Steam rules updated to prohibit content that violates rules set forth by payment processors and banks

Peroroncino

Peroroncino

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Valve has updated its rules regarding content that developers aren't allowed to publish on Steam (as reported by Game*Spark). The "Rules and Guidelines" section of Steamworks Documentation now has an extra clause, and it suggests that publishers are required to comply with rules and standards set forth by various third parties involved in processing electronic payments. The rule seems to be predominantly related to adult content.

What you shouldn't publish on Steam:
15. Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam's payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content.
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On a related note, various video game and manga hosting platforms in Japan have in recent years run into trouble with payment processors and credit card networks. Due to certain content on the platforms going against the (often undisclosed) rules and standards of third parties handling payments, the platforms ended up without support for credit card payment. This has led to loss of revenue and even the closure of platforms like Manga Library Z. It is possible that Steam's new rule is a means to prevent such complications from arising, however, as the specific "rules and standards" of the payment processors are also unclear, publishers might need to be extra cautious with releasing their games on the platform.
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automaton-media.com

Steam rules updated to prohibit content that violates rules set forth by payment processors and banks - AUTOMATON WEST

Valve's rules regarding what developers "shouldn't publish on Steam" have a new clause regarding standards set forth by payment processors.
automaton-media.com automaton-media.com

Looks like Steam already got busy removing some games from purchase, list includes such classics as:

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So far only the more "edgy" porn games are on the chopping block, so SA/loli/incest etc.

Latest app changes - steam-tracker.com

steam-tracker.com steam-tracker.com

images


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I smell an increase of Landladies and roommates coming to steam. This is what the devs of adult games do to go around Patreon rules that is also against certain adult themes like incest.
But steam should be the one to be more clear about whats allowed and what isent. Leaving the credit card companies dictate what is allowed or not is not a good thing IMO.
 
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I demand that Steam cease this oppressive censorship immediately. Just because they're too lazy to implement their own global currency system, we're supposed to accept egregious censorship. Really? My AI waifu bot from X agrees.

Who's ready to boycott Steam? I mean first Ready or Not and now this?? What country even is this anymore?
 
My Steam settings are such that I didn't even know these things existed. Seems like an opportunity for someone to set up a gooner marketplace, assuming they could find someone to process payments for them.
 
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Enshittification does affect Steam too, sure it is loli porn or something now, but it is a bad precedent as it makes censorship more obfuscated and distributed making it even harder to do general business without self censoring yourself preemptively. People that think it affects only ports and bad stuff are delusional as they are not the ones defining what bad includes or means ;).
 
I don't get it. Murder (of baddies but innocents as well) is okay, even though the real thing is a death penalty offense in some states or at least serious jail time all over the world, while other obviously also quite extreme actions are not okay at all, because sex is involved, and that makes it somehow not even suitable for adults only?
Either we allow adults to have all sorts of filth as entertainment or "adult" ceases to mean anything. The quality of the affected stuff is probably trash, but the line for what is acceptable, defined by payment processors, is being pushed way passed what is still legal?
 
Yeah, it's a bunch of shitty, edgy porn games but I really don't like the idea of payment processors and banks policing what I'm allowed to spend my money on. If the "games" are a legal problem then they should be banned in the first place.
 
justiceiro said:
Considering Nintendo has also updated it's guidelines to what it allows on the eshop, sounds like it's a crackdown started by the payment companies.
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For the last few days some countries couldn't use PayPal to pay for their shit on steam - seems like this prompted Steam to act quickly.

I don't really mind this stuff being delisted, but let's not kid ourselves this may not turn out to be a slippery slope.
 
Panajev2001a said:
Enshittification does affect Steam too, sure it is loli porn or something now, but it is a bad precedent as it makes censorship more obfuscated and distributed making it even harder to do general business without self censoring yourself preemptively. People that think it affects only ports and bad stuff are delusional as they are not the ones defining what bad includes or means ;).
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Precisely. As usual, even people in here are missing the forest for the trees.

The topic here is that your credit card company can dictate what you are permitted to buy, which is egregious and dangerous.

First, means that the bank not only knows who you give money to, but also the details of the exact thing you're paying.

Second, that that are acting not only as payment processors but also as a moral police. A bank policing morals is hilarious.

