion) through the first 3 quarters of 2013 (4th quarter results have not yet been announced), their cash and securites at the end of the 3rd quarter ($56.52 billion), and their number of employees at the end of the 3rd quarter (46,421) make a lack of resources for vetting the advertisers and the ads from which they are getting a lot of money ("Perhaps, they don't have time or the team to monitor these ads.") a lousy excuse.

Anyway, I hope my thoughts on RYM and Google (relevant to League of Angels and its ads) do not need to be explained further, because I would prefer this thread focused on finding and reporting the ads and on punishing the people behind them. However, I will continue to welcome differing thoughts. But please do not expect a reply from me, because I do not want my thoughts to distract from the real reason for this thread more than they already have.

I feel as though I should explain further how Google's Adsense works. Whenever you click on a Google Ad, go to a website that Google owns like Youtube, or go pretty much anywhere on the internet, Google tracks it and puts you as a consumer into certain categories. Since you appear to frequent gaming related websites, it will show you gaming related material because that's a category you've been placed in, but this much is already obvious to you I'm sure.

However, the only thing RYM did was sign up for Google Adsense. It sounds to me they aren't targeting any particular niche with their ads so Google is using the data they have on you to target your niche for them. It's NOT RYM's fault what ads show up on their site because all they have control over is the on or off switch, essentially. It's pretty much a way for them to get some ad revenue for no work at all and I understand calling that lazy, but ANY site that has Google Ads will show pretty much the same stuff and calling each site and telling them about what ads YOU see just makes YOU look silly as they have no control over it and probably aren't seeing the same thing.

I am also usually in favor of blaming Google for everything. It's actually a fun pass-time of mine. Unfortunately, this is also not their fault. Expecting someone to be able to monitor as many ads as they do, EVEN with 46k workers, is asking too much. There's maybe 2% of those workers that actually work in that department being expected to vet millions of people's ads on a daily basis. They're probably mostly making sure the ads meet certain decency standards and placing it into an appropriate category. That's hard work, man.

The only real person to blame here is the offenders, of course; League of Angels. The sad truth is copyright infringement is a pretty hard and costly thing to fight, especially internationally when laws vary from country to country. I wouldn't be surprised if Team Ninja didn't pursue it at all beyond a cease and desist letter. UUZU Games looks like small fish and I doubt the show of force would end up breaking even after legal fees. It's hard to say.

Hopefully, this explanation wasn't too long and passionate (lol) for you. Good luck getting justice, man. I hate seeing this stuff, too. Happens far too often and seeing something done about it for once would be peachy.
 

SC234

New Member
Thanks to Saint Patrick for the reply. The quotes below are from throughout this thread (not only from Saint Patrick's post).

"There's really nothing that we can do about it. Those ads aren't running directly on RYM, they are part of a network that run on hundreds of sites, and Google manages that."

"I would say, as a web designer, I completely agree with what RYM is saying. They can remove the spot for displaying ads (hence, removing ANY form of infringement) but at the same time removing what could be a good money generator (depends on how popular the site is)."

"It's NOT RYM's fault what ads show up on their site because all they have control over is the on or off switch, essentially. It's pretty much a way for them to get some ad revenue for no work at all and I understand calling that lazy, but ANY site that has Google Ads will show pretty much the same stuff and calling each site and telling them about what ads YOU see just makes YOU look silly as they have no control over it and probably aren't seeing the same thing."

RYM was the first website where I saw the League of Angels ads using DOA video (And YouTube was the only other website where I saw the ads.). I have been an RYM member for at least 7 (but probably closer to 10) years, and I have donated/subscribed to RYM. I had always thought Sharifi (owner, programmer, system administrator, and site administrator) and the people working (mostly voluntarily) with him at RYM were good people. And RYM had recently devoted a section of the website to video games. So, I notified RYM immediately, thinking they would be as bothered by the ads as I was. And I told them I had screenshots and videos of the ads running on RYM which I would send to them if I was given an e-mail address (which would accept the attachments). I received a reply from Sharifi within 24 hours which stated there was nothing they could do about the ads. He did not ask to see the screenshots nor the videos of the ads running on RYM.

Per the screenshots below, Google AdSense purportedly provides RYM with "Flexible ad controls" which allow "choosing how ads are displayed on your site. You can block those you don't want to appear" by blocking the advertisers' URLs (I told RYM the URL - http://angel.gtarcade.com - which I was taken to when I clicked on the League of Angels ads using DOA video.). I am still not convinced RYM is not lazy nor apathetic.

