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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

#321

Post by johnnyanmac »

progbits wrote: post #15
mostlysimilar wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Itch hasn't lost its marbles, they're forced to remove this content by payment processors. They're critical infrastructure, they shouldn't be allowed to arbitrate on behalf of an entire society. We need laws to require them to carry payments for any legal transaction. Paying for porn games is legal.

Nobody said anything about itch, this is about the whole payment system. You are agreeing with both of us but writing it as argument. But the lack of reading comprehension on this site is making me lose my marbles.

I think the implication with saying "a company that hasn't lost its marbles" is that Itch and Steam have lost their marbles. You can argue that Steam should have pushed back, but Itch definitely lacks the leverage to refuse here.

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

#322

Post by broof »

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!

Child rape is morally grey now?

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

#323

Post by zahlman »

the_af wrote: post #107

In discussions about this topic, in almost every place I see them, lots of people (against this censorship) are going "I don't play this kind of games" or "I don't personally care about tentacle fetish" (or whatever). I don't get this. Let's say it openly: what's the problem with sex and nudity in games? Why is it so unacceptable -- that even people against the censorship must loudly proclaim it's not "their thing" -…

Nothing is wrong with it.

People are just accustomed to being insulted for willingly associating themselves with it, on the basis of imputed perversion, bad taste etc.

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

#324

Post by chipsa »

magicmicah85 wrote: post #31
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")

You don't need to compete with Steam or Itch for games that they can't sell, you're in your own market.

What you need for running a site that people might not like: 1. Your own servers 2. Your own network 3. Your own CDN 4. Your own payment processor

Step 4 gets you thrown in jail for violating AML.

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

#325

Post by SXX »

o11c wrote: post #301
SXX wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The group behind this censorship attack is not just against porn games. It's also attacked games like Detroit: Become Human. So they want to censor far more than just porn.

I didn't mention "porn", and there's a reason I included domestic violence simulations in list of specific things they're targeting; when phrased like that it sounds like a reasonable category to ban. I haven't played that specific game but it certainly sounds close enough that it could be caught even if not intended (and maybe it is intended - even if I trust what people say on the internet and the game is well-mean…

You might disagree with me and others here and even want censorship for games. But don't you think it's should be regulated by your local government for your specific country or by whatever regulator there is where you live?

Do you really think Visa and MasterCard should be making decisions what is acceptable for like everyone?

Otherwise any random weirdos from UK or Australia will censor what are you allowed to watch or play in the US.

And China can also put pretty good pressure on payment processors too. They'll certainly want many games gone since they are worse than pedos for CCP.

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

#326

Post by shevis »

flumpcakes wrote: post #319

They are targeting incest/rape games. I wouldn't call that 'LGBTQ' like some people seem to imply. If Itch and Steam don't want to police their store fronts _before_ the law gets involved, then I am not surprised that other businesses such as payment providers will choose not to work with them. Visa and MasterCard are in the business of making money, they're not doing this for fun.

The problem is that they are opting to ban all games labeled “NSFW”, not just rape/incest games.

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

#327

Post by gs17 »

pyuser583 wrote: post #318

I read from a fairly reputable source that money laundering is a huge problem in online sex industry. Which makes sense - you have buyers and sellers who insist on anonymity, services that leave no trace once rendered, buyers and sellers lying to family and friends about what they're doing, etc. There's often no "normal" amount of consumption, for example, some sellers receive million dollar tips. Money laundering is…

If it was about potential for money laundering, they'd have gone after the Steam item marketplace way before random adult games. Valve has had to take action against it in the past: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/valve-block-counter-strike-... , but AFAIK it's hard to actually solve.

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

#328

Post by dandellion »

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…

All this makes me think of war on drugs and other similar failed attempts at regulation, and of the article "the optimal amount of fraud is non-zero". The stronger the zeal to prevent porn the more expensive it gets to do so, and the more they cause legit companies like yours to close, the more profitable it gets to do it illegally. Just cranking on the symptoms without looking at the cause often has the opposite effect to the one desired, not that the people pushing for this probably care.

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

#329

Post by kreco »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #316
kreco wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not the correct way. If cigarette was banned from the beginning, we would still see people getting mad without much evidence. The truth is the evidence is coming half a century after when everyone got cancer. Precautionary principle should always prevail. That's why we just don't go full GMO, and you would still not wait for any proof that "it's harmless". You also don't use a random pesticide, unless you hav…

> the evidence is coming half a century after when everyone got cancer Yes. Then the evidence was suppressed for decades more. We have no analogy here. > Precautionary principle should always prevail Why? Why assume the status quo is perfect? Also, what part of pornography isn't embedded into the human status quo ? > don't use a random pesticide, unless you have a full proof that's it's harmless There is no such thin…

> Why? Why assume the status quo is perfect? Also, what part of pornography isn't embedded into the human status quo?

No one said that. But you should fool yourself saying that absence of evidence is evidence of absence.

Here is your own quote:

> I have seen zero evidence that any of these games are harmful.

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

#330

Post by rustystump »

I have always found it odd that whenever pornography comes up the degree to which people defend it in all forms. It is uncomfortably telling but also completely misses why this is happening.

Itch.io is heavily saturated with anime porn games along with steam to the point I find both difficult to navigate even with nsfw filters turned on. Turning those filters off and it is pretty egregious the volume of it all let alone subject matter. I dont care about porn but the platforms have done a piss poor job for the majority of people who are not looking for porn games but find games like cyberpunk totally acceptable. How can i see cyberpunk but not hentai?

This is happening because it was too easy for someone to pull up the home page on said platforms and point to several incest porn games. Using payment processors is not a solution i favor but people cannot find that experience acceptable.

On a personal note, i dont want to live in a society that deems it acceptable to have a “no incest” filter for games. That is line for me and not for religion but because I find incest disgusting.

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