“it’s a nothing burger guys”
Nothing ever happens…?
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Blockquote You do realize that Collective Shout calls themselves a feminist organization, right? This isn’t him tying it to politics, Herohei is literally calling them by their own self-proclaimed description. Collective Shout CLAIMS TO BE FOR PROTECTING WOMEN.
Generally when dealing with any person, organization, or government etc that we are trying to understand their purpose and politics its best to observe their behavior rather than their own labeling. This group can call themselves feminist but if their goals and actions don’t align with the actual politics of feminism then they are using that label to sow dissent and to hide their actual motives.
Or to use the most extreme example North Korea can refer to itself as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” but I think we all know that is uh…far from the reality of their governmental structure.
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Already addressed this the last time they came up. Both Collective Shout and its ilk (again, Collective Shout isn’t this powerful; there are orgs hiding behind them like ‘Moms for Liberty’ that have the actual connections to influence Mastercard’s weaponisation of MATCH) aren’t strictly Feminist because they lack a thorough critique of Patriarchy, which is why they’re constantly anti-Abortion, anti-Sex Work, etc on ‘moral’ grounds without any actual theoretical framework beyond their interpretation of theology.
They lost the ‘sex wars’ and have been mad ever since.
This technique has been used to target anything Conservatives don’t like. It’s run by conservatives. Any use of ‘feminism’ as a term by such groups is an intentional red herring to encourage misdirection of outrage and confuse people as to who is behind these sorts of crusades.
We should all know exactly what is emboldening this resumed anti-porn crusade.
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Collective Shout got caught praising Cuties. They’re gonna fry soon. They already went private on Twitter, and Japan is fighting back. With all this, we’re sure to see a major shift against them soon.
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So, sharing publicly-available information regarding these people is against site rules, apparently (but sharing misinformation isn’t) so I’m not going to bother seriously discussing that here any further, but I will repeat that these people have already made their stances on considerably more stupid topics (banning Detroit: Become Human for showing child abuse as bad and GTAV for violence, as examples) clear, and that plus showing their true motives is probably the best way to stop their Astroturfing efforts in their tracks. A lot of media outlets are already doing this, but every voice helps.
The more immediately useful point here is, what does this community, and the creators in it, do now?
Unfortunately CS was probably sacrificed on purpose to allow the ones actually pulling the strings to stay in the shadows. Going after Visa and Mastercard is the only thing likely to have an impact.
For those in the US, there is bipartisan legislation to stop them from doing exactly this kind of thing again (I won’t discuss what caused this legislation, but regardless of origin I believe it’s worth supporting). For those in the EU, perhaps a petition to European Parliament? For everyone else, look to see if similar options exist.
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Does anyone know of any games that have been deleted (read: not delisted, deleted) as of yet, cause i’ve been hearing on the grapevine that some nsfw games have been deleted outright
As of right now, I don’t think so. I am following this user on itch who has basically collected every WG game made on the site and I haven’t noticed the number of items in that collection decrease.
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None of my games have been deleted: https://anonymooseproductions.itch.io/
In the update from Itch that SirKata linked it sounds like there will be a NSFW verification, where NSFW games are still allowed - but must pass the requirements of the payment providers.
Given most if not all of the games on this site don’t involve rape, and none involve minors, I am optimistic this will pass over without issue once the screening process is put into place. Edit: I think incest is included as unallowed too, but I’m not sure… That one won’t affect most games, mine included.
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I believe if you look up the game through a standard search or a tag it will be gone. I tried looking mine up through the weight-gain tag and it was’t on there.
It should be noted that most payment providers blacklist fetish content along with adult content in their standard ToS so will probably depend on if itch has a custom one worked out with them or not
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Looking into it more since yesterday, the “rape and incest” came from Collective Shout, not Steam, Itch, or the payment providers. Since we can’t really trust them to say much of anything truthfully, I’d put money on the list of banned topics being much longer than that.
On the “bright” side their next crusade seems to be against social media in general, so games won’t be getting even more requirements imposed upon them for now. According to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, who linked Bluesky posts from various developers who have had their games permanently deleted, things that were banned were “sexualised images or videos of real-life humans”, “AI generated imagery that is designed to resemble photographic content of real people”, “content glorifying sexual violence”, and that depicting “minors, minor-presenting, or suggested minors” even in non-sexual scenarios in an otherwise NSFW game.
