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Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

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Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#921

Post by Ferret7446 »

munksbeer wrote: post #904
mritterhoff wrote: post #678

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect my index funds to be worth more tomorrow than today (on average), but still manage to pay for things with USD. If buying, selling and transacting fees are low enough, I don't see why bitcoin's (to pick one) value changes would matter much.

Well that's the point isn't it? You don't buy an index fund in order to transact in it. On-ramp has costs, then transaction has costs. And in my country at least, selling crypto (which is what you're doing when you buy something with it) is a taxable transaction. So now I have to keep all my transactions and report them to HMRC each year if I do that. It's not going to happen. If people wanted to transact in crypto,…

Well, people do transact in crypto, especially in sectors that face censorship from payment processors, like the currently mentioned Japanese porn games.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#922

Post by msgodel »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #921
munksbeer wrote: post #904

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that's the point isn't it? You don't buy an index fund in order to transact in it. On-ramp has costs, then transaction has costs. And in my country at least, selling crypto (which is what you're doing when you buy something with it) is a taxable transaction. So now I have to keep all my transactions and report them to HMRC each year if I do that. It's not going to happen. If people wanted to transact in crypto,…

Well, people do transact in crypto, especially in sectors that face censorship from payment processors, like the currently mentioned Japanese porn games.

I pay my VOIP bill in crypto. It's just easier and I usually pay a year or two at a time.

I've had to pay my DNS registration in crypto from time to time too. I don't know why but sometimes the anti-fraud AI at the bank gets triggered by my DNS provider and that's literally the only method I have for paying them.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#923

Post by Ferret7446 »

amelius wrote: post #657
kergonath wrote: post #546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I buy an iPhone I am dealing with Apple. I know what I am buying and what I can or cannot do with the device. And if I am not happy there are alternatives. When I buy stuff on Steam I am in no way making a contract with Visa. When Visa strong arms Valve to delist games I lose even if I never had any relation with Visa ever. It really is not comparable.

Following your argument ... then don't choose Steam, there are plenty of alternatives! /s https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Traitor...

There aren't, because all of them have no choice but to use Visa, Mastercard, etc. The monopoly isn't Steam, it's Visa et al.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#924

Post by Ferret7446 »

Aurornis wrote: post #171
throwaway071625 wrote: post #58

The article calls out “certain adult games” which is vague. It is interesting to note that most of the delisted games were themed specifically around incest. https://bsky.app/profile/steamdb.info/post/3lu32vdlsmg27 Wondering if this will be a slippery slope towards pulling more anodyne stuff.

> The article calls out “certain adult games” which is vague. A Quick Look at the list has me wishing I hadn’t thought to look at the list. I suspect the vague “certain adult games” was chosen because it makes it sound more controversial. If the headline was “Valve removed incest-themed games under pressure” there would be a lesser reaction.

Why? Incest is more objectionable than murder or rape?

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#925

Post by AdieuToLogic »

manwe150 wrote: post #624
AdieuToLogic wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I thought Venmo was trying the most with their card offers, as well as PayPal, Cash, Google Pay and several others too I know at least two of the above used to use a specific US bank for the credit card transactions backing their payment services. For others, if service usage requires a verified credit card or debit card backed by a credit card network, they too use a processor owned/operated by a bank, bank subsid…

That seems an overly fine line to draw, when a check is basically just a plain piece of paper with your ACH number printed on it, and anyone with your ACH number can go get checks printed. A credit card is also bidirectional, so the question was just if alternatives exist to VISA processing, not if you necessarily would use them. I meant to mention Zelle and Plaid too, since they integrate with many (most?) banks alr…

> A credit card is also bidirectional ...

From a card holder's perspective regarding a transaction being voided or refunded, sure. What I was talking about are services where the account holder can equally perform purchases as well as receive payments.

> I meant to mention Zelle and Plaid too, since they integrate with many (most?) banks already to allow transfers via your online account login authentication credentials instead of traditional ACH

For the purposes of bidirectional fund transfers, the mechanism for how it is implemented is moot. The net effect and account access (intimacy) is functionally the same.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#926

Post by saurik »

munksbeer wrote: post #622
bornfreddy wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Say what you want about crypto, but it does solve this problem at least.

Yes, stable-coins do. But if you have a crypto where the entire point seems to be "it should be worth more tomorrow than today", then it is stupid to use it to transact in rather than to hoard. On the other hand, stable-coins suffer the same problems as visa. They're centralised, and subject to zealous regulations.

If there merely exists anything which is more valuable tomorrow than today, it is also equally "stupid" to have cash instead of whatever that thing is... and like, that isn't even theoretical: you are generally encouraged to hold more random assets than cash (if you are allowed to and if you can handle the volatility, of course).

The reality is that, even if the stocks you own are going to the moon, if you need food or want a television, it isn't at all "stupid" to sell some of your hoard to buy stuff.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#927

Post by monkeyelite »

casey2 wrote: post #918
monkeyelite wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Games/hentai about these topics are not illegal, even if they are in bad taste. And I’m willing to bet some content removed does not fall in these categories

In the US they are criminally illegal https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1466A

You crossed two categories together, and made a new category I didn’t say: “Depictions of sexual assault of children”

Are you claiming that the content removed was encroaching on this law?

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#928

Post by x-complexity »

munksbeer wrote: post #622
bornfreddy wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Say what you want about crypto, but it does solve this problem at least.

Yes, stable-coins do. But if you have a crypto where the entire point seems to be "it should be worth more tomorrow than today", then it is stupid to use it to transact in rather than to hoard. On the other hand, stable-coins suffer the same problems as visa. They're centralised, and subject to zealous regulations.

> On the other hand, stable-coins suffer the same problems as visa. They're centralised, and subject to zealous regulations.

Not all stablecoins are the same. There exists 2 main categories: Fiat-backed (as initially described), & collateral-backed.

(There also exists hybrid versions, but they're a combination of the 2, and as such will be covered by just mashing the 2 categories together.)

Fiat-backed stablecoins (USDC, USDT) are centralized: Their connection to external cash/bonds requires them to have an accountable name to be attached to.

Collateral-backed stablecoins (GHO, DAI/USDS) don't have to be centralized. A primitive form of this is a stablecoin (S) that can take in any other token as collateral and return $X amount of S stablecoins, up to a limit of (total_token_value * collateral_limit). However, it is known that this structure is inefficient capital-wise, when compared to fiat-backed stablecoins.

Re: Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games

#929

Post by gsf_emergency_2 »

ijk wrote: post #881
ijk wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One factor is the ongoing campaigns from number of moral crusading groups who lobby them to cut off payment processing for things they don't approve of. NCOSE has been working for decades on the project, and targeting credit card companies has been a successful tactic for them for a decade or so. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/12/visa-and-mastercard-ar... [2] https://www.newsweek.com/why-visa-mastercard-being…

For Steam, it looks like Collective Shout, NCOSE, and Exodus Cry are behind this particular push. [1] [1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/group-behind-steam-censorshi...

https://web.archive.org/web/20250719204151/https://www.vice....

Interesting that it's 404? Fact check? Retract? Lawsuit?

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