Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

Post by Kinrany » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 12:24 PM UTC

infecto wrote: post #148

roenxi wrote: post #13

The US has some clear laws against government controlling speech and, in the abstract, that makes it pretty much impossible to censor games. Various factions - exactly who it is difficult to pin down - have been working hard to set up a system where they can shut things down without ever explicitly instructing anyone to do anything. This appears to be the system engaging by accident because some crazy from Australia…

I am quite surprised how wrong opinions like yours are. There is no argument of free speech here, they are a private business and as such can decide what they allow and don’t allow on their network. It’s no different than if cloudflare had a click through that said no adult material. You can hand wave around well they are a monopoly or some related argument but the government does not see it that way. Visa and Master…

Post by seanhunter » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 12:24 PM UTC

p_ing wrote: post #122

bboygravity wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh the EU will happily pass new laws to screen your entire life when you'd like to buy a game (and to record and store everything you talk about with fellow gamers in case you say something that goes against EU policies). EU will even arrange a special new bank account for ya outside of Visa Mastercard called CBDC. No problem. EU is here for ya! /s

1984 took place in the EU. I mean, if Brexit hadn't happened and the EU existed in 1984, of course.

Post by braiamp » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 12:26 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #143

weberer wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was Mastercard's rule, but any one of the companies in the payment network could have brought it up to Valve. The whole system is set up so one transaction has to go through up to 6 different companies, and they all have to abide by each other's rules. The US Internet Preservation Society explained it recently: >Each of these companies maintains its own terms of service and each of them can block a transaction by…

> was Mastercard's rule, but any one of the companies in the payment network could have brought it up to Valve Did Mastercard threaten Valve? Or did Valve precomply?

Post by scotty79 » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 12:27 PM UTC

Jensson wrote: post #94

scotty79 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't cards last century technology? I'm paying with my phone anyways. Seller can use phone as well. Why does it need to involve incumbent banks and terminal providers at all? If Valve started something like that the banks would bang on its door relentlessly just to not be left out of the loop. Gaming is the business bigger than movies, music and books combined and Valve is Google of games.

> Gaming is the business bigger than movies, music and books combined and Valve is Google of games. Valve is not Google of games, the app stores Google and Apple has dwarfs steam sales and the individual game consoles are similar size as the steam store. > I'm paying with my phone anyways Right, since the phone ecosystem is large enough to be its own payment processor, unlike steam.

Post by Hamuko » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 12:27 PM UTC

reginald78 wrote: post #118

Hamuko wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that physical Steam gift cards exist but I've quite frankly never seen them anywhere. Nintendo/PlayStation/Xbox cards are pretty ubiquitous though. I recently tried getting a Steam one from a grocery store but they only had the console ones.

I've definitely seen them. A quick search shows them available at BestBuy and Walmart at least.