Steam's Risky Game: Did an Anti-Porn Group Really Just Strong-Arm Valve?
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
An anti-pornography group is claiming credit for Steam's recent crackdown on sexually explicit games, raising questions about censorship, corporate influence, and the group's own questionable track record. Is this a win for safety, or something more sinister?
Right, so it looks like things have gotten a bit spicy behind the scenes at Steam, and not in the way you might think. Rock Paper Shotgun (RPS) is reporting that an Australian group called Collective Shout – the same folks who tried to get GTA 5 banned back in the day – are claiming victory for Steam's recent crackdown on sexually explicit games.
Now, Valve's been tightening the belt on "adult content," citing pressure from the big boys like Mastercard and Visa. Apparently, it was a case of either cleaning house or risking those companies cutting off Steam's access to payments altogether. (Ouch!) A bunch of games got the boot, including, RPS reports, some with incest themes. Valve's being cagey about which specific titles were purged and who exactly applied the thumbscrews, but Collective Shout's pretty chuffed, declaring it a "victory for child safety campaigners." But is it *really* that simple?
Collective Shout, bless their cotton socks, has been campaigning against what they deem "violently sexist, exploitative, and abusive" games for yonks. They reckon there's a direct line between on-screen shenanigans and real-world horrors. They even cite a meta-analysis about sexual objectification leading to bad stuff like sexist beliefs and tolerance of sexual violence. Fair enough, on the face of it, but…
Here's where it gets murky. Collective Shout claims their open letter to payment processors led to 500 games being yeeted from Steam. Valve hasn't confirmed that number (and PCGamer reckons there might be duplicates in there). They're also gunning for another 82 games "tagged with rape and incest," but aren't naming names. This is where I reckon they're doing themselves a disservice. Vague accusations just muddy the waters.
RPS points out that Collective Shout has a history of, shall we say, *stretching* the truth. Remember when they endorsed a petition to ban Detroit: Become Human in Australia, claiming it featured "child abuse and violence against women"? The petition *itself* even acknowledged that those scenes were designed to evoke empathy for the victim! Sounds like someone didn't actually play the game, eh?
And let's not forget their GTA 5 crusade, where they slammed it as a game that "encourages players to brutally murder women for entertainment." Now, GTA's definitely got a checkered past when it comes to portraying women (sex workers as health packs, anyone?), but to say it's *designed* to indulge fantasies of murdering women is a bit of a reach. It's a satirical, over-the-top open-world where you can brutally murder *everyone* – from pimps to the police.
Valve's policy shift has understandably ruffled feathers. Some devs and journos are worried that financial institutions are becoming the censors of "taboo" expression. And things get even more complicated when you dig into Collective Shout's affiliations. RPS notes their connections to groups like the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) and Exodus Cry – organizations with some pretty strong religious and conservative leanings. One even compared abortion to the Holocaust and called gay marriage an "unspeakable offence to God" (though, to be fair, he claims his views have changed since).
As Katherine Cross wrote for Game Developer back in 2018, NCOSE's real goal might be less about protecting anyone's dignity and more about restoring a "traditional gender order." Sounds like someone wants to wind the clock back a few centuries.
Ultimately, I reckon it's undeniable that violent, sexualized media contributes *something* to a culture of violence. But figuring out exactly how much is tricky, and each case needs to be judged on its own merits. Collective Shout seems less interested in nuance and more interested in wielding the power of big corporations to enforce their own moral code. And that's a bloody slippery slope, mate. What's next? Banning games with morally ambiguous characters? Games where you play as the 'bad guy'?
So, is this a victory for child safety, or a victory for a particular brand of moral policing? I reckon the jury's still out.
Tags: Steam, Censorship, Collective Shout, Valve, Moral Panic
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun