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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

#141

Post by Calavar »

sketchysandwich wrote: post #70
mvieira38 wrote: post #51

It's unfortunate because there really isn't anything anyone can do except wait for regulation or try raising awareness/usage of crypto payments or cash by mail

how do all these other adult sites get away with charging premium subscriptions?

Porn sites use smaller special purpose payment processors that have higher fees. It makes sense for porn sites because they only sell sexual content. If Valve and itch used those same payment processors, they'd be paying the higher premiums on all transactions, including those for nonsexual content (i.e. that vast majority of their transactions). It just doesn't make sense for them from a financial perspective.

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

#142

Post by beeflet »

burkaman wrote: post #108
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…

If Steam dropped Visa and Mastercard and successfully got most of their customers to use a Bitcoin payment processor instead, wouldn't these organizations just pressure that processor? I don't see how it would be any different. If the problem you're trying to solve is that private payment processors can deny service to anyone they don't like, the underlying technology the processor uses is irrelevant.

Well I think the advantage is that the cryptocurrency payment processors are interchangeable. But your point mostly stands

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

#143

Post by crinkly »

The very idea of a store front for software needs to die. It’s a single strangle point that serves only to concentrate power and create a legal or regulatory target.

There should be no platform to “abuse”. There should be no control point.

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

#144

Post by morkalork »

gs17 wrote: post #53
neonate wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the subhed: "Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet."

Detroit: Become Human has abuse as significant element to its story. It came under attack from the "National Association of People Abused in Childhood" when it came out, and also from Collective Shout.

They might want to take a look in mirror and see what institutions have been involved in many such abuse cases in the past. Hint, it's not video game companies.

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

#145

Post by fossgeller »

can16358p wrote: post #105

What is wrong with these people who try to block certain content? Don't like porn? Don't buy it. Simple as that. No one, including governments or payment processors, should be in the position to decide whether a platform can sell something or not. I wish there was a payment processor who was brave enough to say a big fucking NO to censorship.

Well maybe they are bothered by its sexist content. People all are about free speech when it comes to censorship in media, but not that many talk about how objectification of women is still very common in it.

I’m sure that there are dating sims that are just fine, but let’s be honest here, these platforms are filled with much weirder stuff . Some of them even enter the morally grey areas imo.

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

#146

Post by throwawayoldie »

evilduck wrote: post #124
kelseyfrog wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably, the belief of Collective Shout is that there is a causal link between acting out incest, rape, and sexual violence in games and acting on those behaviors in real life. What would you do if you harbored that belief?

Empirically prove it.

You say that, but history shows that people are much more likely to move based on what _feels_ true to them.

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

#147

Post by qball »

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?

If men don't, then neither should women, who are murdered at 1/10th the rate men are.

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

#148

Post by beeflet »

uncircle wrote: post #91
odo1242 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Third-parties take care of this bureaucracy for you. Check out the Phoenix wallet, for example. (Unaffiliated, I hold some pocket money on there not to run a Lightning node myself) The on-chain transaction is just to "fund" a channel between two parties. These two parties can then make unlimited trasnfers between each other instantaneously for free. These nodes are organised in a network and can relay payment from ot…

>Third-parties take care of this bureaucracy for you. Check out the Phoenix wallet, for example.

Sort of defeats the purpose then, doesn't it? Why not just make lightning payments directly from your bitcoin exchange?

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

#149

Post by some_random »

renewiltord wrote: post #121
some_random wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Do we have a right to object to speech that promotes and normalizes violence against us? Worth pointing out that their definition of "right to object" is evidentially identical to "right to censor".

Well, that's not precise. They are simply objecting. Others are listening to them. I have a right to tell you to go eat a pile of dung[0], for instance. Should you then go eat the dung, it is not that I exercised my right to make you eat dung. They are simply participating in the once-maligned "cancel culture" which was protected as "freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences". These kinds of escape hatches a…

I am absolutely against the concept of "freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences" in the same way I am against Soviet "freedom of speech but not freedom after speech".

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

#150

Post by alexjplant »

tracker1 wrote: post #30
righthand wrote: post #2

More caving to the ultra-religious pearl grippers who just have nothing better to do than tell others how to live. All the hate speech trash and troll talk on the Steam forums is fine though. All the war games are fine though. Make sure people can validate genocide and what not but not see titties.

It's not just mature content... there have been efforts to reduce the ability to legally purchase firearms as well as suppression of prominent social media figures. Not just the CC companies, but even the larger payment processors like Stripe/Paypal etc. are all doing it for different categories. There is a reason you have to pay cash at dispensaries, etc.

> There is a reason you have to pay cash at dispensaries, etc.

I used to work for a fintech. As new employee I had coffee with a colleague who explained KYC, AML, and other compliance topics to me. They mentioned that marijuana businesses can't bank their money due to these considerations as it would make banks knowing accomplices to the federal crime of trafficking a controlled substance. This threat is material because cannabis, unlike adult content, is actually illegal, so I don't think it's a substantially similar example to what's mentioned in this thread.

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