Third, that every store will preemptively auto-censor itself to avoid headaches, and with this ad-driven industry that only means that you will be able to buy what is AD-approved.


This is egregious and incredibly dangerous, I'm not sure people are grasping the implications.
 
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grvg said:
First off: these games are all trash

Secondly, all payment processors should be thrown into a wood chipper.
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Yea I don't really care what happens to these games, but I HATE the fact that payment processors are now acting like moral compasses and directing what you can and can not purchase. They hold way too much power if they can willy nilly dictate what other people can buy (illegal stuff non-withstanding).

The irony here is that probably a good % of the board members of these payment processors are probably on the Epstein list.
 
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What the fuck are these "games".......some of these titles sound like FBI watchlist keywords.
 
Woah, now we are letting payment processors make the rules on what games can be purchased and sold on a platform? This seems like a slippery slope and a form of debanking if publishers do not kneel to the banking institutions.

Now it's certain adult content, soon it could be an equity system that has to be followed, like Blackrock and their multinational investment strategies.

Something to watch, I suppose. It won't stay where it is at, though. It never does.
 
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Tajaz2426 said:
Woah, now we are letting payment processors make the rules on what games can be purchased and sold on a platform? This seems like a slippery slope and a form of debanking if publishers do not kneel to the banking institutions.

Now it's certain adult content, soon it could be an equity system that has to be followed, like Blackrock and their multinational investment strategies.

Something to watch, I suppose. It won't stay where it is at, though. It never does.
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Credit Card/Payment Processors have hidden rules about what you can purchase with their services, same with internet providers who have certain rules about what content you can consume using their network.

With "Games" said game could circumvent those rules because it would show up as a game purchase in their processing.

Basically, steam is getting ahead of the drama that comes because when some dirty shit happens, the chain is always followed.
Your bank and/or Internet provider doesnt want to be implicated in some nefarious shit either which way.....the news will simply report "Tajaz bank/internet complicit in rape ring".....they dun want that smoke.

Steam is the same cuz all the providers are gonna do is say just stop processing Steam stuff.....yes it hurts everyone, but it would crush steam if big IP/CC companies decided its too risky to deal with Steam.

So Steam would rather curtail the shit thats borderline or over.





Anecdotally.
Dunno if it still happens but I remember Wallpaper Engine used to be used as a way to circumvent porn restrictions in certain countries.
I remember reading that and not understanding why.....till I did more travelling and realized certain countires effectively have a different versions of the internet.
 
Topher said:
What's the "gravity" here? And why so hostile?
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The matter is not "removing trash games" but having a finance company censoring content as if we were living in a global dictatorship. Sorry if I am hostile towards dictators and overlords and people who cheer on them only because "gotta protect my trillion dollar company" (which is also a victim in this case)
 
simpatico said:
I demand that Steam cease this oppressive censorship immediately. Just because they're too lazy to implement their own global currency system, we're supposed to accept egregious censorship. Really? My AI waifu bot from X agrees.

Who's ready to boycott Steam? I mean first Ready or Not and now this?? What country even is this anymore?
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Wait, right now Congress is about to pass bunch of bills legitimizing stablecoins and crypto as investment and currency vehicles.

It's time for GabeCoin!
 
Miles708 said:
Precisely. As usual, even people in here are missing the forest for the trees.

The topic here is that your credit card company can dictate what you are permitted to buy, which is egregious and dangerous.

First, means that the bank not only knows who you give money to, but also the details of the exact thing you're paying.

Second, that that are acting not only as payment processors but also as a moral police. A bank policing morals is hilarious.

Third, that every store will preemptively auto-censor itself to avoid headaches, and with this ad-driven industry that only means that you will be able to buy what is AD-approved.


This is egregious and incredibly dangerous, I'm not sure people are grasping the implications.
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Banks don't do this because they are necessarily emboldened to act as moral police, they do it as a safeguard to prevent reputational damage to their business. No company wants to be labelled in the news as "the payment processor of choice for rape and pedophile simulators."

Much of what banks do filters down the way from the general public perception of such things (and which in many countries is even legally prohibited - remember that these payment processors operate worldwide). I think people have this idea that it's the banks who are eager to enforce the agenda, when a lot of what they do is actually reactive to sentiment and legislation. If there wasn't any stigma, the bank would happily facilitate it.

