Forum - View topicNEWS: Developers: Steam Will Review Games' Content Before Action is Taken
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WANNFH
 Posts: 1697 |
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That is pretty shady, for my opinion - because this games already gone through proper review by content descriptor organizations like ESRB/PEGI before their sale on Steam. So why they are need to go under review twice, if the laws about censorship isn't changed in the first place?
For all sake, that situation need to be really cleared for future game developers, because all of this bullshit with some other dubious organization, seeking to impose its opinion on players, developers and publishers, frankly acting on the nerves. Last edited by WANNFH on Mon May 21, 2018 4:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Arale Kurashiki
Posts: 751 |
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^: That's not true at all, you don't need ESRB (or any other) certification to be on Steam (and moreover, ratings boards don't ask for any content changes, only give you an evaluation). "Laws" and "censorship" don't figure into the ESRB whatsoever, and the ESRB and Steam's content policies have absolutely nothing to do with the law. Some countries (such as Australia) do restrict imported media based on a rating system but that's another story.
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Jonny Mendes
 Posts: 997 Location: Europe |
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Mangagamer and other game developers have to think if is not better to create their on Digital distribution company in another country outside of a US company. There are many countries that don't have the problem that US is facing nowadays in terms of anti-everything censor pressure.
Is proved again and again that US companies can't be trusted in terms of censorship because they are very influenced by crazy anti-everything pressure groups. Just like what happened with Formula 1 grid girls that were removed from the events because the American company that controls the events budge to pressure from some very vocal groups. Last edited by Jonny Mendes on Mon May 21, 2018 5:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Yune Amagiri
 Posts: 932 Location: France |
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"Sigh" It is hopeless and more and more pitiful.
Seeing how things are going on, i really pity the future developers. we really are in urgent need of more publishing platforms to distribute such content, and not some hypocritical platforms which are scared by any stupid extremist group. Visual novel are still rather fresh in the west we don't need some problem at this stage Last edited by Yune Amagiri on Mon May 21, 2018 5:00 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Arale Kurashiki
Posts: 751 |
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This is also a very misinformed post but for reasons that are not so easy to summarize, other than "the real world does not work this way". To be sure, the US does have a big problem regarding the devaluation of sexuality, but it's ... not really relevant to niche pop culture stuff at all. That's a very different conversation to have, and nebulous "complainer" groups are not responsible for it (if they held large enough influence to be responsible, they wouldn't be that kind of group, you see?) "What is the conversation here, then?" It's not clear; I can't chalk this up to a simple algorithm over-reliance, although I guess that's possible. But "do this; nevermind don't do that" seems like it was some misunderstanding or mistake internally with Valve, who are rather unpredictable (and not in a positive way, as we've noticed). Btw, I don't know if this point was made in the previous thread or not, but it's important to note that this was not an initiative to remove sexual content from Steam, given how AAA top-seller Western video games have some really hardcore sex in them and they weren't targeted, only niche Japanese/Japanese-inspired titles. Remember: corporations don't actually have opinions, just a drive to profit. |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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Think the issue is Vale's flagging system being like Youtube's in that once flagged, your game is going to be taken off unless you successfully appeal, rather than kept on until your appeal fails; while ambiguous guidelines & rules serve to cover their asses rather than actually help creators know what is & isn't acceptable. It's a system ripe for abuse by trolls or vulnerable to one employee having a bad day - & for smaller devs/publishers the only real option seems to be to hope you can get enough publicity that someone higher up the corporate ladder gets involved.
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Lobokendo
 Posts: 135 Location: Somewhere |
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As an upcoming VN dev, this kind of thing can be very scary. Not only the idea of your game suddenly getting removed after being approved but the idea that you might need to compromise your vision for the game based off rigid censorship. I'm really hoping this is just a case of a disgruntled employee with weird VN hate than a prequel to harsher enforced censorship.
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Mune
Posts: 376 Location: Minnesota |
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The National Center of Sexual Exploitation (NCOS) is claiming responsibility for this. It can be found at https://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/victory-steam-remove-sexually-explicit-violent-videogames-platform/, where they claim an agressive 2 year campaign for this. Worst part is that they are aiming at 11 other platforms/services. You can view who else is on their list at https://endsexualexploitation.org/dirtydozen-2018/
Some people are claiming double standards on this, as they feel like bigger studios have not been issued the same ultimatum. In either case, I hope STEAM decides to clarify what exactly is going on. |
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Parse Error
 Posts: 592 |
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I'm pretty sure they just like to swoop in and take credit any time something happens that sort of aligns with their agenda. Odds are it was just some internal hiccup where one or more employees exercised poor judgement, whether for their own reasons or in response to legal concerns or pressure from PayPal. |
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CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
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The only games that might have to change anything are the ones with 0KB adult patches (meaning the porn is still in the Steam version itself). I think HuniePop and Mutiny!! fall into this category.
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Ashabel
 Posts: 350 |
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Definitely not Mutiny!!. The 18+ patch for that rewrites a decent chunk of the game folder, and the saves for the regular and 18+ versions are incompatible because the save for one would end up referring to files that don't exist in the other. |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5527 |
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they really shouldn't have to be re-reviewed. These games were already approved, many of them years ago. Valve claims their policies have not changed, so no extra review should be done. They should just be allowed. Honestly, ACTUAL porn games should be allowed on Steam all together. They just should not show up on suggested lists and advertised sales. They should only show up when manually searched for. And they should also require age verification every time you buy one. It's very simple. Porn games on Steam should be treated like porn movies in video rental stores - hidden in the back room but not banned outright. It's real sad that in our society, games about killing countless waves of human are somehow more "ok" than games about building relationships and having consensual sex.
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encrypted12345
Posts: 718 |
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I agree with this. I personally think legality might be holding Steam back from doing this, though maybe they want to keep up a PR image as being "family friendly". I also think that the age verification should be simple and not as complicated as scanning an id and sending it. The hassle of all that aside, it's a severe security risk. |
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2204 |
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Overall, this seems like another of Valve's gigantic, structural screwups more than anything. Had they actually done their job they would have realized that these games broke no rules and that one of the groups claiming responsibility has a dubious track record.
And because of this bungling, they've jumpstarted publishers deciding to find other distributors. VN publishers like MangaGamer just announced they're now selling their titles on GOG.com (on sale, even). https://kotaku.com/visual-novel-publisher-expands-to-gog-says-steam-is-th-1826223478 This needed to happen. Valve cannot be trusted to curate itself if crap like this happens. If they're not gonna step up, others will (and have, in this case). |
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TheAnimeRevolutionizer
 Posts: 329 |
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As I've said before, good #$%$in' riddance. I'm happy this is a PR nightmare for them, just as much as Valve being revealed to be a lions share profits consuming drainage sewer. Power to you @lobokendo, godspeed and I wish your VN the best of luck. |
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