Gamers Bombard Visa & MasterCard With Emails and Calls Over Steam and itch.io Censorship
-
Time to cancel some cards
-
If these games are so important the devs can release them free somewhere else. Steam and itch aren't the only place to find games, and sounds like there's room for a new market just for these games if they are as popular as it seems.
Porn games were not the only games delisted. Many non-porn non-sex games were removed. Including LGBTQ+ games, and even award winning AAA games. There's no rational argument but only moral outrage and FUD. This was not a financially motivated decision, capitalism cannot solve the problems it created. You can't use commercial alternatives to dispel the damage done by this decision and again, this is not about the porn. To assume it is just about the porn is to fall for the distraction tactic. For example, the point of screaming “save the children … ~by~ ~murdering~ ~all~ ~trans~ ~people~” is in hopes that you will get distracted enough by the first part that you'll turn a blind eye to the second one. To excite your amygdala with enough outrage and adrenaline that your pre-frontal cortex can't perceive that the intentions and the actions don't follow logically from each other. You are being manipulated.
-
Couldn't you just buy it on GOG or something? Steam sucks anyway why expend the effort
They will go to gog next, genius, they also sell adult games since last year.
-
I think the people using the biggest whataboutism argument I've ever seen are the ones acting like middle schoolers, but that's just me.
Feel free to make a new post listing senators' contact information, walking people through calling their senators about those issues, and giving them a rough script or an idea of what to say. That would be a hell of a lot more productive than all the whining and complaining y'all are doing in this post.
They won't, since they only want to nag and feel superior for caring "real issues".
All consumer rights aren't real issues but we still have them, SKG just wants the law to act on the companies clearly breaking it.
-
It’s impressive how much people get riled up about not getting porn.
I don’t blame them but I also don’t see this as activism, I doubt anyone really spending the time on this cares about possible future censorship that others who are not them may face, they just want to buy their porn.How about reading a bit instead of thinking you have it all figured out?
-
How about Detroit: Become Human? Because they removed that as well.
I'm against the censorship, to be clear, but a David Cage game might not be the best example to use in the future lol
-
There's a solid argument that most of the porn games are some form of sexual abuse. You could argue that adults should be allowed to commit fake sexual abuse but its still likely not a positive for those who consume it.
Its interesting noone here has argued for porn games, just against censorship.
Right. Most of us don't care about the porn, which is why we're not arguing for it. Most of us just don't like credit card companies being allowed to dictate what we do and don't buy.
Plus, I'm guessing anybody with an incest fetish probably understands that isn't something to go shouting to the world if they want their position to be taken seriously.
-
Please enlighten me.
When you buy a game, doesn't matter the platform, you pay for it with a credit card. The credit card companies are holding the game platform hostage, saying either they start censoring what games they sell or they lose the ability to process any credit cards for any games at all.
That is essentially holding a gun to their heads, if they can't process credit cards they can't bring in any money and they might as well just close shop and go home because their business is finished.
You can boycott steam or itch or whatever else, but they all use the same credit card processing systems- Visa, MasterCard, Discover, etc. if they start applying these policies to all game retailers, it will simply become impossible to buy any vaguely pornographic game. Period. Anywhere.Thus, boycotting steam or itch is counterproductive. They are victims just as much as the consumers. They have no desire to ban these games, they were happily selling these games a week ago. But when they are being told 'ban a bunch of low volume games or you cease to exist as a company' that is what they do.
Thus, this phone call campaign. It is focusing on the credit card companies, the ones who are actually applying this pressure to game companies.
It is telling them we do not want them dictating what people are and are not allowed to spend money on. We do not want them to enforce morality. And if they got the impression we did, it's because a small minority made a couple of phone calls.
The idea is if 1,000 people call in and complain about the porn game, and 100,000 people call in and complain about the censorship, hopefully they will get the message.
-
I support this but I find it fascinating the steam this can build and quick activism with guides and yet I never see any of this stuff when it comes to political policies
-
Right. Most of us don't care about the porn, which is why we're not arguing for it. Most of us just don't like credit card companies being allowed to dictate what we do and don't buy.
