Patreon Is Hardening Their 'Adult Content' Guidelines. Discussion Thread

HiEv

Member
Sep 1, 2017
384
778
Look at the major porn companies with tons of incest content, it's clear that the banks and credit cards don't take the 'moral high ground' there.
That's because they almost certainly use high-risk merchant accounts, which are tailored for those kinds of businesses, rather than standard banks and credit cards.
 

01110011 01101011

Member
Donor
Jan 10, 2018
153
97
It's not like Patreon suddenly decided to ban certain adult topics and change their TOS just because they could. They have to defer to what guidelines Visa and Mastercard set for them. All the banned adult content is due to payment processors, not Patreon themselves. Patreon can't do anything about that besides bending the knee.
Not so correct, Sekai Project is VERY tied to KOEI TECMO and Frontwing, and is now working on the english porting of few novels/games, the whole grisaia was based on a huge mega original incest, and Kickstarter, where they raised something like a million, was fine with it as is fine now with other 4 games that are raising money now also with incest, and not from sekai, so i don't see why Visa and Mastercard would force patreon on banish incest but will allow it on kickstarter......

Conclusion: if you are right, Visa and Mastercard, decided to banish incest for small devs who can't fight back, as if they tried it with brands like sekai (KT), or another (chinese) that can be linked to SEC ( read Square Enix Collective ) or another linked to Nippon Animation or another linked to Studio Ghibli they would have their faces smashed, or you are wrong than is Patreon fault.

I'm pretty sure that if Illusion would drop on patreon for an incest game no one would even think to try to stop them.

But i think i talked too much for today.
 

TowerCrow

Newbie
Donor
Nov 22, 2018
36
89
Not so correct, Sekai Project is VERY tied to KOEI TECMO and Frontwing, and is now working on the english porting of few novels/games, the whole grisaia was based on a huge mega original incest, and Kickstarter, where they raised something like a million, was fine with it as is fine now with other 4 games that are raising money now also with incest, and not from sekai, so i don't see why Visa and Mastercard would force patreon on banish incest but will allow it on kickstarter......
I've no clue how adult projects are even existing on Kickstarter since they technically ban pornography in their TOS. But still, Kickstarter has nothing to do with Patreon's situation.

Payment processors have been censoring adult content for decades. There are many articles out there on the topic.





Last one is an article from 2012 with this quote:

PayPal told Smashwords to modify is policy for erotic fiction to exclude works that contain bestiality, rape-for-titillation, incest and underage erotica, and to remove any works that contravene the new policy.
Seems familiar, doesn't it? And it's from a time before Patreon even existed. Patreon people never had a say in this. They have to answer to payment processor demands or lose the ability to process patron payments.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HiEv

TowerCrow

Newbie
Donor
Nov 22, 2018
36
89
I'm now watching a webinar by Patreon called "Getting Started on Patreon for 18+ Content Creators". The trust and safety team's leader states clearly that all adult content guidelines are in place due to payment processors. Can't be any clearer and that. People have to stop blaming Patreon for everything when it's not in their control. In fact, you should be happy that there's a crowdsourcing platform that allows adult content and only takes 5% of revenue.

All high-risk payment processors that accept adult content take at least 20-30%.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HiEv

HiEv

Member
Sep 1, 2017
384
778
I'm now watching a webinar by Patreon called "Getting Started on Patreon for 18+ Content Creators". The trust and safety team's leader states clearly that all adult content guidelines are in place due to payment processors. Can't be any clearer and that. People have to stop blaming Patreon for everything when it's not in their control. In fact, you should be happy that there's a crowdsourcing platform that allows adult content and only takes 5% of revenue.
Agreed.

I tried Googling for that video, but couldn't find it. Do you have a public link to it?
 

TowerCrow

Newbie
Donor
Nov 22, 2018
36
89
I'm not sure if it's public, I signed up for it a couple of days ago on

Here's a direct link:
 
  • Like
Reactions: HiEv

gamersglory

Xpression Games
Donor
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2017
1,356
3,556
So a better way to no fees is our site We are 100% fee free and are now doing a soft beta. we utilize the Nano Crypto which can be traded for any word currency without fees to creators.
 

Ark Thompson

Member
Game Developer
Oct 3, 2016
118
215
6. Your contribution are not obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, libelous, slanderous or otherwise objectable (as determined by us).

For something called "Adult Pledge" that's quite the restriction list. Is it a condition to protect yourself? How can devs know where you really draw the line then?
 

gamersglory

Xpression Games
Donor
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2017
1,356
3,556
6. Your contribution are not obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, libelous, slanderous or otherwise objectable (as determined by us).

For something called "Adult Pledge" that's quite the restriction list. Is it a condition to protect yourself? How can devs know where you really draw the line then?
As it says as determined by us. We allow any content using 3DCG and animation as under US law nither of those are obscene or lewd the only thing we ask is all characters are 18 years of age or over ;) and that all works are purely fiction. We can't allow real porn with real people yet as US requirements for that are quite a bit larger but we will be looking to add that long term.
 

TowerCrow

Newbie
Donor
Nov 22, 2018
36
89
A new potential supporter would have to register a new Coinbase account which, if it works as it did years ago, requires you to prove you're an actual person. So you have to scan your passport and other documents and send those to them. It's a multiple day process for approval.

