Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

pcgamer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

711–720 of 967 posts

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

#711

Post by lxgr »

martin-t wrote: post #700
lxgr wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I won't miss these games either, but it just seems like such a slippery slope to normalize achieving societal/political goals through exerting pressure on infrastructure companies instead of through democratic means. I totally support this type of pressure being exerted on companies involved in editorializing and providing an audience (e.g. I don't think Valve should be required by law to carry any form o…

> ethically or morally unacceptable What does that mean? For example if something can be shown to cause actual harm to innocent individuals, i find it morally unacceptable. But some people will tell you anything banned by their favorite fairytale or their upbringing is morally unacceptable.

That's a complicated question I'd like to see settled via legislation and in courts interpreting (and sometimes overturning) these laws rather than in a private corporation's compliance and/or PR department.

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

#713

Post by 9dev »

93po wrote: post #613
9dev wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, don’t follow the underdog fallacy. What are you doing against it? How are you different from the other sheep? Merely complaining doesn’t make you any better.

youre allowed to be critical of things while still using said things. i have 8 million things going on in my life and the hill i die on isnt going to be the working conditions of humans that make iphones

Sure you are, but don’t call others out for being complacent then.

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

#714

Post by motorest »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #676
motorest wrote: post #674

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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

It's clearly not the case at all. Valve wants to sell third party games. Third party game developers want to sell their games. Customers want to buy third party games through Valve. Do you understand this bit?

A payment processor company is far excluded from the process. Users want to pay Valve money. Valve wants to receive the user's money. All fine, right? Except a payment company somehow feels entitled to tell Valve which products in their product line they can sell. WTF?

Going back to your far-fetched example, it would be like a supermarket selling all sorts of products their customers want to buy, but the Nazi bank somehow feels entitled to tell the supermarket they should not sell any product related with Jews. Does that make sense to you?

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

#715

Post by zanfr »

amelius wrote: post #141
ranger_danger wrote: post #3

What can be done to loosen card companies' grip on this? It has been a constant problem now for decades.

Choose a payment system by a company that is not as opinionated. Apple pay, for example.

AHA AHAHAAH AAHAHAAHA nice one

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

#717

Post by yapyap »

rabid-zubat wrote: post #712

The day I will be informed that Valve delisted anything after being pressured by a credit card company is the last day I buy a game on it. Personally I pay with my own country's payment system that's unrelated to these companies.

so.. today?

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

#718

Post by zanfr »

well well well

there are 2 solutions to this: 1. steam accepts eth and other cryptos; most people associate btc with crypto because it is the original but it is now technically vastly inferior. 2. the seven seas (nobody ever turns your free transaction down and you get to keep whatever it is forever with no fancy license/tos/eulas attached)

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

#719

Post by raincole »

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…

> I expect all of you complaining about this to never once complain on legal grounds about Apple's 30% tax in the app store

People complain that 24/7. The absolute majority of HN comments sided with Epic when they challenged that.

> or when a bakery refuses to sell a cake to a gay person.

It didn't happen. What happened was the bakery refused to make a cake for gay wedding. It's established that you can't refuse to sell something existing to someone just because of their sexuality.

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

#720

Post by kergonath »

amelius wrote: post #657
kergonath wrote: post #546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I buy an iPhone I am dealing with Apple. I know what I am buying and what I can or cannot do with the device. And if I am not happy there are alternatives. When I buy stuff on Steam I am in no way making a contract with Visa. When Visa strong arms Valve to delist games I lose even if I never had any relation with Visa ever. It really is not comparable.

Following your argument ... then don't choose Steam, there are plenty of alternatives! /s https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Traitor...

No, you misread. I have a commercial relation with Steam and I am happy for them to chose what game they sell and what game they don’t (and as a matter of fact I buy more games on gog than on Steam). I don’t have a relation with Visa and I object to them exercising any control over what I can or cannot buy.
Post reply on HN