Besides “minor-presenting” being super vague this is one thing that will affect some creators here but not you (well depends on pregnancy stuff, actually…), but the people they work for have also described gay marriage as “an abhorrent affront to God” and have been very outspoken about all porn, including trying to ban Playboy simply for having adult women in sexualized form. I wouldn’t assume anyone is safe.
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Knew this was coming after steam caved, we need to stop these fuckers, like there really is no reason to do this, free speech and free expression is sacrosanct to me! I may not like what others have to say but that doesn’t mean harsh moderation, that is the point of discourse! These people just want complete control.
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After giving the situation some time to develop, and reading over both the official Itch statement and the pertinent details relating to the payment processors themselves, I have a few thoughts and general facts to share.
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?
Itch’s statement has made it clear that their policy applies to paid content rather than a blanket ban on all NSFW content. More specifically, any NSFW content that is for sale through Itch itself. This can be seen in their official statement, which reads:
“Pages will remain deindexed as we complete our review. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures. For NSFW pages, this will include a new step where creators must confirm that their content is allowable under the policies of the respective payment processors linked to their account.”
While this implies a potentially more broad enforcement of updated policies, the most likely outcome is a targeted focus on paid content, as this was the primary factor involved with their current actions. Of note, however, is the portion of the quote at the end.
“Creators must confirm that their content is allowable under the policies of the respective payment processors linked to their account.”
What this means is that a project can still be monetized, it’s just that the means of monetization will have to move off-platform in order to avoid being subjected to the review process. If no payment processor is linked to an account, IE no payment is being made on Itch specifically and Itch is only being used to facilitate a customer to be directed towards a purchase, then it is not subject for review.
A detail that might be missed by some however is that this doesn’t apply just to a game that has to be purchased to be downloaded. As some people familiar with some of the features Itch provides to its’ creators may know, Itch allows a user to ‘donate’ a portion of money to a project creator, even when the download is still free to download without a donation. This would mean that even a free game would be subject to review if at any point the game has been a source of payment to the creator through Itch, even if through donation.
In terms of what this all entails for fetish content, and WG/general expansion content, it’s somewhat more of a gray area than the content which has been cited as the reasons for this crackdown in the first place. While there are a myriad of additional details which can change the determination of whether or not a game or product is considered more or less “acceptable”, the content as a whole falls into a gray area.
As detailed within the Mastercard Security Rules and Guidelines (https://www.mastercard.us/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/na/global-site/documents/SPME-Manual.pdf) the primary target of these new rule guidelines can be found, and the most likely focus going forwards. Section 9.4.1, Subsection 1 (Page 107) states:
“The Merchant must not market the content of its website or permit content search terms to
give the impression that the content contains child exploitation materials or the depiction of
nonconsensual activities.”
This is in line with the pattern of removal seen on Steam, prior to the recent involvement of Itch. Non-consensual activities, or child exploitation material (which is a term applied to both digitally rendered and photographic content in most cases, including content generated by AI) is strictly prohibited. What is less clearly defined in the context of fetish content, however, is the detail included in Section 9.4.1, Subsection 6 (Page 108) which reads:
“The Merchant must have effective policies in place that prohibit the use of its website in any
way that promotes or facilitates human trafficking, sex trafficking or physical abuse. Active
membership and participation in an anti-human trafficking and/or anti-child exploitation organization is highly recommended.”
Why this is pertinent to fetish content is because of the vague standard that can be applied to the term “physical abuse”. Physical abuse can technically include promotion of actions undertaken by a person towards another through neglect, physical or emotional coercion, or manipulation resulting in the harm of another, including promotion of self-harm.
While the legal semantics would be a topic best left for another time, in the scope of what a payment processor could define the glorification of obesity as seen within the fetish, this has fallen under the category of the promotion of self-harming behavior, (and therefore a form of physical abuse) in other circumstances, as seen with actions taken by Patreon and other similar services when faced with their own controversies related to payment processors.
This means that while it is technically disallowed under the policies set forth by Mastercard (which is the purported primary aggressor, although other payment processors follow similar standards of practice), it is also vague enough to go in many directions depending on the opinion and implementation of the review system. It could be completely disallowed, or it could be ignored in favor of pursuing the more immediate removal and review of content which would fall under the description seen in Section 9.4.1. It remains to be seen which direction they will take, but the possibility of complete removal has to be considered just as much as it being ignored.