Then you buy some Bitcoin that keeps growing and crashing at breakneck pace so you're likely to lose money if you aim to use it for spending and not keeping.

THEN you have to go to a crypto exchange (where you again have to prove your identity) and trade some Bitcoin for Nano. Three to five days later maybe you can actually pledge something (while probably losing your money by the very nature of crypto). This graph shows that Nano has been on a downwards trend losing value for a while now:

No thanks. That's too many hoops for me to jump through to do anything on the platform, and I lose money in the process. There might not be any fees for the creator initially but the value of crypto is unpredictable, and Nano is clearly losing value as we speak. So all that supposedly saved fee cost is eaten up by supporters and creators losing money while holding on to bitcoin/nano.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HiEv and User_17502
U

User_17502

Guest
Guest
6. Your contribution are not obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, libelous, slanderous or otherwise objectable (as determined by us).

For something called "Adult Pledge" that's quite the restriction list. Is it a condition to protect yourself? How can devs know where you really draw the line then?
If we are going to be shilling alternatives then I am going to throw my hat into the ring.
Personally I talked with the support staff and legal team at Subscribestar and am more than satisfied with what I got.
And I personally think that Here is a link to their so you will know what you can and cannot post. (Which is not much.) My only problem with Subscribestar is that Paypal and Stripe are being bitches so you might not get payments through those but it might have to go directly into your bank or credit card.
If you discover you want to sign up with them, here is my
(I get a little cut of what Subscribestar charges if you use it. Plus it speeds up the process since I talked with them about bringing on Adult creators.)
But even if you don't want to throw some money my way I still suggest you start a Subscribestar as they will probably be the best bastion for people like us in the coming months.
 

TowerCrow

Newbie
Donor
Nov 22, 2018
36
89
If we are going to be shilling alternatives then I am going to throw my hat into the ring.
Personally I talked with the support staff and legal team at Subscribestar and am more than satisfied with what I got.
And I personally think that Here is a link to their so you will know what you can and cannot post. (Which is not much.) My only problem with Subscribestar is that Paypal and Stripe are being bitches so you might not get payments through those but it might have to go directly into your bank or credit card.
If you discover you want to sign up with them, here is my
(I get a little cut of what Subscribestar charges if you use it. Plus it speeds up the process since I talked with them about bringing on Adult creators.)
But even if you don't want to throw some money my way I still suggest you start a Subscribestar as they will probably be the best bastion for people like us in the coming months.
I'd hold off from creating a Subscribestar campaign for now. This is what one dev received as an email answer when he inquired about why his campaign is not approved yet:
"Hi there, We are about to launch a separate platform for your type of content (3d art / Adult games). The reason for that is simple: we really want your content to be safe, and you to be paid and not "de-platformed" for any subjective reason. We'll let you know once we launch it, it's gonna happen very soon! You are going to be in the first batch. We hope you understand and support our endeavor and that this delay won't interrupt any of your plans. "
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zioner35

gamersglory

Xpression Games
Donor
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2017
1,356
3,556
I Should say I do Have a personal ownership interest in Adult Pledge. Like I said before I am not making any money off of anyone. simply coming up with a legal solution to everyone's problem. Even though we are offing a free service there is still a liability. the Terms of service are up to me and my business partners and we are all creators ourselves. The Terms of service are boilerplate US legalese. Update: The language has been changed to allow Adult Game content. Only thins we can't allow is Real People porn( US laws on that are very complex to be In compliance), No Underage Real or Simulated. We designed the site for Adult game developers mainly also writers, animators, and CG masker.
 
U

User_17502

Guest
Guest
I'd hold off from creating a Subscribestar campaign for now. This is what one dev received as an email answer when he inquired about why his campaign is not approved yet:
Interesting. I guess I got in ahead of the curve. If that is the case then I would agree with your post. Hold off until the alternative platform is created so the content can remain safe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: greyknight

ReMeDy

Newbie
Mar 27, 2018
36
39
I just put my game on Steam:



But my back up plan is:

and from my website, if Steam Bans me.

As other's have mentioned subscribe star seems like it actually cares about creator freedom and welcomes this kind of content. I think it's better to start moving there now, while you can explain it to your followers, than to risk getting totally banned and loosing everything. With money, they can figure out the payment processor problem.

Fuck Patreon
lol I discovered your game got banned from an unlikely source:


Congrats for making the news; I guess plan-B will have to be in full swing.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Zioner35

chrisneet

New Member
Aug 29, 2018
14
7
So at this point if you are a Dev and want to publish a game you only have 3 ways to do it?

A) Want to publish an uncensored game with any kink or queer content? Well, you have to go to subscribestar.adult and deal with their high fees
B) lunch your own site, invest in a domain, a vpn and a safe pay/subscription method
C) stay in patreon, modify any type of kink content (then patched off-site like lewdpatcher in case for incest) or censor-delete any kind of content that aren't cool with patreon's policy.

The way i see this is, for a Dev who is starting or wants to start and don't have the backers and isn't know in the community of adult games is F**KED if the Dev want to include incest, hypnosis, bestiality of any kind of content that "glorifies" (sexual) violence in their game according to patreon's community guide line.

well that sucks :(