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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

#171

Post by baobabKoodaa »

m463 wrote: post #163
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.

I remember checking out llama when it first came out. (meta's published LLM model) "what is the best sex position?" [blah, blah, ... non-answer] "How do you get a sex change?" [long detailed answer]

the first version of llama was uncensored, so this story is not factual

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

#172

Post by jajuuka »

magicmicah85 wrote: post #3

This is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to create a censorship-resistant platform, though, I don't know how you do it profitably when CSAM and other potentially criminal content needs to be reviewed.

The spirit of Visa/Mastercard isn't wrong. If a platform is doing something illegal they will break ties or give them a chance to course correct. When Pornhub was exposed for hosting lots of revenge porn and illegal porn Visa/Mastercard pulled back, Pornhub cleaned house and put up new stronger barriers to prevent that kind of material being uploaded. But instead of doing business again they said "just kidding" and did not come back.

In this case with Steam and Itch.io they are targeting legal games and is just 100% in the wrong. There is a checkered history of Visa/Mastercard dropping legitimate causes because it's hot politically. Which is also in the wrong.

Bitcoin/crypto was supposed to be the way around this kind of censorship, but that's basically a ponzi scheme so that's not the way forward. Unfortunately Visa/Mastercard have a monopoly on the market and they use it regularly to keep out competition. Regulation/investigations need to be done to fix this, but that sure as hell isn't happening under this presidency.

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

#173

Post by baobabKoodaa »

fossgeller wrote: post #145
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.

Oh no, weird stuff in games? Or even... morally grey actions in games? How awful!

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

#174

Post by m463 »

baobabKoodaa wrote: post #171
m463 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember checking out llama when it first came out. (meta's published LLM model) "what is the best sex position?" [blah, blah, ... non-answer] "How do you get a sex change?" [long detailed answer]

the first version of llama was uncensored, so this story is not factual

It was llama-7b

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

#175

Post by WorldMaker »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #44

What sort of leverage can a group like this realistically have on Visa and Mastercard? Can they really make a dent in their top line?

Weaponized complaints to legal departments asking to enforce existing Terms & Conditions of Visa and Mastercard. It's a "squeaky wheel" problem.

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

#176

Post by m463 »

isaacdl wrote: post #168
m463 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember checking out llama when it first came out. (meta's published LLM model) "what is the best sex position?" [blah, blah, ... non-answer] "How do you get a sex change?" [long detailed answer]

Well, those are somewhat different types of questions. One is subjective opinion, and the other is a bit more factual/straightforward. I'm also not entirely sure what this has to do with the comment you're replying to.

any sex questions led to non answers.

the point was that content is blocked almost by default nowadays

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

#177

Post by qualeed »

crinkly wrote: post #143

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.

I'm curious, what do you imagine as the better alternative?

I guess every publisher could just sell direct to customers on their own website, but that wouldn't address this issue at all (it would make it even easier for payment processors to abuse their duopoly), while also severely damaging the discoverability of games.

And, considering that companies can already do this if they want but still choose to sell via a platform, I'm guessing there are several benefits beyond discoverability that I'm not thinking of.

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

#178

Post by BJones12 »

the_af wrote: post #117
some_random wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is being pushed by an Australian Feminist organization, not the American Religious Right.

> This is being pushed by an Australian Feminist organization, not the American Religious Right. The founder is Christian and writes and speaks in Christian venues and publications. She's not a "feminist" by any reasonable and modern definition of the word.

Being Christian does not mean one is not feminist. This person seems to advocate for a multitude of things including ones that are historically feminist (of at least one commonly accepted variety of feminism). Those advocations make it reasonable to call her a feminist.

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

#179

Post by Aurornis »

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.

When the Steam removals came up on HN, several people linked the list of games pulled. It looked more like they were targeting incest games (which is a genre I didn’t know existed) rather than the generic “porn games” that keeps showing up in headlines. There could be more developments or a different story for Itch.io, but last time this story was circulating it appeared that journalists were avoiding talking about specifics because people were much more sensitive about removing “porn games” in general whereas as “incest games” is a different story.

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

#180

Post by ardit33 »

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.

Next is a Superman videogame being blocked because it goes against the 'policies/interests' of a country that manages to lobby a lot here.
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