While this policy has always been a component of the payment processor guidelines, recent pressure from activist groups and laws passed in several states and countries directed towards harsher guidelines has increased the level of enforcement of these policies.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CREATORS?
What does this mean for creators? For the time being, and as some have already begun to do in light of the news, several immediate steps should be taken. Firstly, a temporary removal of any file which has an option enabled for donation, or purchase. This will prevent your game from being subject to review past whatever generalized sweep is applied to all NSFW content, and may potentially save you further trouble when the scrutiny is more focused. While free downloads may also prevent potential issues if the actions of Itch extend past paid content to a severe enough degree, it is ultimately up to the creator to decide whether to temporarily remove it, or keep it up. Do NOT remove the tags associated with your game, as this action could be seen as an attempt to circumvent the reviewal process, and may bring unwanted attention upon your project, as these games were collectively deindexed as a result of how Itch categorizes their games. They most likely possess a list of the aggregated results, and this will be what is used for the review process.
While this is purely speculation, given what was discussed in regards to the Mastercard content policy, it is likely that games identified with the highest amount of traffic and revenue will be under review first, with further refinement towards searching for specific keywords, phrases, and titles contained within their documentation. From there, it will most likely continue to follow the same pattern of prioritization down the line, although the amount of time this process would take is unclear given the lack of information on the resources available for such an undertaking. Your game may not be immediately effected, but it may still be subject to removal and review at any time, so stay aware of this fact.
Secondly, while it may be somewhat of an inconvenience and unfair position to be placed in, as a creator it may be pertinent to consider alternative platforms for hosting paid content. Whether this is Patreon, SubscribeStar, Gumroad, or other means of subscription/one-off purchasing, it will guarantee that your revenue is still intact in some form. The Itch page itself can simply act as the forward-facing development and advertisement page for the product, with information on where to go in order to purchase the game. If free games are still allowed under the new rules, then it can act as a ‘demo’ section in order to give people a general idea of what they’re getting without having to completely leave the site.
I expect this may result in a slight dip in purchases/engagement, but that also depends on the ease of purchasing the game once they leave the site, which will have to be up to the discretion of the creator as to which platform can viably serve this function.
CONCLUSION
While this situation is rather grim, it is not completely without hope. As this post discusses, there is a tangible possibility that this purge will not be the death knell of Itch as a platform for the purchase and hosting of NSFW content, but that rests entirely on the shoulders of Itch in regards to how they choose to proceed. At best, it simply means that creators will have to keep an eye on their own work to make sure it complies with whatever limited impact it would have based on how other games have been treated. At worst, it means a complete move from hosting on Itch, and a move to more viable platforms.
If it does come to that, I hope that the information I’ve provided can be of some assistance in mitigating most of the immediate fallout, and can ease some of the worries and scattered details regarding the situation. This is not the end of the ability for creators to express themselves, it’s simply another unfortunate consequence of the system we exist in, and its’ tendency towards overcompensation for the delayed effects of their own neglect.
Best Regards,
-PS
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Nothing good ever happens.
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I always find movements that try to shut down NSFW content to be so dumb. You have to intentionally search out NSFW content to find it. All this does is piss off people that were looking for it in the first place.
This is like going to a full grown adult that has done nothing against the law in their life, and saying “You are under arrest for living in a way that I don’t like”.
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Well this sucks that Nsfw content is being shut down but the thing I do like about the community is that we are going to still Fight because we have numbers and power lets show them we can fight back but lets try to fight peacefully and respectfully, no cars on fires (for now) just please sign the petition (Mastercard: Sex Work is Work. End Your Unjust Policy. | American Civil Liberties Union) and talk about it on the your socials, the more it is out they the more power we have and DO NOT FORGET that!
I’d recommended everyone try to contact the credit card companies pulling this and share your feelings with them if you can, but angry emails can be easily sorted out and ignored en masse, so I recommend sending actual mail and/or faxes and calling their customer support lines.
Mastercard (US): 1-800-627-8372
Mastercard (Int.): +1-636-722-7111
Visa (US + Can): 1 800 847 2911
Visa (AUS): 1 800 125 440
PayPal: +44-0203-901-7000
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based on my observations the itch admin will only disable downloads for games that were taken down, so the game itself still has a game page but it would have been unplayable and the creator account also might get suspended
I’m seeing some strange things with itch - had one guy report no compatible downloads found but looking at the creator dashboard downloads are still happening.