Steam informs developers to disregard previous 18+ content mandate, pending possible review

[Strings]

So why was Witcher not on email list of change your game or it will be pulled? You know if it was sexual content.

What about all those stripper's tits and Hooker sex in gta?

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We don't know, but it could be anything from a double standard where Valve doesn't want to lose their big business, to those particular games not infringing because it has something to do with minors, blah blah.

I just wanted the thread title to be more accurate, and it is now (so thanks for the speedy response mods).

 

[KLoWn]

Excellent.

 

[Nzyme32]

Near as I can tell (and someone do feel free to correct me) - the Takedown warning emails were automated. This was not (afaik) an arbitrary decision someone made, and then walked back on.

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My guess would be automation as well, but nothing is certain. Could very well be a similar situation to Hatred where one person made a call, then when others find out they try to reverse it. I doubt we'll ever know.
On the other hand, this is one of the few big services deciding to go for minimal curation and selling VNs in the first place. It almost figures there will be occasional issues with censorship / modification of games / rejection of games etc with this kind of content.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Good, but Valve's ability to just do massive changes on the fly and then wait a day and reverse it is worrying. They keep doing it.

 

[Nzyme32]

So why was Witcher not on email list of change your game or it will be pulled? You know if it was sexual content.

What about all those stripper's tits and Hooker sex in gta?

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Until you know the specific issues at hand, I don't know how you can jump to so many conclusions and knee jerks.
The actual reasoning and what content is at issue is completely unknown and I doubt Valve will make their emails between business partners public unless they end up pulling a game entirely (which has happened previously iirc). Also, if I were to take a guess, images depicting what can be perceived as minors, really changes the context of things a little bit (if this was even the issue in the first place)

 

[Custódio]

We don't know, but it could be anything from a double standard where Valve doesn't want to lose their big business, to those particular games not infringing because it has something to do with minors, blah blah.

I just wanted the thread title to be more accurate, and it is now (so thanks for the speedy response mods).

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Neither had some of the banned games.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Good.

 

[ILikeFeet]

The anime tiddy holocaust is over!

 

[Imperfected]

You know, with the way stupid things happen at Valve and then immediately get changed as soon as someone says, "Hey that's stupid", you would almost think the company has no structure and people just sort of do whatever the fuck they feel like without any sort of oversight or even significant peer review, and "Valve's" reaction to any given thing is just owed to whichever individual employee happens to be manning the switch when you look.

 

[CenturionNami]

Yuritopia is safe

 

[random51]

You know, with the way stupid things happen at Valve and then immediately get changed as soon as someone says, "Hey that's stupid", you would almost think the company has no structure and people just sort of do whatever the fuck they feel like without any sort of oversight or even significant peer review, and "Valve's" reaction to any given thing is just owed to whichever individual employee happens to be manning the switch when you look.

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You mean it appears they have the very flat reporting structure they've always said they have?

 

[saenima]

It's amateur hour.

 

[Imperfected]

You mean it appears they have the very flat reporting structure they've always said they have?

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It's almost like I'm implying it's a terrible way of organizing a storefront, regardless of how well it works (or doesn't work, at all) for software development, huh?

 

[Spaltazar]

Mod Edit: Removed Image

Anime lives to see another day

 

[TheGift]

gabe probably read some email and decided to investigate what is going on.

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This is probably what happened. Valve employees aren't gonna act because of twitter hashtags. Gabe would though. And they will act on whatever he tells them to do.

 

[Pancracio17]

Good

 

[CenturionNami]

Someone should rub it in the fucking puritans that their plot has failed.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Re-reviewed huh? That still doesn't mean these games are in the clear, though?

 

[Iori Fuyusaka]

Good to see.

 

[Pixieking]

Re-reviewed huh? That still doesn't mean these games are in the clear, though?

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A reasonable conclusion would be the games which were given the nod by Valve previously and then warned will be fine. The games that weren't given the nod previously will be subject to actual review, which could go either way. Hopefully some of the more obvious "this girl ain't legal" games will be told to leave, which gives a win for everyone.

All speculation on my part, though, so don't take my word as gospel.

 

[Zukuu]

I welcomed the change to its policy regarding nudity some time ago. I wish they would allow even more.

 

[Kudo]

This is great, Valve just got some affection points from me.

 

[CenturionNami]

I wonder what actually happened. Maybe someone was overzealous?

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Valve should make a clear stance before they distribute warnings. Warn and lift warnings like this doesn't really look good.
Makes it look like they cave under pressure. Some potential publishers would feel nervous to put their games on the platform.

