Adult Games Shouldn't be on Steam, but on Another Valve Storefront

[Interesting_name82]

Even though I play all the fucked up games on here, it annoys me how much they show up on my PC when scrolling through Steam's store. IMO Steam is not made for porn games or any adult-only games, nor is it ideal.
I cannot imagine giving my little brother access to Steam without proper filters (and those checkmarks aren't enough, I had to blacklist many tags). This has been on my mind for years and irks me each time when I see them. Imagine scrolling with family members to find coach games to buy only to see porn garbage.

Personally my ideal solution is somewhere in the middle, which is Valve creating another, completely separated, Storefront and account. I guess more like a spinoff site of the main one.
And this is just about "regular" adult games. Those with heavy "geners" like rape, incest (even the obviously changed-but-implied) should be just distributied with some other way, like itch or something (not really versed on adult stores, I use f95zone after all).

 

[dijitz23]

If only there was something that you had to check so you don't see that kind of stuff, but that would require personal responsibility and people don't believe in that.

 

[XforU]

That would make it even easier for payment processors to ditch it.

 

[suprisedcrankyface]

Even though I play all the fucked up games on here, it annoys me how much they show up on my PC when scrolling through Steam's store. IMO Steam is not made for porn games or any adult-only games, nor is it ideal.
I cannot imagine giving my little brother access to Steam without proper filters (and those checkmarks aren't enough, I had to blacklist many tags). This has been on my mind for years and irks me each time when I see them. Imagine scrolling with family members to find coach games to buy only to see porn garbage.

Personally my ideal solution is somewhere in the middle, which is Valve creating another, completely separated, Storefront and account. I guess more like a spinoff site of the main one.
And this is just about "regular" adult games. Those with heavy "geners" like rape, incest (even the obviously changed-but-implied) should be just distributed with some other way, like itch or something (not really versed on adult stores, I use f95zone after all).

Pretty much what i been saying for days in the other thread... adult games on steam are an overall loss for the brand (income vs reputational damage). Its a family friendly vendor that apparently is one tick box away from extreme content. That is a terrible optic (and idea). At the very least they should have launched 'steamy' the adult store front...

if their brief foray into porn had been tame they MIGHT consider it, but after the shit storm that has arisen I doubt they want to be anywhere near the adult space.

You would be better off hoping that the staff that thought it was a good idea at valve leave and startup somewhere that is looking to enter the adult game store market with some capital and no moral qualms about it (something like pornhub etc).

 

[dijitz23]

Pretty much what i been saying for days in the other thread... adult games on steam are an overall loss for the brand (income vs reputational damage). Its a family friendly vendor that apparently is one tick box away from extreme content. That is a terrible optic (and idea). At the very least they should have launched 'steamy' the adult store front...

if their brief foray into porn had been tame they MIGHT consider it, but after the shit storm that has arisen I doubt they want to be anywhere near the adult space.

You would be better off hoping that the staff that thought it was a good idea at valve leave and startup somewhere that is looking to enter the adult game store market with some capital and no moral qualms about it (something like pornhub etc).

You mean like how the internet is one search term away from porn as well. You are talking about brand reputation, Valve making an adult only store would still have backlash against their brand unless they made sure to hide their connection to it. Also, these people aren't upset over steam having an adult section, they are seething that it exists at all. Look at Dlsite they had to delist their games for anyone outside of Japan. Pixiv has something similiar. Patreon and other places have been hit as well. This is just the start, they hit the "problematic stuff" first, then they move to other things as well. It's really only a matter of time before they just try to hit porn in general.

 

[suprisedcrankyface]

You mean like how the internet is one search term away from porn as well. You are talking about brand reputation, Valve making an adult only store would still have backlash against their brand unless they made sure to hide their connection to it.

Many 'reputable' companies have majority shareholding in businesses that go against their 'core' ideals. But no one cares, if its different name & held at arms length like a stinky sock (also ready to be dropped/sold if there is any real issue). That said I dont think they would do it, particularly given the blowup that adult games has caused them.

Also, these people aren't upset over steam having an adult section, they are seething that it exists at all. Look at Dlsite they had to delist their games for anyone outside of Japan. Pixiv has something similiar. Patreon and other places have been hit as well. This is just the start, they hit the "problematic stuff" first, then they move to other things as well. It's really only a matter of time before they just try to hit porn in general.

Put your tin foil hat away, 'they are going to ban porn' if just fear mongering to try and make alot of people who don't care, care. 'Project 2025!' = well years over half gone and porn's still here.

 

[Infamyxxx]

I cannot imagine giving my little brother access to Steam without proper filters (and those checkmarks aren't enough, I had to blacklist many tags). This has been on my mind for years and irks me each time when I see them. Imagine scrolling with family members to find coach games to buy only to see porn garbage.

