I suspect that this will be removed under Valve’s “straight up trolling” clause:
Sounds like THQ 8Chan Nordic might be interested in publishing this game.
I agree that Valve may use the trolling clause for removal.
Comedy with a NC-17 rating is a non-starter. You are not going to tell me it isn’t a comedy, right???
Hehe. Depends on the age when you see it I guess; a lot of 90210 fans probably got some shock from seeing her that way. It definitely received wide release, so it was a choice, not a law. Steam already came out with a hard fast rule that is instantly broke so who knows… I just hoped we’d have a stronger candidate for when this hits politics than rape and killing babies is cool like this game comes off as.
It’s been five minutes since video games got blamed for something. I guess we’re due.
Yup its offensive and Valve will find it so and remove it. Problem solved.
I praise Valve for its laudable approach to artists creativity and audience choice. No need to write out a list of rules, just take a look and make a reasonable judgement. Its far superior to anything else out there.
On the app store or Sony’s PlayStation store for example you can watch Game of Thrones but games with identical content are banned. Admittedly this is a subject that hits very close to home for me but I would imagine most gamers are also uncomfortable with our preferred art form being treated like second class.
Well, reading that Polygon article took me places I regret. Reading the Q&A on the developers website, I was convinced he was trolling but then looking at his deviantart account, I’m not so sure.
People have interesting fetishes basically. As well evidenced by the Bethesda modding scene.
why did you make me browse
And yet, how many times has a DVD/BR release been pitched to the buying public as the “unrated” version that they didn’t want you to see!
https://www.amazon.com/Hangover-Unrated-Blu-ray-Bradley-Cooper/dp/B001UV4XEW/ref=sr_1_3?crid=P98W7N9RSWF2&keywords=hangover+unrated&qid=1551806148&s=gateway&sprefix=hangover+unrate%2Caps%2C281&sr=8-3
And let’s not forget what AT&T/DirecTV will let you pay to watch in the high-numbered premium channels. This is far from a puritan society.
This reminds me of the single nude scene in Office Space, that was clearly inserted just to drive up the rating for marketing. The protagonist watches TV, and there’s a nude scene on the TV he’s watching. That’s it! Nowhere else in the movie! It’s so funny.
I highly doubt Hangover unrated would be on sale anywhere if they added a gratuitous rape scene that wasn’t even part of the story.
There are limits. They are often hard to define, but in general rape scenes aren’t featured very heavily in motion pictures at all, because they’re generally not entertaining to watch. When they are there, they are always controversial even when they are an instrumental part of the story being told.
I don’t believe any mainstream store should be selling a game that tries to make rape fun.
But it can be in porn, which is fine. Porn is for adults. Unless it actually violates a law, we shouldn’t really be policing erotic fantasies. Porn however, is not found in typical stores; is meant to be kept away from children, and it doesn’t show up in mainstream theaters.
If video games have a porn section, and this is different from just made for adults has adult content, would it be on Steam? i don’t know because Steam is wishy washy. They want the power to censor but don’t want to be criticized for it so they create these super vague policies which really doesn’t do anything but give them an out if they choose to take it, and that out will still be followed with criticism.
I suspect they don’t really want a behind the current section in their store though.
I probably just dated myself a bit there.
Yeah, their policies are terrible and this was obviously going to happen.
My feeling is this. It shouldn’t be illegal to make content featuring rape, including rape porn, so long as it’s fake, consensual, consent forms, etc. That said, even though it should be legal, I wouldn’t host that stuff in my store. I wouldn’t want to be associated with it.
As for protecting kids, I basically think that’s bullshit. It’s 2019, kids have the internet.
To be honest I think Valve is trying to find an appropriate middle ground.
The court of public opinion keeps making wild swings back and forth between Valve being too heavy handed with curation then alternately too permissive with their store. I think it is hard to find that sweet spot in the context of the volume they are dealing with.
I am sure the “anything legal and not trolling” policy will see refinement as assholes test the limits as they are wont to do.
Well I am just sharing how we used to handle this sort of thing, at legit stores that had mainstream content plus this other content. It’s not a new situation so much as the digital method is new. Just because kids can access something doesn’t mean Wal-mart wants them to walk into their store and buy it there. We actually have laws on the books for some. It would be idiotic for Video Games to ignore that.
Sure, you don’t want to be convicted of promoting obscenity across state lines or whatever.
Steam officially drops the hammer on Rape Day.
After significant fact-finding and discussion, we think ‘Rape Day’ poses unknown costs and risks and therefore won’t be on Steam.
We respect developers’ desire to express themselves, and the purpose of Steam is to help developers find an audience, but this developer has chosen content matter and a way of representing it that makes it very difficult for us to help them do that.
It’s like the got an accountant to write this post.
So that’s great, but they should amend their policy so it doesn’t say anything not forbidden is allowed, and only illegal and trolling is forbidden.
Valve’s unofficial policy is “we’ll let everything through, unless the public outrage gets too bad, then we’ll act” no matter what they print.