GameSalad Tutorials app on the app store using people's videos - people's opinions?

Armelline

There's an app on the app store by a developer named Anthony Walsh that purports to be "Easy to learn GameSalad tutorials". In reality it is just, from what I can see, poorly organised links to YouTube videos created by other people.

This seems... sketchy. For starters, it's £2.29, so this isn't a free service he's providing. It also denies ad revenue to any tutorial creators who support their videos with ads. It appears that none of the original creators of these videos have been asked for permission to have their videos included, but these are publicly available videos. There appears to be no attempt to curate the links, it looks to be just pulling a list from YouTube using a search term.

What are people's opinions regarding this? I'm in two minds... What I dislike most is that it's clearly a complete and utter rip-off and I hate the idea of people wasting their money on it.

Edit: Looks like he has another app for £3.99 under the name Tony Walsh, which also looks like it has stolen content.

Hopscotch

@Armelline

wow, he has about 50 apps, all with the same modus operandi.

Very unethical as they are monetized apps, in my opinion. Quite a racket.

As it forms the core of his apps, a letter to Apple regarding content violation should get it removed.

Thunder_Child

I see one particular tutorial based on @jamie_c neon asteroids....at least I believe that is his.

I dont see any of my tutorials...however it would piss me off. I see his support website required by Apple does not work either. Based on Sensortowers app worth analysis...he has about 5 downloads.

tatiang

Clearly someone who is adept at charging for otherwise free content. He has a bunch of apps on the U.S. App Store, all for $2.99 and all providing links to YouTube videos on a variety of subjects.

Seems like a shady way to make your money but I guess we've seen worse here.

Armelline

@Thunder_Child said:
I dont see any of my tutorials...however it would piss me off. I see his support website required by Apple does not work either. Based on Sensortowers app worth analysis...he has about 5 downloads.

He claims hundreds so yours are probably in there!

UtopianGames

Not the worse thing I've seen by far...move on

Armelline

Something you keep saying you'll do...

Also, stop abusing the spam tag.

jamie_c

I saw that too and can't say I'm thrilled but I guess when releasing 'free' videos on youtube etc. it's not un-common or even illegal to repackage that content. But I agree it's sketchy and as an informed user (though many aren't I'm sure) I'd never pay for an app like that.

app_sauce

I have seen a bunch of apps like this over the years. Also, I have seen tons of blogs doing this and famous facebook accounts doing it. I think you could call this practice "content curation". In this case it seems that this developer think he deserves money for introducing his users to certain content. While a simple youtube search will usually be enough to find a video you are looking for...but good for him for making a few bucks. I'm not sure if its against youtube's policy to charge money for a list of youtube videos. The only way this would be offensive is if he downloaded the videos off of youtube and sold the actual content as his own. Or if I downloaded the app thinking it was something other than a curated list of links to youtube videos.

tmann

@Armelline @UtopianGames you guys from the same part of the UK ?

Armelline

@tmann said:
@Armelline @UtopianGames you guys from the same part of the UK ?

Considering things Darren has PM'd me in the past, probably best if we're not!

UtopianGames

@tmann I'm not sure where he's from (sounds like silver spoons ville) but I do hope we will meet one day.

Armelline

@UtopianGames said:
@tmann I'm not sure where he's from (sounds like silver spoons ville) but I do hope we bump into each other one day soon

I'm a black country boy, so I don't think too far away. And for context Darren has threatened to beat me up/kill me if he ever sees me. He'd have done it by now, though, if he really meant it.

Speaking properly doesn't mean silver spoon, btw.

Braydon_SFX

There's obvious tension here and this isn't the place to discuss that. If you have any comments or questions feel free to PM me. Closing.

dgackey

@Armelline and anyone else: send me links to this stuff, we're probably overdue for making a sweep on this kind of thing.