On BlackLists

On BlackLists:

In the “by the numbers” post a few days ago, I mentioned SteamBirds: Survival introduced a new black-listing technology. There’s been a lot of interest in what exactly this is, so here we go!

First up, I’ll lay the groundwork so you can understand the reasoning here.

How the Flash Ecosystem Works

There are usually a few different “versions” of popular flash games floating around on the web:

1. The Sponsored Version (primary).

   The sponsored version typically has no advertisements on it, and minimizes gameplay intrusions to the customer – the games are monetized via other means (such as pay-to-unlock, microtransactions, or placing ads on the website around the game instead). These versions are almost always branded with the Sponsor’s logos. Sometimes this version will have special/bonus content. (Note that you can “sponsor things yourself” by just posting them on your own website.)

   This version of the game is typically site-locked, so the .SWF can’t be downloaded and re-deployed elsewhere.

2. The Scraps (secondary sponsorships).

   Savvy web portals will attempt to profit from a popular game by paying a premium to remove any branding or advertising that may be present. It is common for the fee paid to well exceed a developer’s expected profit for the site via viral advertisements (see #3), thus making this a win-win situation.

   This version of the game is typically site-locked, so the .SWF can’t be downloaded and re-deployed elsewhere.

3. The Viral Version.

   This version of the game usually has in-game advertisements of some sort, and usually some kind of branding for either the developer or the primary sponsor. The game is then put up in various free locations (such as FlashGameDistribution.com) so that any portal may get the game for free.

   Because no sponsor is paying for this version, the advertisements provide revenue for the developer.

As a case-in-point, the viral version of SteamBirds exists on around 5,000 different websites, which account for around 30% of the game’s total traffic; that’s where I generate most of my advertising revenue (not that there is a lot…).

Arguably more important than the advertising revenue, though, is the branding. Getting your brand (in my case, a link to steambirds.com) in front of millions of people is potentially more valuable than a few pennies for ad clicks.

Which brings us to the big problem.

Evil Jerkwads

Some enterprising portal owners think to themselves:

1. I see that game is doing really well;
2. I want it on my site;
3. I don’t want the developer’s ads on my game;
4. I don’t want to lose my customers with outbound links;
5. And I don’t want to have to pay for the game.

They will then grab the free, viral version of the game – and do some or all of the following evil, jerky stuff to it:

• Remove the ads completely
• Change ads or overlay their own ads on top of the developer’s
• Prevent the game from opening links when clicked
• Replace the links with links of their own choosing
• Hack out the site-locked sponsored versions to illicitly grab the unique content
• Replace any/all branding
• Entirely eliminate credits screens
• Put their own names into the credits screens

As Adobe’s Flash/AS3 language is an “open” language, there are plenty of decompilers out there. Asset protection is still difficult in the environment. Doing any/all of the above is a trivial process for most developers.

The original version of SteamBirds had around 4 million plays with various iterations of the above list implemented. Most often it’s ad-replacement and blocking of outbound links; I think only one site erased my name from the credits; other games aren’t so lucky.

Flogging with a Wet Noodle

The offenders here are almost exclusively based out of Asia, and most of my illicit traffic comes primarily from China.

Sending cease-and-desist letters from a lawyer, pleading via email, and making angry blog posts in English doesn’t work. Any attempts I have made have gone completely ignored; at best, sites will write back claiming they are doing you a favour by exposing you to a large Asian audience.

It’s hard to bring litigious action against these portals when the value of the traffic they are stealing is diminishingly small. 4 million hits across hundreds of sites? That’s not many visitors each. And it’s hard to put a value on branding, such as “name in the credits” or “outbound links back to my site.” Not to mention bringing litigation against a Chinese site is very difficult to do, thanks to differing international laws (nor would I want to go down that road).

It’s not that I want to shut a single infringer down, or that any individual company is harming me directly in a measurable way; It’s that there are so many of them. Stopping them one at a time won’t get me anywhere. I need a way to flip their entire table over, all at once[...]