Is online gaming culture at risk?

In case anyone hasn’t noticed already, the internet is at war.

While on Reddit trying to find some inspiration for this blog post I found an interview with Minecraft creator Markus Persson on why he opposes the SOPA act: http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/13/minecraft-developer-says-no-sane-person-can-be-for-sopa/ He makes some very valid points about game piracy and the article really got me thinking.

I have been getting increasingly interested in the act over the past few weeks as various sites such as Reddit, Minecraft.com, the Cheezburger network and many many more have been announcing that they will shut down/black out their websites on the 18^th of January as a protest of the act. The question that is on my mind right now though is how will this act (if it is passed) effect game culture?

From my understanding the implications for gaming culture is that the act will put significant censorship power into the hands of large companies. Anything that is a breach of copyright in anyway can be taken down, and the poster/host will be liable for hefty fines. Obviously it is an attempt to crack down on internet piracy, however it seems that the effect of the act will be a lot larger than stopping people from downloading movies, tv, books, games etc illegally.

For me, the internet has always seemed to be a place with no limits; on the internet people are free to post, say, do and watch whatever they like. While reading about SOPA today the one word that really stands out is Freedom.

Forums could potentially become far more limited, sites such as Reddit that have become a haven for fan-made content such as Machinema and fan art are in danger. These exciting new forms of creativity that the internet has inspired are at risk. As I stated in my last post, I don’t consider myself to be the most skilled gamer in the world, however youtube video tutorials have and walkthroughs have opened up so many games to me. These videos however, are a breach of copyright and could be removed.

I am sure that if the act is passed, hardcore gamers (being the innovative people that they are) would find some way around this all, but still... Internet based game culture is young and it seems very sad that elements of it may already be at risk.