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Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

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Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#671

Post by Tainnor »

williamdclt wrote: post #655
Tainnor wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Germany is infamously almost cash-only. Let's not exaggerate. While I am often enough exasperated at how often certain restaurants or bars will still only accept cash (or sometimes EC card), I'm still able to do about 90% of my transactions by card.

Interesting! As a tourist, almost all my transactions had to be cash: but ofc a tourist and a resident don't have the same spending patterns (mostly bars and restaurant for me)

Supermarkets and most stores where you'd buy everyday stuff (clothes, electronics, books, ...), especially if they're chains, will take card. It's really mostly independently owned kiosks, bars and restaurants that are holdouts, and even there the card acceptance rate is increasing.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#672

Post by bitmasher9 »

nemomarx wrote: post #667
canibal wrote: post #663

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the moral clamor, if something has a higher likelihood of fraud, there's a direct relationship with the increase of its cost. Both legal fees and labor cost to deal with these claims could add up more than we outsiders may realize. It's very possible that some risk-averse analyst "ran the numbers", and decided this wasn't worth it. I would also speculate that there may be a certain hidden coat of false fra…

The fraud thing explains why they might avoid an entirely adult storefront for it, but for steam? who has their own refund policies and support system that presumably shields the payment processor from charge backs most of the time? There are also large anti porn lobbying groups applying pressure to the payment processors, so that angle creates costs in a different way.

Steam’s refund policy and support system doesn’t eliminate the possibility of someone buying on steam with their CC and then calling their CC and claiming fraud.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#673

Post by pqtyw »

louthy wrote: post #632
pqtyw wrote: post #618

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s annoying, but not onerous. So government regulating stuff like that does go against much of the thing you said in the comment above? > doesn't turn into some societal ideological divide. When governments try to introduce mass surveillance of personal communications to "protect the children" liek ChatControl maybe it should turn into one. Instead of everyone just handwaving and ignoring it...

>> It’s annoying, but not onerous. > So government regulating stuff like that does go against much of the thing you said in the comment above? It isn't law. But even if it was, that doesn't contradict what I am talking about. I'm talking about the export of puritanism. If you think having to turn the porn button from 'off' to 'on' in your phone contract's options is the same, then I don't know what to say. > When gov…

> I'm talking about the export of puritanism

Sure, technically its government imposed domestic puritanism which isn't exported. I agree its a completely different thing.

> The topic was about puritanical beliefs in the US and how its export affects the world

Yes, US has its quirks but it's not that exceptional as you are implying. e.g. when it comes to banning/regulated video games Australia is inarguable much more restrictive.

Germany also has a history of banning violent video games and its again much worse than the US e.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/ki12if/steam_now_reg...

Post "Online Safety Act" UK is not that much better either.

US is very tame and less "puritanical" by your definition than those countries. The core difference being that the government can't really regulate it directly so credit card companies might be acting as some sort of a proxy.

Or are you implying that US somehow turned Germany and Australia more "puritanical" than itself and there would be no domestic support for censorship there otherwise?

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#674

Post by motorest »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #666
gmd63 wrote: post #662

If you don't like it, start another payment processor that doesn't cave to pressure. Where are all the free market proselytizers at? I expect all of you complaining about this to never once complain on legal grounds about Apple's 30% tax in the app store or when a bakery refuses to sell a cake to a gay person. This is what unrestricted freedom for every entity looks like. And this is why we need laws and regulations…

Okay. I walk into a Jewish bakery and want a red cake with a Nazi flag on it.

> Okay. I walk into a Jewish bakery and want a red cake with a Nazi flag on it.

This isn't a very good comparison, as this involves a payment processing company. An apt comparison would be the payment processor company demanding that you stop doing business with a Jewish store because that goes against their Nazi values.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#675

Post by martin-t »

Aeolun wrote: post #282

I think it’s hilarious we allow stuff like Postal or Soldier of Fortune without a question, where the whole focus is on going crazy and murdering a whole bunch of people. But try to show a sensual human body, instead of one that’s ripped into small pieces, and oh my god, this is going too far!