That is why the tone of the topic is apathetic, because the bank is simply prohibiting what the majority of people already find distasteful.
 
StereoVsn said:
Wait, right now Congress is about to pass bunch of bills legitimizing stablecoins and crypto as investment and currency vehicles.

It's time for GabeCoin!
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Gabe has shown his true colors here I'll no longer game under the weight of his oppressive boot on the neck of our people. The only way forward is the resurrection Direct2Drive and democratizing waifu porn for all of humanity. The immature among us have no idea that despite looking like she's 9 years old, the lore clearly states that she's thousands of years old. Fascist idiots.
 
If it's as bad as Patreon it'll mean no adult games with things like hypnosis or mind control, no drugs or alcohol impairing people. It's not just incest or underage looking things.
 
Angry_Megalodon said:
The matter is not "removing trash games" but having a finance company censoring content as if we were living in a global dictatorship. Sorry if I am hostile towards dictators and overlords and people who cheer on them only because "gotta protect my trillion dollar company" (which is also a victim in this case)
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Yeah, it's not good at all.

It starts with removing/censoring stuff that most people find distasteful, but it's a slippery slope, and it's only a matter of time before payment processors (backed by investment companies like Blackrock) start to use their power to force other games off of services.

Your game doesn't fit our DEI guidelines? Sorry, we're not going to process any payments related to the sale of that game.

Your game is violent? Sorry, we're not going to process it.

etc...
 
Angry_Megalodon said:
The matter is not "removing trash games" but having a finance company censoring content as if we were living in a global dictatorship. Sorry if I am hostile towards dictators and overlords and people who cheer on them only because "gotta protect my trillion dollar company" (which is also a victim in this case)
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He was cheering on less smut on Steam though, not a finance company. I get what you are saying, but think your irritation is misplaced.

Poppinfresh said:
Yeah, it's not good at all.

It starts with removing/censoring stuff that most people find distasteful, but it's a slippery slope, and it's only a matter of time before payment processors (backed by investment companies like Blackrock) start to use their power to force other games off of services.

Your game doesn't fit our DEI guidelines? Sorry, we're not going to process any payments related to the sale of that game.

Your game is violent? Sorry, we're not going to process it.

etc...
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Doesn't mean any of that. This is clearly referencing fringe material. That is a long way from censorship based on political beliefs. Getting a bit carried away here.
 
GreatnessRD said:
Each day the internet shows me people are weird. WHO THE FUCK is buying this type shit? lol
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You'd be surprised, this little corner of the internet is just mad, gooners will burn money on anything.
There are scammers on patreon literally milking these fools dry, charging them money every single month to then release an half-assed updated to their niche adult game every 1 or 2 years.
They're lucky this shit hasn't caught much mainstream attention yet because if certain people get wind of some of these games and shady patreon pages much of this stuff would probably become straight up illegal.
 
Topher said:
Doesn't mean any of that. This is clearly referencing fringe material. That is a long way from censorship based on political beliefs. Getting a bit carried away here.
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Twenty years ago no one would have believed that investment companies would be assigning DEI scores and using them to rate investment worthiness either.

It's a short jump from censoring "fringe material" to using those same rules for politically motivated censorship.
 
Killer8 said:
Banks don't do this because they are necessarily emboldened to act as moral police, they do it as a safeguard to prevent reputational damage to their business. No company wants to be labelled in the news as "the payment processor of choice for rape and pedophile simulators."
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This is probably a good time to point out the fact that most of the payment processors who are going after distasteful digital porn games still process payments for other aspects of the porn industry, which relies heavily on human trafficking, modern-day slavery, and is heavily entwined with organized crime.
 
ssringo said:
Yeah, it's a bunch of shitty, edgy porn games but I really don't like the idea of payment processors and banks policing what I'm allowed to spend my money on. If the "games" are a legal problem then they should be banned in the first place.
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Ah but you see, everything in your bank account is the Bank's money and not yours. Putting money in the bank is actually loaning the bank money, making you an unsecured creditor. That means you have no collateral you can repossess if they default. The number on your account is a ledger of what they owe you back, but until they give it back they can do whatever they want with it.
 
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