An open-source gaming store platform initiative.

[xanimerl]

In light of recent news about censorship, I believe we need a new platform where developers and gamers can collaborate. This platform shouldn't be controlled by any single company or individual and should not be influenced by external forces, such as payment processors exerting pressure.

I envision an open-source platform for sharing and purchasing games, a non-profit entity that is self-sufficient in its operations, and most importantly, built by and for the community.

To make this a reality, we first need motivated and interested individuals to come together (games and developers). We must align around the common goal of transparency, ensuring that the platform remains true to its community-driven roots.

We must identify problems and find solutions before executing the work. We must write specifications for all edge cases.

To be more specific, the community should play a central role in screening and curating games. To ensure the integrity of the project, the platform should only retain a minimal fee from sales to cover development and operational costs. Monthly profit and expense reports should be made publicly available. Decision-making for the platform should be democratic, involving valuable members of the community, including game developers, through a voting system. The community should always consider the perspectives of gamers.

If you're interested, check out:

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Please understand that there is nothing built yet; it's simply a ground to chat and try to create a better place for everyone.

P.S.

I'm aware that I might not be the perfect candidate to lead this initiative, as English is not my native language, and I'm just a small developer who doesn't really know anyone in the gaming industry or community.

Ultimately, I'm looking to find like-minded individuals to collaborate and create a well-oiled platform where everyone brings their unique skill set and a strong commitment to free speech and fighting censorship.

This is a repost of

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[c3p0]

purchasing games

How? Have you found wide accepted methods that can substitute Visa and Mastercard?

Also, simple no. Their are some very loud voice (eg.

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) that have pushed their agenda. We, as in the adult game community, would need to get ourself our own voice and then let this voice be heard. Let them know that we don't be idle and silent, that we get our voice out too and push back.

Eg. their are this two petition running currently, one worldwide:

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And the one for US people only:

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I'm sure this have been written many times already.

 

[xanimerl]

How? Have you found wide accepted methods that can substitute Visa and Mastercard?

Most won't like the answer :S, but the alternative to payment processors is using crypto technologies.

I agree it isn't a widely accepted method, but that's where the platform would serve its purpose. The platform would act as a public interface to facilitate the logistics between transaction exchange and game discoverability.

It would be a place truly for developers and gamers.

With crypto, we can process payments worldwide, censorship free, serving as a fantastic tool to combat these payment cartels like Visa, etc.

their are this two petition running currently, one worldwide:

Yes, and these are great and really important to vote for if you can! One the other hand, I also believe that we should try to build something new at the foundational level.

 

[c3p0]

With crypto, we can process payments worldwide, censorship free, serving as a fantastic tool to combat these payment cartels like Visa, etc.

Most likely not, as in 99% their is still a bank behind. Or can you buy you grocery in crypto (etc.)?

 

[xanimerl]

Most likely not, as in 99% their is still a bank behind. Or can you buy you grocery in crypto (etc.)?

Yep, I get the underlying hypocrisy behind it, but I just feel like we can still try, regardless.

I think It's honest to believe it could work: users of the platform pay the game developer with crypto, and the game developer decides on their own free will if, when, and whether they want to convert back to fiat. The real issue to tackle is ensuring that the onboarding process is as simple as using a credit card. It could be as simple as having a crypto wallet integrated into the platform, where users only need to top up, etc...

We can introduce many external service already available to opt-in/opt-out from crypto.

 

[MissCougar]

I think I'm leaving AI CG NTR phone games behind. They have been officially cucked by new game distribution platforms.

This is my new kink. Don't kink shame me.

Tell me more about how the community will help keep you legal, daddy. Yeah that's the stuff. I hear this works great for discord servers and the community is great as policing itself.

Im running my finger along my slick Visa, sometimes dipping it into my tight MasterCard. Talk payment processors to me baby. Be sure to mention crypto as an alternative because that's like an instant get-off for me.

 

[xanimerl]

I think I'm leaving AI CG NTR phone games behind. They have been officially cucked by new game distribution platforms.

This is my new kink. Don't kink shame me.

Tell me more about how the community will help keep you legal, daddy. Yeah that's the stuff. I hear this works great for discord servers and the community is great as policing itself.

