Steam's New Rules: Credit Card Companies Now Gaming Censors? Bloody Hell.
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Steam's introduced vague new rules about adult content to appease credit card companies, leading to confusion and concerns about censorship, especially regarding LGBTQIA+ games. It's a right mess, and nobody's quite sure what's going to happen next.
Right, so Steam's gone and done a bit of a wobble, hasn't it? According to Eurogamer, Valve's quietly slipped in some new rules about adult content – and they're vague enough to make a wizard scratch his beard in confusion. Apparently, they're banning content that might "violate the rules and standards" of credit card companies, internet providers, and the like. Corporate cowardice, some are saying.
Now, I've seen some dodgy spells backfire spectacularly, but this feels like a whole new level of… well, mess. It's not entirely clear *when* this rule snuck in, but it seems to have appeared in the last couple of months, setting the adult-only game dev community into a proper panic. What's actually banned? Valve says avoid content that rubs payment processors and related networks the wrong way. Bit vague, innit?
Banks have always been a bit squeamish about anything remotely saucy (remember the OnlyFans kerfuffle?), but this feels different. As Eurogamer rightly points out, Valve’s been in the headlines lately with some… controversial titles, and it's not hard to imagine the financial bigwigs getting a bit twitchy. It seems Valve’s blinked first. SteamDB noticed they've been pulling incest-themed games like a magician trying to make a particularly embarrassing rabbit disappear. Poof! Gone.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The vagueness of the wording means adult content creators are probably having a right old panic attack. They're now at the mercy of… *banks*? As arbiters of acceptability? It's like asking a goblin to bake a wedding cake – could go horribly wrong.
And here's the kicker: some folks reckon this could hurt LGBTQIA+ content. YouTuber NoahFuel Gaming, as mentioned by Eurogamer, suggested that banks could start targeting queer, transgressive, or "unusual" games. Fair dinkum, even PG queer content gets flagged as 'explicit', so if the banks raise a stink, anything even slightly controversial could get nuked. "It's out of our hands," they’ll say. Sound familiar?
So, what does this mean for us gamers? Well, expect to see fewer games pushing boundaries (at least on Steam). And maybe keep a closer eye on what kind of content gets quietly vanished. This isn’t about blockchain directly, but it *is* about control – who gets to decide what we can play, and why. Makes you think, doesn't it?
Valve hasn't officially commented yet, but Eurogamer's reached out for more information. Let's see if they can shed some light on this murky business.
Tags: Steam, Censorship, Adult Content, LGBTQIA+, Gaming News
Original article: Eurogamer