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Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

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Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#181

Post by detaro »

braiamp wrote: post #165
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

They cite a rule about Mastercard brand damage. If Mastercard didn't specify that such content would result in MC brand damage why would they cite it rather than their own rules?

Some options:

a) they are worried Mastercard might randomly decide it does and punish them

b) it's convenient to be able to blame someone else

c) someone somewhere said something and the rest of the orgs isn't aware or over-interpreted a statement

Vague rules like this are great to dilute responsibility. It can both be true that Mastercard didn't tell the payment processors to force the issue and that the payment processors strongly thought they had to.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#182

Post by [deleted] »

seanhunter wrote: post #163
p_ing wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That’s factually untrue. 1984 takes place in Britain (now known as “Airstrip one”) which in the universe of the book is part of Oceania along with Australia, southern Africa and the Americas. The other two superpowers are Eurasia (which as the name suggests is Europe less the UK and Ireland but with Asia) and Eastasia, which is South-East Asia more or less https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_geography_of_Ninetee.…

[deleted]

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#183

Post by loa_in_ »

Hamuko wrote: post #138
makeitdouble wrote: post #132

> Mastercard's Rule 5.12.7 relates to "illegal or brand-damaging transactions," and states: > A Merchant must not submit to its Acquirer, and a Customer must not submit to the Interchange System, any Transaction that is illegal, or in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation or reflect negatively on the Marks. I didn't expect they had such clear rules expliciting they can ban…

I called MasterCard twice and both times they a) guessed that I was calling about content on Steam without ever mentioning Steam b) said that they only restricted "illegal adult content" and have "standards based on rule of law". Said absolutely nothing about protecting the brand. Also couldn't say if said "standards" were actual laws or MasterCard's own (legal) standards.

Good argument to record any calls with them and submit the recordings to the press

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#184

Post by numpad0 »

rs186 wrote: post #64

Dumb question: what if Steam only takes cash or crypto payment for these games, and leave them on the market? Cash is loaded from debit card and can be used for buying any games, while crypto apparently always works for everything. Would they still be on the hook?

That's where it gets disgusting. They don't tolerate that solution, which is a proof that this has nothing to do with brand protection or chargeback rates or anything of sorts.

So either those poor games need to be kicked out, or everyone has to switch to cash/app overnight. The transition process has to be easy enough that the dumbest addict you have seen in worst fast food restaurant place can complete in few clicks. That has proven difficult for many, and sadly the former options are usually taken.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#185

Post by 93po »

perihelions wrote: post #84
p_ing wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no meaningful attention, here. Until it is on the US Gov't radar, this 'attention' is just a collection of upset redditors furiously posting forum messages which will fissile out in a few months, at most. Besides, it's not like you can boycott Mastercard or VISA.

> "which will fissile out in a few months" A tangential nitpick: it's fizzle out , from a Middle English etymology meaning "to fart"; not to fission ( fissile being an adjectival form), from Latin "to split". https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fizzle#Etymology ( "Attested in English since 1525-35. From earlier fysel (“to fart”). Related to fīsa (“to fart”). Compare with Swedish fisa (“to fart (silently)”). See also feist…

guessing it was autocorrect issue :)

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#186

Post by baobabKoodaa »

Freak_NL wrote: post #113
nottorp wrote: post #102

By the way: https://www.amazon.com/Streetcar-Named-Desire-Blu-ray/dp/B07... Why is Mastercard processing money for this movie that contains a rape scene?

It's not targetted by pressure groups at the moment. MasterCard isn't acting out of its own moral convictions here, so don't expect these rules to be enforced wherever they might apply.

Oh please. As if Mastercard is beholden to some grass roots movement from Australia.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#187

Post by scotty79 »

mpalmer wrote: post #131
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.

You should maybe look up how paying with your phone works. And what in your mind is the thing banks will be begging Steam to be let in on? This reads like payment processing fan fiction.

I know how it works because connecting your bank account to your phone can be crappy and fiddly as it goes through Visa/Mastercard. But it works that way just to ride on customers of legacy systems. It doesn't have to work that way if you bring your own customers. It would have to start online of course and eventually move through phones to the real world.

I don't trust Paypal, at all, because its brand is damaged beyond repair, but I would put enough money on Valve account to do all of my online shopping with it if Valve did even just what Paypal does (even without connecting Visa or Mastercard directly).

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#188

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #120

I really hope Steam will start to accept Bitcoin (via Lightning possibly) over this. Due to its decentralization, it is censorship free by default. And if Steam accepts Bitcoin, that would be a massive boost for the liquidity aspect of BTC: You could basically sell your BTC to anyone who wants to make a Steam purchase, making it similarly fungible as Amazon gift vouchers.

> making it similarly fungible as Amazon gift vouchers

This isn’t as accurate as you might hope. I can pretty much only buy hobby-related things on Steam but I can buy just about any non-perishable household item on Amazon.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#189

Post by mathiaspoint »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #73
p_ing wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no meaningful attention, here. Until it is on the US Gov't radar, this 'attention' is just a collection of upset redditors furiously posting forum messages which will fissile out in a few months, at most. Besides, it's not like you can boycott Mastercard or VISA.

> it's not like you can boycott Mastercard or VISA In many countries, if you pay locally, you absolutely can. China's UnionPay, India's UPI, PayNow in Singapore, PromptPay in Thailand, PayPal, Cash App, and more.

The US also has Discover/Capital One and American Express and if you live in some of the nicer parts people still take checks.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#190

Post by JumpCrisscross »

amiga386 wrote: post #178
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Valve's payment processors told Valve they would withdraw payment processing unless Valve banned specific categories of game from their online store. The payment processors did not cite any law; Valve selling those games was not illegal. Instead they cited Mastercard's rules, which say that they cannot submit transactions that Mastercard believe might damage Mastercard's goodwill or reflect negatively on its brand. T…

> Valve's payment processors told Valve they would withdraw payment processing unless Valve banned specific categories of game from their online store

Do we have a statement from Valve saying as much?

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