Im running my finger along my slick Visa, sometimes dipping it into my tight MasterCard. Talk payment processors to me baby. Be sure to mention crypto as an alternative because that's like an instant get-off for me.

Lool, that was funny. Well, I guess the Discord server purpose is to chat about the policies, goals, decisions, and development of the conceptual platform itself. There will be absolutely no gaming content or promotion. It's just a place to assemble people, make votes, and verify game developers. All gaming content should be within the platform, and nothing illegal should be available on it, based on where it is hosted.

All in all, I'm just trying to gather people who want to make a change and do more after signing petitions.

 

[MissCougar]

Lool, that was funny. Well, I guess the Discord server purpose is to chat about the policies, goals, decisions, and development of the conceptual platform itself. There will be absolutely no gaming content or promotion. It's just a place to assemble people, make votes, and verify game developers. All gaming content should be within the platform, and nothing illegal should be available on it, based on where it is hosted.

All in all, I'm just trying to gather people who want to make a change and do more after signing petitions.

All fine. Just the problem isn't another site, it's how to pay people in money they can use, and how to do it legally and within payment processor expectations.

 

[morphnet]

In light of recent news about censorship, I believe we need a new platform where developers and gamers can collaborate. This platform shouldn't be controlled by any single company or individual and should not be influenced by external forces, such as payment processors exerting pressure.

What are you going to register yourselves as? What requirements are needed to register? Which types of contracts are you going to use for the controlling members? What steps have you / will you be taking to make sure you are in compliance with the financial laws and regulations in all the countries you plan to operate in?

I envision an open-source platform for sharing and purchasing games, a non-profit entity that is self-sufficient in its operations, and most importantly, built by and for the community.

What are the requirements to qualify to become a non-profit? How do you / those in control in the future plan to meet and maintain those requirements? What financial plan do you have or are planning on using to remain self-sufficient? What safe guards do you plan to have in place to regulate the community as it builds the platform and maintains it after launch?

To make this a reality, we first need motivated and interested individuals to come together (games and developers). We must align around the common goal of transparency, ensuring that the platform remains true to its community-driven roots.

Are you sure that's the first steps you need to take?

We must identify problems and find solutions before executing the work.

Before identifying problems wouldn't it be better to first find out if you can do this legally and financially?

We must write specifications for all edge cases.

Wouldn't it be better to get legal experts to write these out?

To be more specific, the community should play a central role in screening and curating games. To ensure the integrity of the project, the platform should only retain a minimal fee from sales to cover development and operational costs. Monthly profit and expense reports should be made publicly available.

Have you looked into tax laws? Have you looked into where you want to operate from?

Decision-making for the platform should be democratic, involving valuable members of the community, including game developers, through a voting system. The community should always consider the perspectives of gamers.

Which business model are you going to use for this? what contingencies will you have in place? what safe guards will you have in place? what restrictions will you have in place?

P.S.

I'm aware that I might not be the perfect candidate to lead this initiative, as English is not my native language, and I'm just a small developer who doesn't really know anyone in the gaming industry or community.

Ultimately, I'm looking to find like-minded individuals to collaborate and create a well-oiled platform where everyone brings their unique skill set and a strong commitment to free speech and fighting censorship.

This is a repost of

You must be registered to see the links

You are putting forward a business proposal without mentioning the business, financial or legal aspects. If you and the others are truly motivated to do something like this, your very first steps should be first, finding out what options are actually available to you that come closest to fitting what you are looking for and then your very next step is to consult with a lawyer or lawyers (it's always good to get a second opinion). That way you can find out if the scope of what you are proposing can actually be reached or where you will need to make changes.

This doesn't just apply to this thread either.

 

[xanimerl]

Hey, such a nice post with a lot of great questions.

The project I have in mind doesn't involve registering a business or anything of the sort. I think I explained myself incorrectly. It's not a non-profit business, but just a platform that doesn't make any money, sustaining itself through community support.

To be specific, I just want a group of people to come together and create a gaming store platform software under the MIT license.

Off the top of my head, the software would manage:

• Payment through self-custodial crypto wallets.
• Hosting and serving content through the torrent protocol (game developers are responsible for seeding their game, and gamers should seed the game from their library as well).
• Indexing and discoverability of games would be the centralized part.

