There have been mixed opinions on this matter and I wanted to write a short brief article because honestly, we can spend all day talking about copyright laws.

In short, you can’t stream movies in a public event on AltSpace. If you plan your event to stream a copyrighted movie you will mostly find it delisted. You may also get into trouble if you are streaming a movie in a public world, however, this usually is longer for admins to find out and send a notice to the world owner. This is usually common for big cinema worlds that attract lots of players and those worlds sit on the popular list.

The best thing you can do is stream movies with your friends in unlisted worlds. Friends will still be able to find you and join but it won’t be public. However, their friends would be able to see them in your cinema which allows an organic way for people to join if you have a lot of friends on AltSpace.

Arguments against steaming in AltSpaceVR

When you rent a movie on Amazon or on an online rental store the anticipated viewer count would be assumed to be a family of 7-15 at max. However, since VR allows huge numbers of people to view the same screen it devalues the expected incomes from that film because there would be less chance that someone in the audience would rent that movie in the next 3 months.

The other problem is some movies or shows are restricted in some regions, for example, US-based TV shows usually stream a few weeks ahead of Australia. But having access to US friends who can stream content I can bypass a lot of geographic blocks that prevent me from watching that show. Now there isn’t any harm to me but I am technically still bypassing the public release date.

Tips:

  • Stream your movies in an unlisted world
  • Don’t create an event for your movie unless it is exempt by copyright (ie: some Christian films).
  • If you have questions or concerns about a movie or worried about your event being falsely flagged it’s recommended you get in touch with AltSpaceVR support before hand.

*** This article is not legal advice.***