That slope got real slippery real quick.
Wait, that's actually their logo? A butthole?
A stretched out pink butthole full of cum, yes
And kids, that's how I met your mother
New punk band name found
gross, who would fuck them?
E Pluribus Anus.
So close to the Greendale flag from Community.
Man, I knew it was only a matter of time but I didn't think it would be this bad, this soon.
Fear & Hunger is a goddamn masterpiece. Yes, it has depictions of nonconsensual sexual acts. It's in keeping with the lore of a world that is truly fucked even beyond our reality. It's an integral part of the worldbuilding, and it is by no means glorified.
Agreed. Fear and Hunger has it's issues and I would not broadly recommend it to anyone. I would also say that the FREQUENCY of sexual assault in the game, and the presence of some weirdly sexual status effects like anal bleeding are a bit overboard. That being said, when one of the earliest enemies can sexually assault you, or maim your character in a way that leaves you able to keep playing, but effectively crippled, it really nails home not just that the world is dark, but that your assumptions about what is in the game don't apply here. Anything could happen. REALLY anything. And exploring a harsh, hostile world with that expectation set is one of the best parts of the game, because it's a unique experience that you just can't get at that quality anywhere else.
Called it. Soon all we’ll only be able to play baby games like Elmo’s big adventure puzzle book land, or something like that.
It'll be some "evolution is the devil" creationism bullshit, because this is a Christian fascist movement.
Nah, most likely Veggie Tales. Elmo is too woke and might cause dissonance with supremacists and Christian Nationalists. Oh, wait. I just repeated myself - sorry.
They hate Elmo, too.
First, I don't understand why processors give a fuck. Do they imagine people are going to just stop using credit in protest of how other people spend their money? Tell me another fucking joke.
Second, I'm not a game developer, but I suddenly want to make a horror game that includes graphic, exploitive, gratuitous depictions of everything they complain about. And name the game Collective Shriek.
The worm that keeps getting put into payment processor's brains is that they might somehow be held criminally liable for games people purchase. It's like telling a bus driver that they might be liable because they gave a ride to someone who robbed a store.
NOW that they've started curating, that has become way more likely to actually happen. They could have claimed to be a neutral carrier before. Actively filtering means they've decided to take on that responsibility, and the consequences for missing stuff.
They're morons
i assume you’re allowed to buy guns with them in the US? that’s WAY more directly attributable
Time to sue my credit card company for preventing my purchases, but failing to prevent a purchase that was detrimental to me
I've heard this reasoning a few times. I don't buy it. Illegal content is already illegal. You aren't allowed to sell it. Policing particular content beyond that doesn't cover your ass. In fact, it implicates you if you do process payments for illegal content.
I've never seen any argument from them that this is the reasoning. The only rule they need is that you aren't allowed to sell illegal content on your platform. That covers everything. Going beyond that implies there's a different reason. They're being influenced by something else other than the law.
Illegal content is already illegal.
I think it actually is more complicated. There are anti obscenity laws in the United States where these companies (Steam and Itch.io, but also Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and Paypal) are based. The way those laws have been applied have been mostly permissive in the recent past, but I think there's reason to believe that this could change quickly. We may find ourselves in a situation where the highest court decides that this has all been illegal this whole time. Procedural and legal norms are feeling a bit shaky these days. People wonder why payment processors would bend over backwards on behalf of some group of aussie weirdos, but maybe being on their good side isn't the concern. Maybe it's that they're trying to self regulate to get ahead of any government action. Collective Shout may just be highlighting to them the most risky instances, making it so that they have no plausible deniability with regards to the content they are processing payments for.
That what I just dont get about this.
If payment processors think they are liable because these games cause harm then where does it stop? Supermarkets sell cigarettes and so on...
I think there are probably some skeletons in the closets of Collective Shout's members. It's always projection with these people.
So that's how it works. Maybe people should also start harassing payment processors for weapon purchases, buying fossil fuels, oversized SUVs and whatnot until they stop caring.
Under their own reasoning, you shouldn't be able to buy a Bible with payment processing.
The Collective Shout logo looks like a butthole.
Thank you! First thing I thought when I saw that logo.
Six seasons and soon a Movie!
I don't get why the gaming platforms are removing games instead of removing the objecting payment providers as a payment option for purchasing those particular games.
If visa doesn't want people to purchase game X with Visa, then remove Visa as payment option for buying game X.
Yeah, that's not what the payment processors are requesting. They aren't saying they don't want to be used to buy this content. They're saying, if your platform hosts this content at all then they won't process any payments. It doesn't matter if the option is removed if the content is still there. They're using their power of monopoly to police content.
Itch has come out and said it's not Visa, it's PayPal and Stripe.
Removing those payment options would cause a massive loss of revenue.
Isn't there some hacker group putting Collective Shout in the crosshairs?
Involving the MasterCard Mafia in your puritanical crusade is next to criminal. The only solution is to [CONTENT REMOVED FOR VIOLATING RESTRICTIONS AGAINST ADVOCATING VIOLENCE].
Give them an inch, they'll take a mile.
Honestly horrors get old when you can read in the news about "respected people" calling to exterminate Gaza and build beachfront cottages there. Even from just reading that and knowing that the same people can put anything onto your Android devices via a Facebook update or any of the Google applications update, on a whim. Nobody will even know.
About this - is it even legal to obey such pressure?
EDIT: I mean, how is it different from banning sellers by skin color when racists complain, or by religion when Muslims complain (all Hindus are Satan worshipers, didntcha knaw), or whatever else.
EDIT2: But it pains me to see how public offering was, in fact, an important part of market regulations, when everybody just ignores it without getting 9 lifetimes in jail for executives. I was against it at some point. That is - customer associations are important, and there are almost none, and when customer associations demand businesses to act like public offering, then it's almost as good as if enforced, and no such regulation is a good stimulus for customer associations to keep existing. But - feels shitty when it's in the law of most countries and hasn't been removed.
Wow.... This count have happened in the 2010's with the anti-gaming feminist and conservative movement at the time.
If only they knew to go after payment processors instead of identity groups.
Can we go after CollectiveShout Now ??
We should, but also they aren't the root cause. If they're gone, there's nothing stopping a different group from doing the same thing (except for fear of retaliation). The ideal solution is to force payment processors to process any payment for legal content.
Soon: games causes mass shootings! Prohibit all games! And the payment processors will just comply because again they're semi dictatorial greedy fucks
What I see is a new niche opening up for a website offering game sales through alternative payment processors.
Maybe we should retaliate.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