If implementing a fee system brings legal issues, then fuck it. It should be simple: be transparent about the costs of the centralized part of the system and ask for donations to pay the monthly bills. This should only amount to pennies since it's mainly about linking data. As for development costs, well, I guess we work in our free time, and all game developers can contribute back to the community while we're at it.

Now, I know it might be a logistical nightmare to serve content with torrent. For example, what about version control and distribution? But I think it's doable to come up with something efficient technically.

I might be crazy, XD.

 

[Hagatagar]

This is the umpteenth announcement of such a site/service/business this week.

How about you guys do it togehter instead of each try their own?

 

[c3p0]

This is the umpteenth announcement of such a site/service/business this week.

How about you guys do it togehter instead of each try their own?

Seeing that each week we have x threads for the same topic?
I have more faith that I become the next lotto millionaire.

 

[Hagatagar]

Seeing that each week we have x threads for the same topic?

Or something happend (like the itch.io/steam stuff or UK/upcoming EU age varification) and instead of replying in one of the plenty threads:



Because spreading the discussion thin is soooo good...

 

[Echo389]

Most won't like the answer :S, but the alternative to payment processors is using crypto technologies.

I agree it isn't a widely accepted method, but that's where the platform would serve its purpose. The platform would act as a public interface to facilitate the logistics between transaction exchange and game discoverability.

It would be a place truly for developers and gamers.

With crypto, we can process payments worldwide, censorship free, serving as a fantastic tool to combat these payment cartels like Visa, etc.



Yes, and these are great and really important to vote for if you can! One the other hand, I also believe that we should try to build something new at the foundational level.

I have an issue about crypto, is there's a need for us normies to earn it without mining or purchasing it. If we want to treat it like currency then we have to obtain it as such, but another big issue is every Youtuber and their second cousin poisoned it with their scams and the last ten years every country and company over-mined the more valuable ones.

How can crypto be of any use here if we have to purchase it with legitimate currency using the very payment processors that backed us into this corner to begin with?

 

[Thackerweil]

I think this issue calls for honesty and openness.

1. Can we in any way stand up to the digital giants (Visa, MasterCard, PayPal)? – More no than yes. In the foreseeable future (and even already right now), this will likely be limited to public outcry and a few scandals. But the so-called "truth" will still be on the side of those loud activists. That said, I absolutely do not deny that some kind of backlash against the giants is possible — as was the case with OnlyFans — and I believe that’s our best bet. But the gaming community will never be able to create its own payment service. I can’t imagine that happening even in my wildest dreams.
2. Do we need a new platform for communication? Frankly, F95Zone already does a pretty good job fulfilling that function. It’s a well-established ecosystem nowadays with a healthy community. I think it’s better to strengthen what already works well rather than start something new from scratch, which has very little chance of success.

In summary, here’s how I see the situation:

1. In the near future, there will be a battle just to publish any kind of game on Steam, Patreon, and other monetizable platforms. The outcome of that fight is highly uncertain.
2. For the adult game community, this is already a complete shock — and it’s definitely not going to get easier. The most realistic course of action is for the F95 administration (or other platforms), just like the developers themselves, to actively promote crypto wallets and get users to use them. Right now, that’s the only viable method of defending against the payment services. This needs to be developed now, because it will be much harder later.

For many developers, this will be a blow they’ll never recover from. For the sites, the losses could be enormous if it ever comes to a total ban on all such games. Crypto will most likely become the main way of earning, and sites like F95 will become the primary platforms for promotion.

At least, that’s how I see things from where I stand.

 

[c3p0]

The most realistic course of action is for the F95 administration (or other platforms), just like the developers themselves, to actively promote crypto wallets and get users to use them. Right now, that’s the only viable method of defending against the payment services.

That has, as often written multiple issue:

• Many of those crypto coins are (very) volatile
• Your losing a lot of the market
• You still depend on the same payment processor you don't want to use as in changing crypto to fiat and vice versa

 

[Thackerweil]

That has, as often written multiple issue:

• Many of those crypto coins are (very) volatile
• Your losing a lot of the market
• You still depend on the same payment processor you don't want to use as in changing crypto to fiat and vice versa

I won’t try to defend crypto schemes in any way, because to be honest, I barely understand how any of this works. As far as I can tell from a superficial assessment of the situation:

1. How you earn crypto — that’s your own problem. During that time, you’re under the watch of the authorities.
2. When you want to convert it into real money, banks will check you just the same for any signs of illegal activity.