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"I hope this doesn't offend you, but if you're going to get angry, get angry at Google for not being a gamer. If they are half a gamer as everyone else, they would instantly recognized one or two characters (even if they hate DOA) and raise a flag on these ads. Perhaps, they don't have time or the team to monitor these ads."

"I am also usually in favor of blaming Google for everything. It's actually a fun pass-time of mine. Unfortunately, this is also not their fault. Expecting someone to be able to monitor as many ads as they do, EVEN with 46k workers, is asking too much. There's maybe 2% of those workers that actually work in that department being expected to vet millions of people's ads on a daily basis. They're probably mostly making sure the ads meet certain decency standards and placing it into an appropriate category. That's hard work, man."

Per the screenshot below, Google AdSense's ads are purportedly "reviewed by real people and clever machines. The review process takes into account a variety of factors, including the quality of the ad and target audiences." Google could not add checking AdSense's ads for possible copyright infringement to the "review process" which already "takes into account a variety of factors"? They check every video uploaded to YouTube (although probably only using "clever machines"/Content ID and not also using "real people") for possible copyright infringement, and that is a lot of videos.
And it appears Google AdChoices' ads (marked by the
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icon) allow anyone to report ads which they think commit copyright infringement while Google AdSense's ads (such as the League of Angels ads using DOA video which I saw) allow only copyright holders to report ads which they think commit copyright infringement. If Google AdSense's ads also allowed anyone to report ads which they think commit copyright infringement, millions (if not billions) of people could be checking AdSense's ads for possible copyright infringement at no cost to Google. I am still not convinced Google does not have the resources nor the capabilities to check AdSense's ads for possible copyright infringement.

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This is the last time I will post regarding Google's/YouTube's and RYM's involvement. I blame the people behind League of Angels the most, Google/YouTube a little less, and RYM a lot less. Yes, it could be argued that Google/YouTube and RYM initially unintentionally profited from the League of Angels ads using DOA video and that they initially unintentionally harmed Team NINJA by running those ads. However, if they either chose to continue running those ads or chose to do nothing to stop those ads from running after being told about the copyright infringement in them, it could also be argued that Google/YouTube and RYM were then intentionally profiting from the League of Angels ads using DOA video and that they were then intentionally harming Team NINJA by running those ads.

It might be a moot point now, because the League of Angels ads using DOA video are not appearing on RYM nor on YouTube anymore (at least, not for me), although other League of Angels ads are still appearing on RYM and on YouTube. So, Team NINJA might have stopped the people behind League of Angels from using DOA video in their ads. Or RYM and/or Google/YouTube themselves might have stopped the League of Angels ads using DOA video from running without Team NINJA's encouragement. If so, kudos to them. Also, I have no objection to RYM and/or Google/YouTube running other League of Angels ads, of course.

I promise I will post to this thread in the future only to report further copyright infringement and to thank others who report it. Otherwise, I will be silent.
 
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Kohlrak

Well-Known Member
Google needs to clean up their act. I've seen some ads from adsense that borderline illegal in criminal sense, not just civil. I've contacted google already about certain ads, but they ignored me, so now google will loose ad revenue (their primary source of income most likely) because they're pushing people to use ad-blockers. You want Ads that attract the attention of potential customers, but without being racey or offensive or even intrusive enough to provide an incentive to use ad-blockers.

EDIT: Kodachi, have you reported this to the owners of Tekken, yet?
 

Shanrou

New Member
Note - I spotted this thread and thought I would add this to it - League of Angels is run from a Chinese producer, 37wan.com as far as I know, but their producers here are GTArcade, R2 Games and Game321. There is one other, I can't remember their name. Other people use it Kongregate, TeeBit, ext. but they don't advertise. But these adverts have been infecting computers, and embarrassing people, who haven't even clicked on the advert, just seen it. I am broaching this subject to R2 Games, who I am actually affiliated with, having worked for them a couple of years ago for a while, but I thought it might be helpful in this thread.
 

Kohlrak

Well-Known Member
Infection without clicks? Either the JPEG of death is back, people aren't updating their computers, or it's another advert doing it.
 

Venova

New Member
LoA is basically a sortof free browser rpg that you just click dialogue boxes in, you don't actually do much of anything in the game. Their original artwork for it is extremely beautiful, I don't know why they'd go ripping off DoA for their web ads. It's pretty dumb of them. I've not tried it and probably never would, but I did check some videos of it.
 
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