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Comment on "We approached payment processors because Steam did not respond" - Australian pressure group Collective Shout claims responsibility for Steam and Itch.io NSFW game removal

Vytle@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

Yo I’m NGL I’m usually really passionate when I feel my rights are infringed but I do not feel like my rights are being infringed. This isn’t the same thing as requiring ID to view NSFW content; this issue is not a legal one; and It’s not even like porn is js inacessible now, most of it is found on Patreon, which is both unaffected and literally accepts cryptocurrency. I will admit im suprised to see itch.io take action cos it has a reputation as a porn service, but who tf consumes porn on steam? I do not believe “what they define as NSFW will expand!” Or “next, games featuring a gay character will be banned!”, either. You are fucking bugging if you think Valve would let that happen. All they would need to do is lean heavier into steam giftcards, potentially selling them digitally, and start accepting crypto 'till the processors wanna play ball.

I don’t understand why people are bitching that the companies that they choose to use have so much power over their purchasing decisions. “First this, next sex toys! Then contraceptives!” Like Jesus fuck bro have you not heard of cash?

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prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Detroit: Become Human is not a porn game.

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Senal@programming.dev ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

I do not believe “what they define as NSFW will expand!”

And that’s the core of your problem, puritan activists don’t generally have the capacity to think “actually, the thing i wanted other people to not be able to see is gone, i think I’ll leave it there” because the censorship isn’t the goal, the goal is control.

It’s even worse with organised puritans , because even if a few hang it up you’ll always find a few willing to just go a little further or have differing opinions on what is “acceptable”.

I would lay good money on this not actually being as far as they originally wanted, it was just what they could get for now.

I don’t understand why people are bitching that the companies that they choose to use have so much power over their purchasing decisions. “First this, next sex toys! Then contraceptives!” Like Jesus fuck bro have you not heard of cash?

Firstly, it’s the payment processors, you know the monopoly of companies that you need to take payments from regular people.

Secondly, payment processors can and will stop providing payment services for shops that carry physical goods they deem unacceptable.

(yes crypto exists, no it’s not equivalent yet) (yes steam cards exist, no it’s not equivalent and unless i’ve missed something itch.io doesn’t have an card system)

As far as cash goes, is there a new slot where you can put the cash monies directly in to the pc/console and it credits your account ?

Or do you mean, go to the store and buy a physical copy of the hundreds of thousands of games that don’t have physical editions ?

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- Vytle@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  First off, I appreciate the response.
  
  Yes, I understand that if these people could have it their way, any kind of mature content would be completely illegal. The reason I don’t feel strongly about this is strictly because this isn’t a legal threat, and I don’t think it has that capacity to become one. Lobbying is expensive, and I don’t believe that an Australian organization has the capacity to seriously affect global/western culture more than this. Quite frankly, its impressive they were able to pull this much off, and I fully expect ts to blow over in 3 years tops.
  
  Don’t get me wrong- its not that I don’t care about censorship, its that I don’t really view this as censorship because the consumption and purchasing of the “censored” product is still completely possible. Contrarily, if this were signed into law I would have a big fucking problem with it.
  
  With regards to the “companies they choose to use” point I made, I was in fact referring to payment processors, hence why I proposed crypto, cash and giftcards; as in purchasing a steam giftcard with cash from a store. Obviously I don’t expect people to not have credit cards, but the anonymity and security cash provides is almost never used because people find it less convenient.
  
  The reason I brought this up is because I have seen it proposed that this issue will expand beyond the scope of digital marketplaces, which I find downright laughable. People WILL stop using visa cards if you can’t use it to buy condoms and there’s an ATM in the gas station.
  
  I firmly believe that if this issue is pressed further, at the very least Valve will js stop accepting payment directly through payment processors.
  
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  - Senal@programming.dev ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Fair enough, came in a bit hot there, my bad.
    
    I’d argue that it not being a legal threat doesn’t matter too much in this case because they aren’t looking for legal control, so much as “effective” control.
    
    If they can stop you without needing for it to be signed in to law, then they’ll take that, if they can get a law as well, then I’m sure they’ll take that too.
    
    Don’t get me wrong- its not that I don’t care about censorship, its that I don’t really view this as censorship because the consumption and purchasing of the “censored” product is still completely possible. Contrarily, if this were signed into law I would have a big fucking problem with it.
    
    Censorship isn’t a binary, but we can agree to disagree on that one i suppose.
    
    To this part though
    
    purchasing of the “censored” product is still completely possible
    
    Not really, there are numerous titles available exclusively on itch.io and steam, those are effectively censored by your rationale as you can no longer purchase them at all.
    
    Honestly steam gift cards don’t work at all here because it’s not a ban on buying the games using a card, it’s a ban on steam listing the titles at all, on threat of losing the payment services.
    
    Crypto cash and gift-cards are great if you have effective access to them.
    
    Crypto is out for most people for obvious reasons (technical knowledge, dearth of places that actually accept crypto)
    
    Cash works until it doesn’t and governments and big tech are trying their hardest to make it as difficult as possible, there is a big push to go cashless.
    
    It’s not that people find cash less convenient because they are lazy (some are i suppose), it’s because it’s being purposely deprecated as much as possible, or just straight up doesn’t apply to the paradigm, such as online purchases.
    
    The reason I brought this up is because I have seen it proposed that this issue will expand beyond the scope of digital marketplaces, which I find downright laughable.
    
    As i said, this already happens, it’s weird in how it’s applied tbh, but that’s neither here nor there.
    
    www.adyen.com/legal/list-restricted-prohibited
    
    Mastercard just says : “brand-damaging Transactions” and doesn’t elaborate, at a quick glance.
    
    A good example of this is casino’s and other gambling related physical locations, there are a lot of hoops to jump through to get a payment processor to work with gambling, assuming they even give you the time of day.
    
    People WILL stop using visa cards if you can’t use it to buy condoms and there’s an ATM in the gas station.
    
    Sure for that specific thing, hard to pay cash at amazon or other online only retailers.
    
    I firmly believe that if this issue is pressed further, at the very least Valve will js stop accepting payment directly through payment processors.
    
    That i’d be interested to see tbh, because as i said there isn’t an equally available alternative to card payment processors (and it’s not even close).
    
    If they did go crypto only for instance, there’d be a big move to crypto for some, but that’d be a significant loss to take on principle alone.
    
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SonOfAntenora@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

No one will lament the removal of No Mercy from sale on Steam, but whenever a net like this is thrown over an entire area of perceived problematic content, there will be well-intentioned games caught in the net too. Specifically, LGBTQ+ games are under threat - games that don’t align with the Christian values underpinning the pressure group Collective Shout.

In the article that you claimed to read…

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callouscomic@lemmy.zip ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
When was the last time you bought a Steam game with cash?

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- Nath@aussie.zone ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Your point is sound because I usually use a credit card for this, but most of my Steam purchases come from buying gift cards. However, I could easily buy those gift cards with cash.
  
  Your comment implies this is not possible/common.
  
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Exatron@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

I don’t understand why people are bitching that the companies that they choose to use have so much power over their purchasing decisions. “First this, next sex toys! Then contraceptives!” Like Jesus fuck bro have you not heard of cash?

Because that’s what groups like Collective Shout do, sparky. They think just acknowledging that LGBT people exist is “too adult”.

When was the last time you paid cash for a Steam game?

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