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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

#241

Post by ben_w »

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.

> Don't like porn? Don't buy it. Simple as that.

The claim isn't "we don't like it", the claim is "this is damaging to society".

I don't agree with such things in many cases (and many people disagree with me when I'm the one saying something is damaging to society), but it's important to note the difference or you will always be arguing against something other than their claim.

> No one, including governments or payment processors, should be in the position to decide whether a platform can sell something or not.

It's kinda the job of the government to decide such things; but an automatic extension of that is, it's not the job of the payment processors… and I think they should be banned from doing so because it's damaging to society to let them take on this role.

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

#242

Post by bloqs »

RankingMember wrote: post #115
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.

The Puritanical origins of the US reverberate to this day. While coming for "freedom of religion" sounds like a noble origin story, the context was that they wanted the freedom to practice a much stricter, restrictive form of religion than that allowed by the Church of England.

the group behind this, collective shout are Aussies

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

#243

Post by o11c »

MegaButts wrote: post #209
o11c wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of dishonesty relating to this. This really isn't about Puritanism, unless you're redefining Puritanism to mean having any morality at all. Do you really want to compel selling access to pedo games? Do you really want to compel selling access to rape games? Do you really want to compel selling access to incest games? Do you really want to compel selling access to domestic violence games? [this is the on…

> Do you really want to compel selling access to pedo games? > Do you really want to compel selling access to rape games? > Do you really want to compel selling access to incest games? So ban the things you believe are the problem instead of blanket banning everything.

Are they actually banning "everything" though? From what I can see, that's entirely clickbait fraud.

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

#244

Post by mywittyname »

the8472 wrote: post #181
mwill wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These conservative groups aren't pressuring Steam and Itch directly, they're targeting payment processors. I don't think it's realistically viable to compete with Steam (or Itch) without access to Mastercard and Visa. (For anyone thinking crypto: we have a different idea of what it means to be either "realistically viable" or to "compete with Steam")

> I don't think it's realistically viable to compete with Steam (or Itch) without access to Mastercard and Visa. They could not allow those games to be sold through those particular payment processors and require wire transfers instead. More cumbersome payment method, but better than outright banning them. If the payment processors try to dictate what content these sites may host even when it involves competing proce…

The impression I get is allowing them to be purchased at all is grounds for the payment processor to suspend their account. So this solution is a no-go.

Probably the only way around it is to spin up a completely different corporate entity which only allows for payments via wire transfer, ACH, or perhaps some of the various payment apps available.

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

#245

Post by johnnyanmac »

bko wrote: post #233
RankingMember wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Puritanical origins of the US reverberate to this day. While coming for "freedom of religion" sounds like a noble origin story, the context was that they wanted the freedom to practice a much stricter, restrictive form of religion than that allowed by the Church of England.

I don't think you have to be Puritanical or particularly religious to realize that some content is generally not good for people. I've seen this destroy lives, drive addiction and lead to other forms of destructive behavior. Religion and taboo often exist for a reason, because endless self gratification does not lead to flourishing. You don't have to agree that it should be banned, but you can at least concede it's n…

I'll take the hard stance on this. I don't see how Sex is anymore harmful, addicting, or dangerous as any other number of socialties. Including Alcohol, fast food, gambling, and simply getting to into any given hobby (be it video games or playing guitar).

A habit I've noticed is that a person vulnerable to being addicted to X is more prone to fall back on Y, Z, etc. even when X is fixed. So I only see "this hurts certain people" as a scapegoat. Stairs probably hurt more people in any given day than many activities, we don't base law purely on harm and potential harm.

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

#246

Post by azalemeth »

gspencley wrote: post #207
RankingMember wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Puritanical origins of the US reverberate to this day. While coming for "freedom of religion" sounds like a noble origin story, the context was that they wanted the freedom to practice a much stricter, restrictive form of religion than that allowed by the Church of England.

I'm not so sure you can point the finger at the USA for this. I ran an online porn website for almost 20 years. For 15 years it was my primary source of income. I'm in Canada which, compared to the USA is extremely progressive. In 2022, after a decade of doing business with a certain bank as this business, never having hidden anything about what we did, my wife and I received an urgent, signature required, overnighte…

I'm amazed that producing porn in Iceland can lead to gaol. Can you expand upon that further?

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

#247

Post by FirmwareBurner »

bko wrote: post #233
RankingMember wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Puritanical origins of the US reverberate to this day. While coming for "freedom of religion" sounds like a noble origin story, the context was that they wanted the freedom to practice a much stricter, restrictive form of religion than that allowed by the Church of England.

I don't think you have to be Puritanical or particularly religious to realize that some content is generally not good for people. I've seen this destroy lives, drive addiction and lead to other forms of destructive behavior. Religion and taboo often exist for a reason, because endless self gratification does not lead to flourishing. You don't have to agree that it should be banned, but you can at least concede it's n…

>Religion and taboo often exist for a reason, because endless self gratification does not lead to flourishing.

So then why aren't those activists going after Instagram, TicTok, X/Twitter, etc. you know, the OG spyware, brain rot and anxiety inducing companies, because that would actually benefit society and not too many people would mourn their loss.

Why are they instead going after a dozen random horny video games nobody heard of? Oh that's right, because those random game devs don't have the power to fight back in court, unlike Meta/X, so it's an easy win for them to collect brownie points, for performative nonsense.

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

#248

Post by fossgeller »

baobabKoodaa wrote: post #173
fossgeller wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Well yes, one could argue that if games like GTA don’t turn people into criminals than these games are also harmless. Imo it’s a bit different in this case, as a more natural instinct (sexuality) is affected.

Sure, games can be beneficial for living out fantasies, but how will it affect your view on women if you frequently consume highly sexist content? The bottom line of my point is that I think this type of content is too easily available nowadays, and especially too much of it.

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

#249

Post by tremon »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #119
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.

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?

We have seen time and time again that a lot of such reprehensible behaviour comes from a puritanical stance on sex. So it's likely that they already act out those behaviours in real life.

They just want to hide behind "those games made me do it" when they eventually get caught.

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

#250

Post by Fargren »

mkleczek wrote: post #235
vel0city wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin won't require a payment processor, but companies wanting to effectively handle Bitcoin will want a payment processor or else they will have to become one themselves. Even companies working in large amounts of cash end up hiring companies to handle the cash logistics and all the other complications in dealing with it.

I am not sure why any middle man is needed to "effectively" handle Bitcoin. It is a very liquid asset - easy to move and easy to sell.

You want to handle refunds, fraud, money laundering, chargebacks... That stuff is really hard, and if it's not your main line of business, you really don't want to do it. And if you don't have a payment processor do it, and you don't do it yourself, criminals will scam your customers and use your platform to commit fraud and launder money and you will get in hot water with the law.

Bitcoin can be used as currency for occasional transactions between individuals. But you don't want your business to depend on it. It doesn't scale, not due to technological reasons, but because of legal issues and customer experience expectation.

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