That's the whole point of having filters for adult rated games. So, that one can use them to curate their page appropriately. I don't imagine parents demanding hbo to stop making tv shows full of sex and violence would be any more sensible than, idk, making their kids go to bed at 8 or 9 and monitor their screen time instead. Your brother could access this site or worse, like the /gif/ and /b/ boards on 4chan and be witness to some of the most fucked up things humanity has to offer. And none of that would even require age verification or filters like Steam provides. My main argument is that it's not Steam's responsibility to monitor what kind of contents are being accessed by minors on it's site. It's their parents or guardians.

Also, the double standards applied to sex and violence in video games in the name of adult contents is nothing short of a comedy.

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

???

 

[anne O'nymous]

???
View attachment 5060406

How dare you use rationality and put the responsibility on the user?

I swear, hand holder are the worse people...

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

How dare you use rationality and put the responsibility on the user?

I swear, hand holder are the worse people...

And, tbh, the whole "kids might see it" argument is totally moot considering they can go on Youtube and watch Markiplier play Outlast.

 

[dijitz23]

Put your tin foil hat away, 'they are going to ban porn' if just fear mongering to try and make alot of people who don't care, care. 'Project 2025!' = well years over half gone and porn's still here.

Hmm it's almost like i said it's possible in the future and not right now. The best way to do something to prevent immediate backlash is to slowly chip away at it. I don't even know about project 2025 so I wasn't even talking about that, so thanks for assuming.

 

[Interesting_name82]

???
View attachment 5060406

Seems like people didn't read the post. The checkmarks don't hide a lot (example, anime hentai games and other garbage), I had to add many tags to blacklist which also caused false positives. And that's beside the suggestion, porn games should be on a separate Storefront. Not that GabeN or Valve will see this or care.

 

[Interesting_name82]

And, tbh, the whole "kids might see it" argument is totally moot considering they can go on Youtube and watch Markiplier play Outlast.

The difference between Outlast (which does have a small funny "adult" encounter) and adult-only smut games is... Stark, to say the least.

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

The difference between Outlast (which does have a small funny "adult" encounter) and adult-only smut games is... Stark, to say the least.

You think I mentioned Outlast because of the small rape scene and not... you know, everything else? Scrolling past some tits isn't going to harm a kid, seeing the shit in Outlast absolutely might.

 

[anne O'nymous]

You think I mentioned Outlast because of the small rape scene and not... you know, everything else? Scrolling past some tits isn't going to harm a kid, seeing the shit in Outlast absolutely might.

Come on, nowadays kids have all befriended the monsters under their bed. It's what the babysitter do with her boyfriend that is the real issue, everyone know this. /s because look like it will not be obvious for everyone.

 

[aura-dev]

A lot of adult games are available on itch.io (which also has an app for automatic updates). However, most players only buy video games on steam since they hate having multiple clients.

 

[MissCougar]

I'm fine with Steam having adult content because it's what people buy. If there wasn't a market for it it wouldn't be there.

I think if you go after steam You need to go after Google for showing bad stuff if you google stuff like hard dicks, or big boobs.

It's impossible to child proof life. I mean even before the Internet I was still seeing pornos with the boys or someone's stash of playboys and hustlers.

I think you can control the really bad stuff, but you have to control the makers not so much the distributors. But even then certain people will always not like everything because they want to be victims of everything and it's just another grift at the end of the day by these activists.

 

[Count Morado]

A lot of adult games are available on itch.io (which also has an app for automatic updates). However, most players only buy video games on steam since they hate having multiple clients.

Developers need to be aware, if they have content in their games that would have their accounts revoked on Steam or Patreon, that they are only staying on itch until itch is reminded of their Terms of Service regarding adult content and itch has to purge, just like other platforms. These terms have been in place since at least September 2015:



Same with developers on the adult version of Subscribestar, who has similar guidelines (not about payment processors - but about bestiality, rape, incest... and "

You must be registered to see the links

") since at least July 2022. EDIT: Oh wait, Subscribestar does have that in their TOS for their

You must be registered to see the links

since at least September 2019:

 

[suprisedcrankyface]

I'm fine with Steam having adult content because it's what people buy. If there wasn't a market for it it wouldn't be there.

I think if you go after steam You need to go after Google for showing bad stuff if you google stuff like hard dicks, or big boobs.

It's impossible to child proof life. I mean even before the Internet I was still seeing pornos with the boys or someone's stash of playboys and hustlers.

I think you can control the really bad stuff, but you have to control the makers not so much the distributors. But even then certain people will always not like everything because they want to be victims of everything and it's just another grift at the end of the day by these activists.

A better example would have been youtube as it HOSTS the things being viewed (a search engine returning results isn't the same as hosting and sharing information they themselves store). And in the case of youtube, they DID partition off a child friendly portion because the safeguards in place were being deliberately circumvented by uploaders and some viewers.

Steam could attack it from that angle as well, which might go down better with all parties - set up a separate steam store for games BELOW a certain age restriction and keep it gated from the rest of the titles.

In the other thread a dev who sells on steam defended selling porn games to those it shouldn't be sold to on the grounds that 'they would get it somewhere unsafe, get viruses and be blackmailed by Ugandans'. No, that is NOT an exaggeration.

The fact is that you need safeguards designed to stop bad actors from circumventing them.