However, the point is — you're not doing anything illegal or anything that breaks the law. You’re simply running a business that other players in the market happen to disagree with. And at the same time, when transferring funds from one account to another, there are no intermediaries — no payment processors, no banks, no one.

Yes, the market is volatile, most coins are absolute trash, and there are plenty of risks with these services. I don’t know the nuances or details at all, since I’ve never dealt with this personally, and it would be foolish of me to make any definitive claims. But I simply see that other adult sites — and even F95 — are doing fairly well using crypto wallets. So why not follow the same path?

Of course, if better ideas come up, I’ll be more than happy to hear them — but for now, this is what we’ve got.

 

[morphnet]

Hey, such a nice post with a lot of great questions.

The project I have in mind doesn't involve registering a business or anything of the sort. I think I explained myself incorrectly. It's not a non-profit business, but just a platform that doesn't make any money, sustaining itself through community support.

To be specific, I just want a group of people to come together and create a gaming store platform software under the MIT license.

Off the top of my head, the software would manage:

• Payment through self-custodial crypto wallets.
• Hosting and serving content through the torrent protocol (game developers are responsible for seeding their game, and gamers should seed the game from their library as well).
• Indexing and discoverability of games would be the centralized part.

If implementing a fee system brings legal issues, then fuck it. It should be simple: be transparent about the costs of the centralized part of the system and ask for donations to pay the monthly bills. This should only amount to pennies since it's mainly about linking data. As for development costs, well, I guess we work in our free time, and all game developers can contribute back to the community while we're at it.

Now, I know it might be a logistical nightmare to serve content with torrent. For example, what about version control and distribution? But I think it's doable to come up with something efficient technically.

I might be crazy, XD.

You're intending on setting up funding and or sales on an international level so even if you're not intending on making it a business my advice remains the same, get professional legal advice.

 

[c3p0]

But I simply see that other adult sites — and even F95 — are doing fairly well using crypto wallets. So why not follow the same path?

Because, although I don't have the numbers, the zone get money from two source: donors and ads.
First donors, yes, the donate money, but I don't know how much.
This month, the donation is $443. Is that much? For the zone and its running cost, it could be. Then the zone also have ads, who I still believe cover the bigger part of the cost for around 30 servers.

And for the donation, currently member count is 9 115 427, so each of them donate $0.000048/month. The average a subscriber is willing to donate on Patreon is $2.25/month - what would be over $20 million for the zone per month based on its user base. Therefore, the user base of the

You must be registered to see the links

on Patreon is less than 9 million users and less than $20 millions/month (

You must be registered to see the links

has around 33 000 paid subscriber and the highest tier is

You must be registered to see the links

, so $660 000/month, at best).
Thus, I assume that the average will be much less, if only crypto would be used, estimations are difficulty, but I just say it would be 1‰ of the current numbers and then that would be only $20 000/month for all adult developers or more than 50% would earn $0.1 or less per month.

At least with $20 million/month we can get our shadow loard Lerd0 an estate worthy of a cat of his standing.

 

[Thackerweil]

Because, although I don't have the numbers, the zone get money from two source: donors and ads.
First donors, yes, the donate money, but I don't know how much.
This month, the donation is $443. Is that much? For the zone and its running cost, it could be. Then the zone also have ads, who I still believe cover the bigger part of the cost for around 30 servers.

And for the donation, currently member count is 9 115 427, so each of them donate $0.000048/month. The average a subscriber is willing to donate on Patreon is $2.25/month - what would be over $20 million for the zone per month based on its user base. Therefore, the user base of the

You must be registered to see the links

on Patreon is less than 9 million users and less than $20 millions/month (

You must be registered to see the links

has around 33 000 paid subscriber and the highest tier is

You must be registered to see the links

, so $660 000/month, at best).
Thus, I assume that the average will be much less, if only crypto would be used, estimations are difficulty, but I just say it would be 1‰ of the current numbers and then that would be only $20 000/month for all adult developers or more than 50% would earn $0.1 or less per month.

Well, I doubt I have anything meaningful to say in response to that. We are doomed. I suppose all that’s left is to try to bite back through mass campaigns if those activists ever seriously go after the entire adult game sector.