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Steam is cracking down on porn games, to keep Payment Processors happy. (reddthat.com)
submitted 15 hours ago by Pro@programming.dev to c/gaming@beehaw.org
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[-] knokelmaat@beehaw.org 1 points 43 minutes ago

I am the only one here thinking that Steam should have cracked down on incest themed porn games a long time ago?

Just to be clear, the title of this post is referring to porn games, but in actuality it is about games that literally feature incest (not the step-relative stuff that is so popular everywhere online). All major actual porn sites have rules against incest, but the biggest gaming marketplace on PC should allow it?

Just to make it clear, I find it detestable that this is done because of Visa, especially if this trend continues and suddenly other stuff becomes blocked, but in this case I feel it should have been done way earlier.

[-] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

So. How hard is it to create a payment processor? Asking for a friend.

[-] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 41 points 14 hours ago

Visa continues to set the world's content moderation policies extra-judicially.

Go figure having all electronic payments be through private companies would have eventual consequences.

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 22 points 14 hours ago

The problem isn't that they're private, the problem is that there's not many to choose from. Visa gets to throw their weight around, because they have a stranglehold on a huge swath of banks and businesses. MasterCard has another big chunk, and the rest go to AmEx and Discover.

If there were more providers to choose from, this would be a non-issue, but that wouldn't be very capitalist (/s), and I doubt the big names would simply allow new competition.

[-] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 19 points 14 hours ago

The reason there's so few is because people don't want to have to figure out beforehand whether or not they can use the payment provider they have at the store they want to go to.

I've seen this happen multiple times especially in Japan when the barcode payment craze started. There were like 13 competing payment providers and now there are 2. Because people don't want to have to carry around 13 different types of card or payment typed and have 13 different types of payments. They want one that works everywhere.

It's why there needs to be sovereign digital payment systems that are legally enforced.

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 13 points 14 hours ago

Yeah, like what need is there for these intermediaries in the first place? I get that there was probably a need once upon a time, but that seems superfluous now

[-] theangriestbird@beehaw.org 3 points 13 hours ago

where do we think we would be at at this point if electronic payments were handled by government entities? Not trying to defend Visa or Mastercard, just genuinely curious what others think.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

We'd be in the same place. It's not any better or worse for a private versus a public entity to do harm.

Also, the government is already part of this. If the DOJ told Visa, "hey, stop fucking around with that, you don't need to be trying to control legal agreements between parties, that's our purview" (or if they even thought the DOJ might), they'd drop this behavior in an instant. They are doing this in large part because they believe it is in line with the government's ideology. Preemptive compliance.

[-] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 hours ago

True to some degree if you're an American, but this is Visa setting internal policy for American politics, and that reflecting globally.

Not every country has the same laws or politics that the US does.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 1 points 10 hours ago

Every company is headquartered somewhere, or has some market that it cannot afford to withdraw from, and that makes them all ultimately subject to said governments. No business decision is made free from pressure when it comes to governments.

[-] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 hours ago

Again, the issue is this is an American company setting American content policy internationally.

Storefronts and brands can set up local branches and sell through those using the local digital payment provider without getting in trouble with their headquarter'd country. They can't do that with a private entity that's decided to set their global content policy to align with America's.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Again, the issue is this is an American company setting American content policy internationally.

That is not the issue. That may be the subset of the issue that you have a problem with, but the actual issue is a payment provider setting purchase restrictions period. That it is happening in the US is not uniquely bad; it would be equally bad happening anywhere else.

Interpreting the international impact to be "the issue" would mean that if this were only affecting Americans, this would be fine, which is absolutely not the case.

Storefronts and brands can set up local branches and sell through those using the local digital payment provider without getting in trouble with their headquarter’d country.

To set up and sell in that country, they then have to comply with the local payment providers. Which shouldn't be deciding whether people can purchase something, just as Visa shouldn't be.

[-] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 0 points 10 hours ago

Wed probably be in a similar place, but the advantage of a private entity being that it can bridge the already existing digital payments, so if a store big enough like steam had the option to, they could integrate with that country's digital payments directly.

[-] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Slippery slope:

After the CEO of Visa met with President Trump, Visa has announced that they will no longer allow payments from gaming storefronts that host "obscene" content and media content that run afoul of the vision that the Trump Administration has for America. As such all games that feature LGBTQ, DEI, and "anti-american sentiment" will be removed from sale on Steam. Visa CEO says that "we need to be better as a collective whole" and that "this filth" has no place in being in circulation.

He added that "we look forward to working with the Trump Administration to make America and the rest of the world great." Trump added on Truth Social that "I am working with Visa to make sure that DEI and WOKENESS ARE NEVER ACCEPTED AND DON'T COME BACK TO OUR GREAT NATION. WOKEISM IS NOW DEAD WITH VIDEO GAMES..." He also said the "radical left in Hollywood would "be next."

Thousands of independent game developers including award winning games such as Celeste and "Undertale" have decried on X and social media that these "chilling" policies as some said this are "pure authoritarianism of free thought"

Want that to be the future?

[-] blindsight@beehaw.org 2 points 5 hours ago

This is made up, right?

[-] belated_frog_pants@beehaw.org 44 points 15 hours ago

And next they will come for other labels deemed "against the rules" without elaborating. Porn is the canary. You can "lol incest" but this is about taking down what folks cant argue with first then the next will be porn at all, then queer stuff, just like tumblr

[-] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 19 points 14 hours ago

It'll eventually be anything those in power deem contrary to their agenda.

And people still clamor for a cashless society, when such issues are already obvious.

[-] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 9 points 12 hours ago

Why is Steam removing them entirely? They should just remove the option to pay from that processor.

[-] LukeZaz@beehaw.org 3 points 10 hours ago

Probably because it's a hell of a lot easier than trying to figure out how to manage payment processing without those processors. Visa and Mastercard are extremely large, and by-and-large the only way to pay online in the US. Add in Paypal and Stripe's limitations (which are also notoriously shitty) and you don't really have many options left, so it's really not worth it. I know the EU has better options, but Steam isn't based there and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't want to find a way to jump through those hoops.

[-] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 9 points 13 hours ago

i really hope this won't affect yaoi and sapphic visual novels they're not really p*rn but given the way governments are using censorship to crack down on lgbtq communities and spaces i'm worried.

[-] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 hours ago

It 100% will

[-] jay2@beehaw.org 2 points 12 hours ago

Additionally, all of these adult themes need their own filterable genre tags so that they can be included or excluded when you browse by filters.

this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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