I agree with the fact there is hypocricy. I disagree that either should be banned. (Maybe you didn't mean it that way but somebody with us the argument that way)

If group A wants to control group or person B, they should prove with very high certainty that group B's behavior is harmful to someone who is not B.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#676

Post by gjsman-1000 »

motorest wrote: post #674
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay. I walk into a Jewish bakery and want a red cake with a Nazi flag on it.

> Okay. I walk into a Jewish bakery and want a red cake with a Nazi flag on it. This isn't a very good comparison, as this involves a payment processing company. An apt comparison would be the payment processor company demanding that you stop doing business with a Jewish store because that goes against their Nazi values.

It’s a perfectly good comparison. Nazi wants cake. Store owner is refusing to transact based on his own personal moral code. Just like any other business.

Contrary wise, consider a Jewish payment processor who wants to knock off a Nazi store. You can’t have it both ways.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#677

Post by Levitz »

mrkramer wrote: post #652
Arrowmaster wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chargebacks of legitimate purchases on most large platforms are extremely rare. Most will be from stolen cards. On most large platforms, if you start a chargeback you can expect your account to get locked. Do you want to give up your entire account just for a refund on one purchase? Luckily these large platforms typically have their own refund process.

>Chargebacks of legitimate purchases on most large platforms are extremely rare. Most will be from stolen cards. I never used ecommerce back in the day on the internet but I can imagine that ecommerce fraud was widespread. And that's why excluding other reasons Satoshi invented Bitcoin[0]. I wonder if cryptocurrencies didn't exist would someone nowadays burn the midnight oil to figure out P2P crypto coin since modern…

I don't see how this makes any sense. A reason for the creation of Bitcoin was offering less service than traditional methods?

"Financial institutions cannot avoid mediating disputes" is nonsense, they "can't" because it's constantly demanded by their clients, attempting to sell that as a bug rather than a feature is preposterous.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#678

Post by mritterhoff »

munksbeer wrote: post #622
bornfreddy wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Say what you want about crypto, but it does solve this problem at least.

Yes, stable-coins do. But if you have a crypto where the entire point seems to be "it should be worth more tomorrow than today", then it is stupid to use it to transact in rather than to hoard. On the other hand, stable-coins suffer the same problems as visa. They're centralised, and subject to zealous regulations.

I expect my index funds to be worth more tomorrow than today (on average), but still manage to pay for things with USD.

If buying, selling and transacting fees are low enough, I don't see why bitcoin's (to pick one) value changes would matter much.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#679

Post by fortyseven »

Geee wrote: post #602
cess11 wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is largely theocratic and has in part because of this managed to resist socialism and other forms of scientific governance to a much larger degree. Using religious leaders as power brokers is a clever strategy, they'll never budge due to the better argument or scientific reason, hence making it almost impossible for non-violent progressive movements to having an effect at the macro level.

Lmao. Socialism is pseudo-scientific bollocks, like flat earth theory.

Any not just pull off the bandaid and tell us you don't really understand what socialism is.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#680

Post by rodrigodlu »

devilbunny wrote: post #564
atq2119 wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am honestly surprised all the time that a lot of US-Americans who are so freedom-loving and distrust the government concerning the restrictions of civil rights are not in love of cash I suspect it's a combination of factors, one of them being that US cash has absolutely awful usability compared to the Euro.

> absolutely awful usability compared to the Euro In what way? One unpleasant discovery I made in Portugal (and also saw to some extent in Spain) was that ATM’s - every one I could find, including those that were bank-owned at physical branches - had a limit of EUR200 per transaction regardless of my own bank limit (at USD1000/day, that should have been at least EUR800). And while convenience stores, fast food, etc.,…

I went last year to Lisbon and Barcelona, from Brazil with 0 cash in any currency.

I had a debit card with some hundreds of EUR already charged, but I ended up using it with an NFC enabled smartphone.

No issues at all, even going in far places outside Barcelona. Everyone very receptive in BCN.

I looked at ATM terminals and they seemed full of rules and complications. I tried to get some cash just to collect the notes as a souvenir, but I gave up.

Again, everyone accepted my NFC enabled smartphone, I tested my debit NFC card and my local bank CC NFC card as well

So I think ATMs present a lot of friction for sure.

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