A reasonable conclusion would be the games which were given the nod by Valve previously and then warned will be fine. The games that weren't given the nod previously will be subject to actual review, which could go either way. Hopefully some of the more obvious "this girl ain't legal" games will be told to leave, which gives a win for everyone.

All speculation on my part, though, so don't take my word as gospel.

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Didn't Valve give a stance on off-site nude patch recently too?
I wonder if it affected their final decision.

 

[RabidDwarf76]

Mod Edit: Removed Image

Anime lives to see another day

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Hahahaha!!!

 

[Deleted member 7450]

For once I wish I knew what the bloody hell goes on @ Valve.

 

[Kenpachii]

No spine but was to be aspect-ed from a company like Valve tho, hope EU slams Valve at some point.

 

[KillLaCam]

Nooooooooooo

Spoiler

good for the devs though

 

[Kyra]

Was the mandate just any sexual content? Or was it specifically depicting people of a certain age?

 

[jph139]

Taking a huge unilateral action, causing mass panic among the affected developers, and then reversing it a day or two later with a "whoops!" is such a Valve move.

 

[CenturionNami]

Was the mandate just any sexual content? Or was it specifically depicting people of a certain age?

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Sexual content. Hunie pops characters are all of age for example.

 

[Deleted member 41931]

Good, this whole situation was stupid in the first place. Its also good to keep in mind Valve will bend with enough pressure.

 

[Kyra]

*looks up hunie pop*

Lol. Valve is silly.

 

[noyram23]

Valve should make a clear stance before they distribute warnings. Warn and lift warnings like this doesn't really look good.
Makes it look like they cave under pressure. Some potential publishers would feel nervous to put their games on the platform.

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Yeah this flip-flopping isn't good for business although most indies don't really have a choice when it comes to PC. It's one of the cons of a privately owned business I guess, there isn't enough set of eyes looking at each decision made.

 

[Abhor]

Good, what overblown nonsense.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Valve really needs some transparency, any transparency.

 

[CharMomone]

So a stricter policy is still likely to be implemented but they're at least going to work with the developers to not entirely screw them over, not really a win but it's still something.

 

[Deleted member 6730]

Steam fought anime tits and somehow anime tits one.

 

[Laughing Banana]

The right thing for a change?

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LOL I think the poster was more of a why Valve was acting like a confused drunk saying one thing before licking their own spit right now, like they're totally clueless about stuff.

 

[atomsk eater]

I hope this at least leads to Valve making clear policies on allowable sexual content.

 

[Heraldic]

Game developers should be allowed to create the content they want and be free from any corporate or government attempt to place restraints on said material. Consumers should also be free be to purchase those products. Whether one disagrees with the material being produced is there right, and they can and should express there opionion. But, it should not be imposed on others. I personally don't purchase erotic games, but will fight for the right of others to do so.

 

[BasilZero]

I wonder what actually lead to the earlier decision on hand to make that mandate.

 

[Darkis-San]

I wonder what actually lead to the earlier decision on hand to make that mandate.

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I feel many miss that point. Making the statement of it's an automation doesn't cover the fact that this was an issue, action was taken and a result was delivered.

That being said...Steam is Steam.

 

[atomsk eater]

I mean, game companies and consumers can already do that; most of these companies distribute uncensored versions through other websites as well, and Steam versions are usually censored to begin with (sometimes with optional patches for restore adult content, sometimes not). As a private platform Steam doesn't have to allow everything onto their service, the main issue is that there's very little transparency in their decisions. Some of the games that were flagged had adult patches, some didn't, some had sexual content that involved characters stated to be less than 18 years old, some didn't. It's all over the place. Some games that have probably worse content, morally or quality wise, did not get flagged for censure or removal.

 

[Pixieking]

I feel many miss that point. Making the statement of it's an automation doesn't cover the fact that this was an issue, action was taken and a result was delivered.

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If it was automated, then I suspect games were Report Bombed. And if that was the case, then it's a) an issue with the system, and b) indicative that a concerted effort by a group or groups caused this.

 

[Sub Level]

Era: 0
Anime: Lost count of the score

 

[Deleted member 42]

Era: 0
Anime: Lost count of the score

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Anime will never defeat me

 

[nemoral]

Shame. I was hoping they were finally going to clean some of the garbage out.

 

[R_thanatos]

Wait ? the mails were automated ?

Those things should never be automated. Those things should be done by humans following a policy made by the company

All companies these days want to automate everything and in the end a skynet is created. Hopefully a human actually checks the next batch of emails

 

[Deleted member 4021]

Shame. I was hoping they were finally going to clean some of the garbage out.

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Yeah, fuck the people who make a living off of selling VNs on Steam, am I right? I don't like the games, so the people who make them should have to suffer from a capricious and unexplained decision and possibly lose their livelihood.