Plus, I'm guessing anybody with an incest fetish probably understands that isn't something to go shouting to the world if they want their position to be taken seriously.
Makes it a bit harder to tell what someone's intentions are though doesnt it? I dont think this problem will be solved by a petition anyways, itch.io is already working on a solution and steam likely will as well but be less vocal about it and the progress they are making.
-
I think the people using the biggest whataboutism argument I've ever seen are the ones acting like middle schoolers, but that's just me.
Feel free to make a new post listing senators' contact information, walking people through calling their senators about those issues, and giving them a rough script or an idea of what to say. That would be a hell of a lot more productive than all the whining and complaining y'all are doing in this post.
Its adorable you think those are effective tactics.
-
You are right, let's all do absolutely nothing when corporations inch themselves into controlling every aspect of our lives.
They came for our porn!!!!!
-
I support this but I find it fascinating the steam this can build and quick activism with guides and yet I never see any of this stuff when it comes to political policies
Threats to the bottom line is the thing that motivates companies faster than anything else.
-
They came for our porn!!!!!
Do you support incest and rape video games being globally banned from sale? I mean, I can kind of get it, its fucked up porn.
But I don't like the idea of fictional smut, even if of particularly morally questionable type of porn, gets globally banned (as long as its just fictional obviously).
What people jork their peanits/flick their bean to as long as no one was actually harmed in its production is none of my or your business.
Obviously, there is also the chilling effect of letting this censorship slide and the anti-democratic nature of payment processors being the ones enforcing this. But I suspect those are unconvincing to you and you are happy this stuff is harder to get now. Am I wrong?
-
Still, that gives them the discretion to turn you down.
No shit.. you think it'd be fair to devs and creators if you could just buy the game, play it for 15 hours and then get a refund every time?
-
Maybe you should call and stop pay with their services
And what do you recommend paying with instead?
-
SKG is privileged western bullshit. It is a way to distract from real issues while feeling like you had an impact on something.
I just happen to have the foresight to know that 20 years from now it will sound stupid to brag that I helped change some obscure game development process for a tiny bit more convenience.
This is all absurd and a waste of time, but whatever makes people feel useful I guess.
What is wrong with that? It's not like actual democracies are a thing. The elites somewhat allow us to decide on "Western bullshit" topics such as killing games, gendered bathrooms, national dishes, and other issues that don't affect their bottom lines. They don't allow us to influence geopolitics. Sure you can yell about freeing Congo, and it should be.. but ehh, if some people care about stop killing games then whatever. Anything positive is something - and I don't even really play video games or care about this thing.
-
Comparing blocking payment to wikileaks and blocking payment for porn video games is absurd. Is nuance dead?
It's the slowly boiling water, mate. You think governments give a fuck whether some neckbeards play incest video games in their mum's basement? It's about power and expanding the reach of what they can monitor and control. One day it's porn games the next day it's books. It's a tiny step towards a more and more authoritarian world.
-
I'm against the censorship, to be clear, but a David Cage game might not be the best example to use in the future lol
Why? Because you don't like them?
It's a perfect example, because there's nothing even close to pornographic in that game. The only possible reason would be because there's a lesbian android couple that runs off together (if you let them).
-
Do you support incest and rape video games being globally banned from sale? I mean, I can kind of get it, its fucked up porn.
But I don't like the idea of fictional smut, even if of particularly morally questionable type of porn, gets globally banned (as long as its just fictional obviously).
What people jork their peanits/flick their bean to as long as no one was actually harmed in its production is none of my or your business.
Obviously, there is also the chilling effect of letting this censorship slide and the anti-democratic nature of payment processors being the ones enforcing this. But I suspect those are unconvincing to you and you are happy this stuff is harder to get now. Am I wrong?
That's their excuse but they are banning all adult games not just the incest and rape ones.
-
Study Reveals How Mobile Apps Track Users Through WiFi and Bluetooth: 86% of these apps collect at least one type of sensitive data, such as GPS location or unique device identifiers
Technology1
-
eSIM Vulnerability in Kigen's eUICC Cards Exposes Billions of IoT Devices to Malicious Attacks
Technology1
-
-
-
-
-
-