Itch.io is shadowbanning or deleting NSFW and LGBTQ content

[trappedslider]

Yeah sure.

i'm not sure if your being sarcastic or you're actually okay with games like that

But I'm talking about the payment processor here, not itch.io itself.

Visa mastercard are not actually selling anything. They're a middleman.

In this case the middleman have chosen to say we don't want to lose your business but we also don't want to be associated with business that let content that promotes socially unacceptable content.

Unless you think the ACTUAL target (games like No Mercy) is socially acceptable?

 

[billd91]

They should be forced to accept that risk.

Payment processors should not enforce morals.

At the very least, if they have the power to deny processing payments, it really be for actually illegal material or activities appropriately vetted, not merely claimed as objectionable by some groups or special interests. There may be some challenges in doing that for commerce that crosses legal boundaries where illegal materials may be different, but that should be on the vendor's back to manage and not the payment processor.

 

[Faolyn]

I don't think that's half as true as you seem to be claiming it is. I think it's more likely they were simply unaware or didn't believe change was possible. My experience is that people are not generally just ignoring these issues, but that they're sufficiently obscure that they're not aware of them. Not helping matters is the press, particularly, and I hate to use this term, but it is relevant, the "mainstream media", who fairly consistently misrepresent this sort of thing as being "just getting rid of stuff that was illegal anyway", if they report on it at all, and most often they just bury it.

I think being unaware is probably more common than buying into mainstream media lies. Like, I'm not big into anime, and what I do watch, I watch through a service like Netflix, not whatever site might have hentai on it. The closest I get to being tuned into the "anime-sphere" is that I subscribe to r/junjiito over on reddit. If the news decided to speak out against hentai, I wouldn't hear it because it's not stuff I'm looking for. I definitely wouldn't know if a ban or delisting was done quietly. I imagine most casual anime watchers are similar.

 

[Staffan]

So you're okay with games like No Mercy? (which is the one that started the ball rolling)The game allowed players to take on the role of a male protagonist who was encouraged to “become every woman’s worst nightmare,” with content that included themes of sexual violence, domination, and incest roleplay.

Yes. It might not be to my tastes, but playing a villain in a game is not the same as performing or condoning villainous acts IRL. Or should we condemn and prosecute Ian McKellen for his attempts at genocide when playing Magneto? Or Ben Kingsley for his sadistic murders in Se7en?

 

[Muh]

i'm not sure if your being sarcastic or you're actually okay with games like that

In this case the middleman have chosen to say we don't want to lose your business but we also don't want to be associated with business that let content that promotes socially unacceptable content.

Unless you think the ACTUAL target (games like No Mercy) is socially acceptable?

• People should be free to make that type of game. I'm not interested in playing it. It's not a game for me.
• People should be free to refuse to sell it.

My chief concern is when a third party middleman who does not produce anything, but merely facilitates transactions, gets involved in those transactions beyond merely making them happen. Because payment processor are enormous corporations, this gives them undue influence over society.

 

[Faolyn]

i'm not sure if your being sarcastic or you're actually okay with games like that

In this case the middleman have chosen to say we don't want to lose your business but we also don't want to be associated with business that let content that promotes socially unacceptable content.

Unless you think the ACTUAL target (games like No Mercy) is socially acceptable?

Butting in.

Do I think the concept of No Mercy is acceptable? A thousand times no. Is it something I want to exist? Also no. I find the description of it alone to be disgusting.

But at the same time, I'm pretty sure studies keep showing that video games don't increase violent tendencies. So would a game like No Mercy increase player's likelihood of committing rape, or interest in it? However, I haven't read any studies that indicate whether a person with violent tendencies is calmed down by playing violent games or not (e.g., do the games let them get it out of their system?) and I haven't read any studies about if violent porn does anything to its viewers. I'm sure they exist; I just haven't read them.

And also at the same time, places like Steam and Itch shouldn't have to host games they don't want to host. But credit card companies shouldn't try to enforce morals on either individuals or corporations.

So... it's complicated.

 

[Jadeite]

@Ruin Explorer
As far as I know, at first it mostly affected stuff like loli and rape. So it's less "I didn't speak out" and more "I said good riddance because stuff like that shouldn't be allowed to exist." Stuff that disgusting IS very hard to defend, especially loli which is treated as child pornography in some countries (like my own). I didn't campaign against it despite being somewhat aware of it and I suspect most people would do the same. And many would be happy if racist or sexist content got the same treatment.
The problem isn't that some reactionary women from Australia are using it as a tool to further their agenda, but that this tool exists in the first place.

 

[trappedslider]

• People should be free to make that type of game. I'm not interested in playing it. It's not a game for me.
• People should be free to refuse to sell it.

My chief concern is when a third party middleman who does not produce anything, but merely facilitates transactions, gets involved in those transactions beyond merely making them happen. Because payment processor are enormous corporations, this gives them undue influence over society.

well when the middleman can be held liable in any type of law suit, they tend to be risk adverse.

 

[Jd Smith1]

• People should be free to make that type of game. I'm not interested in playing it. It's not a game for me.
• People should be free to refuse to sell it.

My chief concern is when a third party middleman who does not produce anything, but merely facilitates transactions, gets involved in those transactions beyond merely making them happen. Because payment processor are enormous corporations, this gives them undue influence over society.

Major corporations, by their very nature, have an major impact on society. That has always been true. Its not going to change.

 

[trappedslider]

I'll note that it wasn't till the middleman told pornhub either put in place safeguards and take down stuff or we cut off that change happen.

I'll also note the same with civitai, which until once again the middleman spoke up also held material in this case generators for making questionable content, along with just general NSFW content.