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Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

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Re: Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

#51
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not for lack of trying, though: remember Windows RT?

MS has mostly abandoned that approach now. But during Windows 8 days? Yeah. There was a legitimate concern that MS will lock down Windows and try to funnel everything through Microsoft Store, establishing an Apple-style walled garden. The concern was serious enough that Valve took a defensive posture and started investing into Linux support. Which, at first, largely failed - but eventually resulted in Steam Deck.

For sure, and I'm glad they backed off from it. I'm also glad they did it because of how it pushed Valve into making Steam OS so good. But Microsoft really did want to go down the same path, and I do not trust them not to try it again.

Re: Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

#53
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not for lack of trying, though: remember Windows RT?

WinRT wasn’t locked down.

The Surface RT that I tried absolutely was, and everything else I'm seeing to make sure I'm not misremembering shows that Windows RT was still locked down. So you should expand on what you mean.

Windows S Mode shows that Microsoft still thinks this is a good idea, too.

Re: Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

#54

Surprising, even by Google's standards. DDLC is a violent game but not much more. What app store rule exactly is it breaking?

"Violent"? Do you consider news reporting to be violent too? This isn't remotely in the league of all the shooter games you can find on the store.

Gore in shooters is culturally treated as much less "violent" than e.g. graphic scenes of suicide. You could make an argument that it shouldn't be, but it is.

Re: Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

#55

As someone pointed out why do we even bother with age ratings if we’re just going to ban games entirely for having wrongthink?

Because there are always moral panics, always some "thing" that's corrupting the youth, be it television, rock-and-roll, D&D, video games or now social media, and people keep thinking giving in to the moralists will protect the children.

But the moralists are never satisfied, and their war on free expression, art and culture never ends.

Re: Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

#56

1bil+ people have surrendered their right to artistic expression to Google, and another 1bil+ to Apple, and another 1bil+ to Microsoft. Many more billions have surrendered it to Visa and Mastercard. The world will only continue to get worse for the foreseeable future as five corporations assert global control over what is allowed to be published. It is mournful knowing that humanity's peak is behind us.

Not Microsoft. "Sideloading" is not even a term in Windows culture the way it is with Apple and Google because it's not a second-class citizen.

Old windows yeah. Now they also require code signing, etc.

Re: Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

#58
post #55

As someone pointed out why do we even bother with age ratings if we’re just going to ban games entirely for having wrongthink?

Because there are always moral panics, always some "thing" that's corrupting the youth, be it television, rock-and-roll, D&D, video games or now social media, and people keep thinking giving in to the moralists will protect the children. But the moralists are never satisfied, and their war on free expression, art and culture never ends.

You’ve got the 80s and 90s covered. But you’re missing the more recent post-2016 moral panics, like being able to listen to an episode of Alex jones, which spurred the current issue in tech especially YouTube.

Re: Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

#59

This is why a monopoly is bad. Google can dictate who has access or retains access.

Google can dictate who has or retains access to their market, but that doesn't make them a monopoly, since other markets exist. This game is still available on Steam and probably elsewhere.

Re: Google removes "Doki Doki Literature Club" from Google Play

#60
It's a relatively old game, so I'll put up here a spoiler so to remove potential confusion:

DDLC is a __horror__ game that contains some gore, death, and self harm content, as well as small fourth wall breaking, disguised as a Japanese Visual Novel style soft/hard porn game. The entire game is a figurative jumpscare. Which makes it technically true to call it a "disturbing and shocking" game, but not as in """disturbing and shocking""" as in the euphemism for pornographic. It is technically correctly rated and marked as such. It just doesn't say viewer discretion of what kind is recommended.

And also: a lot of these Japanese pastel colored things, Visual Novel games included, are in fact not intended for kids, especially under 15. It's not like picture books for 6-12 year olds. Audience gender distribution is often closer to 50:50 than what many assumes.

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