Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

pcgamer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

341–350 of 621 posts

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#341

Post by creer »

reginald78 wrote: post #93
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?

IIRC the rule Mastercard cited was so vague that trying to workaround it almost seemed potentially pointless. It was basically a blanket "we think it makes MasterCard look bad so we end our relationship". Anyway, debit cards are still Visa/mastercard so using them as cash has the same problem. I was thinking they could just use Steam gift cards but since those are often themselves purchased in stores or with credit c…

That bitcoin decision was a long time ago. Long enough that it can be reversed. Other sites take bitcoin and manage it.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#342

Post by creer »

ascagnel_ wrote: post #95
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?

Debit cards still go through MasterCard and/or Visa. They could take crypto, but crypto is far too volatile for the types of transactions Valve wants to be handling.

Besides being able to change prices (whether USD or bitcoin) in real time, Valve is also selling bits and global data center activity. Their prices are very disconnected from other prices to begin with. Not like if they were selling tomatoes at cost plus living wages. Plus or minus 10% from one day to the next is not necessarily relevant on a sale to sale basis.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#343

Post by cubefox »

unsigner wrote: post #85
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?

how do you "take cash" over the Internet?

The closest thing is via an instant bank transfer, like the new FedNow protocol in the US.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#344

Post by filleduchaos »

bityard wrote: post #245
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.

> Besides, it's not like you can boycott Mastercard or VISA. Why not? Lots of people, especially in lower income brackets, don't have ANY credit cards at all. I know many. They buy groceries and gas with cash and pay their utilities by ACH or mailing a check. Everything else they need, they buy locally. What you mean to say is that it's _inconvenient_ for you personally to boycott Visa/Mastercard. Which may be true e…

Well, we are discussing an online storefront/distribution service for a digital good (with obvious relevance to people here). Are you suggesting that it's merely inconvenient for Valve and its customers to not transact in cash?

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#345

Post by jug »

> Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down, but Valve says payment processors 'specifically cited' a Mastercard rule about damaging the brand

Who in heaven’s name associates a credit card company with the image/ethics of the transactions it’s processing as long as the businesses are legal??

What I think of when I hear Mastercard? A plastic card with numbers on it, connected to my bank account and offering me some added protections/insurance.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#347

Post by tchbnl »

egypturnash wrote: post #250
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the mint should maintain a payment processor, and the post office should maintain an official email address for everyone. these are basic things we need to exist in society, we should not be at the whims of private organizations.

Is a payment processor operated by the Federal Reserve good enough? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedNow Well, it probably would be, except guess who killed it in favor of a crypto scheme? https://www.jitumaster.com/2025/06/us-president-signs-execut... I agree about the PO though. Social media shouldn't be a for-profit enterprise either.

I can find nothing about FedNow being replaced or even changed recently. Your source is the only one about this, and it's some no-name crypto junk site nobody's ever heard of.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#348

Post by shagie »

Maken wrote: post #308
nemomarx wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as it goes, collective shout claimed Valve didn't respond to them and that's why they complained to MC visa about it. They even mention how many calls they made to them to get the complaint heard. So everyone would have to be pretty invested in this show for it to have originated from Valve?

Which means Collective Shout didn't have any legal weight behind their demands.

They're based out of Australia and so have the Australian porn laws behind them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_Australia#Illeg...

> Some types of pornography (both real and fictitious) are technically illegal in Australia and if classified would be rated RC and therefore banned in Australia. This includes any pornography depicting violent BDSM, incest, paedophilia, zoophilia, certain extreme fetishes (such as golden showers) and/or indicators of youth (such as wearing a school uniform).

https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/pornography-la...

https://www.kptlegal.com.au/resources/knowledge/pornography-...

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#349

Post by littlecranky67 »

projektfu wrote: post #236
littlecranky67 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this is not the first time this happens. The exact same thing happened to PornHub - their premium subscription model got cancelled due to Visa/MC not liking some "questionable" content. Even though PH purged 60% of its content (basically every video uploaded from an unverified account), they are to this day still not accepting CC - probably as they are still banned. Instead they accept Crypto and SEPA payments in…

It's a strong case for, perhaps, Algorand[1], but Bitcoin can no longer play this role properly. Transactions are too difficult and slow and the network is too expensive. And Lightning is not a real solution. 1. Specifically a stablecoin running on the network

Why is Lightning not a solution, care to elaborate?

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#350

Post by littlecranky67 »

projektfu wrote: post #236
littlecranky67 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this is not the first time this happens. The exact same thing happened to PornHub - their premium subscription model got cancelled due to Visa/MC not liking some "questionable" content. Even though PH purged 60% of its content (basically every video uploaded from an unverified account), they are to this day still not accepting CC - probably as they are still banned. Instead they accept Crypto and SEPA payments in…

It's a strong case for, perhaps, Algorand[1], but Bitcoin can no longer play this role properly. Transactions are too difficult and slow and the network is too expensive. And Lightning is not a real solution. 1. Specifically a stablecoin running on the network

Stablecoins are not decentral and would suffer the exact same censorability as Visa/MC. That does not improve the situation.
Post reply on HN