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Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

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Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#81

Post by TulliusCicero »

renewiltord wrote: post #26

> Violence and dehumanization of women should not be acceptable outcomes of free speech. We also have to consider whose voices are being heard, and whose are being silenced. Does free speech apply to women, to survivors of rape and sexual assault? Do we have a right to object to speech that promotes and normalizes violence against us? Every time someone insists on an escape hatch, it is immediately abused. One could…

> Do we have a right to object to speech that promotes and normalizes violence against us?

I mean this sounds reasonable until you also consider that shows like Game of Thrones would then also be banned, and probably plenty of popular books.

Hell, you could use the same reasoning to target most video games, since most video games use some level of violence.

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#82

Post by pdntspa »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #60

My free speech red line is criticism of govt and leaders. Ban all the porn games ya want, I don't think they're very valuable. When did pornography become protected speech?

Since when has protected speech required being valuable? And who made you the pronouncer of said value?

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#83

Post by krapp »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #60

My free speech red line is criticism of govt and leaders. Ban all the porn games ya want, I don't think they're very valuable. When did pornography become protected speech?

>When did pornography become protected speech?

A Book Named "John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" v. Attorney General of Massachusetts, 1966 (https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=101895573599950...)

Miller v. California, 1973 (https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=287180442152313...)

Jenkins v. Georgia, 1974 (https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=106399862265120...)

-- https://reason.com/2019/10/04/pornography-is-protected-by-th...

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#84

Post by [deleted] »

sketchysandwich wrote: post #65
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #60

My free speech red line is criticism of govt and leaders. Ban all the porn games ya want, I don't think they're very valuable. When did pornography become protected speech?

In what world is artistic expression not free speech? Just because you don't like it doesn't mean its not protected.

[deleted]

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#85

Post by righthand »

some_random wrote: post #66
righthand wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to take a look at how feminist that organization actually is.

There is a huge sex-negative feminist school of thought, just because you don't like it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I never declared it doesn’t exist?

Let me respond with your attacking-style:

Just because you like it doesn’t mean it’s representative of feminism at large. It doesn’t mean it’s not a conservative think tank hiding behind a veil of feminism.

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#86

Post by TulliusCicero »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #60

My free speech red line is criticism of govt and leaders. Ban all the porn games ya want, I don't think they're very valuable. When did pornography become protected speech?

Strictly speaking this isn't a conventional free speech issue since the government isn't involved here, just private businesses.

That said, there's a de facto duopoly on payment processing that gives these companies near government-level power to dictate terms. Realistic alternatives don't exist and would be insanely hard to start.

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#87

Post by fmbb »

uncircle wrote: post #78

I know people here love to hate it, and it's a very very controversial topic, but this here, is a good use case for Bitcoin [1] Now that we have Lightning and hyperfast micropayments, can we have a good plug-and-play payment processor that uses it? The few services that allow Bitcoin payments still require an on-chain transaction, which is very user-unfriendly. In any case, despite what the haters say, this is the va…

Bitcoin existing is not going to make Itch.io not want to accept payments via Visa.

Porn is a tiny market. It’s not worth it losing the payment processors everyone is on to serve porn game buyers.

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#88

Post by odo1242 »

uncircle wrote: post #78

I know people here love to hate it, and it's a very very controversial topic, but this here, is a good use case for Bitcoin [1] Now that we have Lightning and hyperfast micropayments, can we have a good plug-and-play payment processor that uses it? The few services that allow Bitcoin payments still require an on-chain transaction, which is very user-unfriendly. In any case, despite what the haters say, this is the va…

Don’t you have to create a distinct payment channel (on-chain transaction) for every person you pay over Lightning? Or am I misunderstanding things?

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#89

Post by colinwilyb »

jfyi wrote: post #32
misterbishop wrote: post #7

It is alarming for credit card companies to take on a politically censorious role that supersedes legal activity. This really kicked off in 2021 when MasterCard started imposing restrictive rules on sex sites like OnlyFans. The ACLU has a campaign against it: https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/how-mastercards-new-p...

OnlyFans did manage to figure it out though. Maybe this is an opportunity for them to start a gaming division.

Or a credit card processor.

Re: Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope

#90

Post by topato »

hyghjiyhu wrote: post #36
BoxFour wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you manage to sidestep the issues with payment processors mentioned elsewhere, you don’t end up as a “popular platform that just happens to take a principled stance and also hosts some controversial material.” Instead, you become the hub for that kind of material — and that reputation drives away more mainstream creators who won’t want their work associated with it. See also: Kick, Parlor, etc. Rather than bu…

I've watched hikaru on kick and the only offensive thing about his stream is how he repeats himself. I don't really like how he says the same thing over and over. Chat, it's kinda starting to bother me how he repeats himself. Yeah I'm starting to think he repeats himself a bit too much for my taste.

After the third sentence, I was like, what's wrong with this guy? After the fourth, I was like, Oh. Lol.
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