As the author of the RZX walkthrough which was published on RZX Archive a day after the game's release - and then taken down upon request from the game's author - I would like to make the following points:
I absolutely disagree with any requests by authors not to publish things related to their games - which are permitted by the law - after the games have been released.
I understand that an author can request that an RZX file not be hosted somewhere, because an RZX file is also a game file - someone can download it, stop the playback and play the game. That's comprehensible and I *think* an author could even try to enforce such a request legally, since hosting an RZX file might be considered infringing upon their intellectual property rights.
However, I don't believe a video of a game falls into the same category - I don't think it's protected by law the same way the original product is (or a version thereof, like an RZX walkthrough). A video is not a game, one cannot use it to play the game.
Now, if someone asks that a video is not made of a released game - well, you could equally ask: Please don't write any reviews of it for the first two weeks after the release, or don't publish any screenshots. Would that be a reasonable request? No, it wouldn't.
People interested in the ZX Spectrum are mostly adults. They make conscious choices. If a video is available to watch how a game can be completed, nobody has to watch it. If someone enjoys playing games without any help, solving all the puzzles and overcoming obstacles all by themselves - that's fine, they're perfectly entitled and able to do it. Nobody forces them to watch a published video of the walkthrough. However, why should it bother them that there is a video published and that someone else - who makes a different choice and prefers to play the game using some assistance or just watch it without playing it - it's an equally valid choice! - may watch it if they choose to?
Preventing adult, intelligent people from doing things they choose to do is limiting their freedom. It is something totalitarian regimes like to do, to limit or eliminate individual choices. It should not be happening in the free world.
The argument about waiting for 2 weeks before making the video is also lame. The RZX recording I made - and the video made from it - illustrate the game as it is now. It's 100% accurate and up-to-date. There is no reason to say it shouldn't be there or pull it off from a website.
If you release a newer version of the game, Allan, I *will* record a new RZX walkthrough of it. In fact, if you do it several times and release several new versions of the game - I *will* record a new RZX walkthrough of each version, every time you update the game. In this sense, there is nothing to stop you from releasing new versions.
However, to release a game and say: 'Please don't make a video of it yet, because I may still change it!' is unreasonable to me. If you don't want people to show their completion of the game, don't release it yet! Or at least call it a beta release, or something, emphasise that it is not a finished product. Well, "The Perils of Willy" on
https://itch.io/ *is* a finished product and you are selling it - or, to be exact, making it possible for anyone interested to download it for free, but also asking for donations. From this point of view, it may be the first version of the product, but it *is* a gamma-released product - otherwise you shouldn't be asking money for it. And if it is a released product, then why should people not record their completion of it - just because you think it's not a good idea?
I will not go into the other aspects of this subject - like the visibility RZX walkthroughs and videos give to a game - because they've been discussed on this thread before and, frankly, are quite obvious.
Since my RZX walkthrough has been taken down from the RZX Archive, I am going to make a video of it and put it online elsewhere, for the sake of freedom of choice and common sense.