Posted on 06/08/2018 4:35:08 AM PDT by Trump20162020
The Steam video game store has changed its content policy to "allow everything", unless it is illegal or "straight up trolling".
The shift comes after controversy surrounding games which many people considered were offensive.
A school shooting simulation game was removed from the store last month.
But now games publisher Valve, which owns Steam, said it was not up to the company to decide what should or should not be on sale.
The new policy paves the way for pornographic games to be made available on the platform, including in virtual reality. It would make the Steam store the first major VR platform to offer adult content.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Some developers are going to test this, with games involving killing jihadis, or “inner city” thugs.
This is the thrust of the article. VR Porn is well developed and ready for mass marketing. Between Japanese Manga producers, individual developers and game modders for major titles they are ready to start rolling out content and become the major source before another distributor takes advantage of the demand.
My kid was always asking for a steam card and I would say, “Why, does the guy who owns Steam need a new Maserati?”
Yeah, that’s my takeaway as well. When a company publicly throws up their hands and declares, “Who are we to decide?”, that immediately tells me they are simply throwing the doors wide open and disavowing any community and morality standards they once regarded.
You’re obviously not in tune with the modern gaming community. The most watched games on Twitch include first person shooters such as Overwatch and Fortnite, real-time strategy games such as StarCraft, and role-playing games such as World of Warcraft. The gaming community doesn’t generally embrace immorality as a cause. Most of us are looking for an escape from reality, not a reminder of how f*ed up the world is.
They were being pressured by SJWS to take “responsibility” (ban) those games perpetrated such evils of “patriarchal stereotypes, or male fantasy subjugation”. This is a win for anyone that cares about the culture war.
Welcome to the free market.
As long as it’s something that society hasn’t declared illegal, then why should some corporation decide my morals?
Or conservatives, Christians...
Golly. Can Civil War games with confederate flags be sold? Or would that be considered trolling?
I'm curious about Nazi era German flags, since Germany is dumb and outright bans their display in video games, and Steam is a global marketplace. It's funny seeing how Nazi-related things get censored there. Like Hitler's mustache in Wolfenstein having been removed.
Perhaps I'm not as optimistic as some here. I think your point is well taken. Time will tell of course, but I bet it will be a race to the cultural bottom, and yet all the SJW and PC garbage will be strictly enforced and adhered to.
I'm a gamer from way back, starting with "Wing Commander" and progressing through Half-Life, FarCry, the Battlefield series, almost all of them, but I am skeptical.
Yeah, "free market" does not mean free-for-all. As individuals, corporations do have a responsibility to uphold community standards. If not, we do not have a civil society.
Just my two-cents.
Race to the bottom to generate outrage and therefore publicity.
Right now, virtual sex with children is a line that should hold. But what of?
1. A game where President Trump or Obama is hunted down and asassinated?
2. Where children are killed.
3. Where hajib wearers are killed.
4. Sex with animals, where you can choose breed of dog victim.
5. Collecting and abusing slaves.
People need to respect basic values and respect the age of their intended audience. Guess their site will now be off limits for boys.
And how do you propose that Steam uphold "community standards" when they are a global distributor? Why isn't the community ever responsible for upholding their own standards? Why must a random company make those calls, on vague terminology, based on guesses about how central Kentucky might differ from NE Arkansas and Kazakhstan, and then get punished when some money-hungry lawyer decides to parse a tiny difference and burn them for millions? Make a law, or shut up. Punting to a distributor, and holding them liable for your own community's failure to define their "standards" is ludicrous. You might as well hold gun distributors liable for Chicago gang violence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.