News doing the rounds at the moment, is that Valve seem to be tightening their rules concerning games with sexual content.
Here's developer Lupiesoft as an example, who made Mutiny!!, a visual novel with puzzle mini-games, ship combat and it even supports Linux:
We've just received some troubling news today that @steam_games has decided to pull down our titled "Mutiny!!" within 2 weeks for 'reports of pornographic content'. Now those of you who know @Lupiesoft know that we don't put that on Steam, or advertise that content on Steam.
— Lupiesoft (@Lupiesoft) May 18, 2018
The developer continued on from this tweet, to mention that their publisher even met with Valve previously and apparently they didn't have a problem then.
Here's another example from developer HuniePot, who made HuniePop which also supports Linux:
- IMPORTANT NOTICE -
— HunieDev (@HuniePotDev) May 17, 2018
I've received an e-mail from Valve stating that HuniePop violates the rules & guidelines for pornographic content on Steam and will be removed from the store unless the game is updated to remove said content.
Honestly, I don't really get what Valve's doing. There must be some ridiculous business-type decision behind it. Perhaps they think such games are putting off some bigger publishers, as if somehow they think it makes Steam look less attractive? I do always find this odd, that content of a sexual nature is so often frowned upon, when games where you brutally murder people for 90% of the gameplay are often promoted by Valve.
Worth point out, that itch.io is a rather open store, as I understand it developers themselves set the amount they wish to give to itch out of their sales (even if it's nothing) and they even have an open source client which is due a big upgrade soon. As much as I personally like Steam (it is my favourite store), I do wish more games were available on itch.io. Competition is healthy, the bigger players need it to keep them on the straight and narrow and we all know this.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
why are these VN games getting banned? well it's all just because of some Morality In Media, a group of lobbyists is "crying" ...
And why are they just attacking these games? well because it's easier to attack small/cult games than AAA games, I think we all already know that steam doesn't have any quality control or care about the content in the games which makes this even more stupid.
I would call this even discriminatory action from steam. But this really typical western bullshit so I'm not surprised that this is happening.
Also there is already a petition for this with many names, but like always it wont matter
litte bit more about this at http://blog.mangagamer.org/2018/05/18/regarding-recent-inquires-into-steam-content-policy-notices/
Last edited by ahjolinna on 20 May 2018 at 9:47 pm UTC
Metallinatus May 20, 2018
Quoting: ahjolinnalitte bit more about this at http://blog.mangagamer.org/2018/05/18/regarding-recent-inquires-into-steam-content-policy-notices/Small recent update at the end of that blog;
QuoteWe have just received word from Valve to disregard the previous notice. According to the e-mail, Kindred Spirits will be re-reviewed and we will be provided with specific feedback if there are concerns about the game’s content. We sincerely appreciate Valve’s prompt response with respect to this issue.That's.... something. Guess we will have to see how that turns out.
Quoting: devnull"Henti" on DDG returns one single, rather vague result from Wikipedia about some Queen.That's because it's spelled "hentai" (which DDG will actually suggest, but only if safe search is off).
I'm fine with that though as we might end up with a little more content and users on other platforms. I like that Steam has so many Linux games but I really hate the market share they have.
Quoting: TiedemannMaybe they end up like Netflix that has it's own censored versions crap. Soon we'll have to buy from somewhere else to get the "real" thing, like the uncut version.I think I've already bumped into a discussion of games on Steam for which you can download official "uncensor" patches from the developer's website directly. If I remember correctly, this list included HuniePop. Don't know if other stores sell "uncut" versions of these games.
Last edited by tuubi on 21 May 2018 at 9:09 am UTC
Quoting: tuubiI think I've already bumped into a discussion of games on Steam for which you can download official "uncensor" patches from the developer's website directly. If I remember correctly, this list included HuniePop. Don't know if other stores sell "uncut" versions of these games.I'm aware of one example, Highway Blossoms, that is on both Steam and itch as a SFW version that fades to black during the one or two sex scenes of the VN. On both stores the description links to their website for a downloadable uncensor patch. But considering the number of adult games on itch, I expect most of them are uncut by default; but maybe that's not exactly what you mean.
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