Since today Germany has blocked Adult games from the Steam store.

[Leeduva]

While I can't say anything as I'm not a German and unable to test it. However, I would like to point out that this doesn't mean a lot one way or another. The point is that steam is a massive company which has the eyes of just about everyone. The others you mentioned, well not so much. While law is supposed to be forced without bias, most government officials are old and out of touch with the internet. Double that for those who would be more likely to be in favor of such censorship.

We see this all the time with specific companies/websites flying under the radar while others may get nuked to oblivion. Look at Patreon banning incest games after the public backlash, yet subscriber star walked out unscathed. This is just a minor example.

Furthermore, it could be that Valve has knowledge about things that the other sites simply don't have access too. Perhaps there's a threat of a new bill being passed and Valve simply wants to get ahead of the curve while Nutaku and the others have not received the information? Or perhaps a notable party/politician wants to push for such a bill? Or, even the possibility of a related bill already being in place, but was unenforced and now some politician is looking to push the issue?

I stand by the idea that lack of verification being the issue to make absolutely no sense. In all honestly there really is no way to prove it one way or another except to wait.

Perhaps you are right I doubt it. I don't think valve know anything about Germany changing the law I think it valve being valve. In other words it easy to ban eroges from steam then to actually fix up the verification process. And let's be honest steam never give a damn or respect Eroge dev. And let be honest as much as the most shitty Eroge on steam can make money it not enought where steam would or even should care.

 

[chainedpanda]

Perhaps you are right I doubt it. I don't think valve know anything about Germany changing the law I think it valve being valve. In other words it easy to ban eroges from steam then to actually fix up the verification process. And let's be honest steam never give a damn or respect Eroge dev. And let be honest as much as the most shitty Eroge on steam can make money it not enought where steam would or even should care.

Yes, as long as Eroge makes money Valve would not pull the content off their platform. I do agree, this is why it makes no sense that Valve "randomly" started to require age verification. If Eroge was costing them money to host, then they would have pulled them all. Pulling it out of one country. According to Google, Germany remains one of the most important countries for the gaming industry, the largest in Europe. While this does not translate 1:1, this should give us a starting point on the potential revenue that adult games provide them.

But, no. I don't really agree with the idea that Valve doesn't care about adult games. They have received a fair bit of negative publicity and public outrage about adult games both before and after Valve began to host them. Despite this, Valve has continued to press forwards and maintains the games on their platform. This indicates to me that either; a. They are fighting censorship or b. Adult games make them enough money to balance the PR problems, and I highly doubt it's "a" for a company like Valve.

Yet why is it Germany? If this is just "Valve being Valve" what made them make the change? Why is it that all of a sudden this age verification is a big deal? Something has to have caused this change. I am not denying that Valve has deliberately decided to cut Germany off, but the real issue is "why did they do it."

 

[Diconica]

Good you answer my question. Now let me say this I don't think size has anything to do with this at all. Because if what your saying is the case. Steam would be that last place they would hit. Because they would be banning Dlsite,Nutaku,DMM.r18 because those site would be easier to deal with steam. The reason why they haven't been touch because their gear toward adults. You won't see these sites I listed promoting games to nonadult. Or sell games that for every one. Steam on the other hand promote and sell games to anyone. Steam promote themself as a platform for everyone (including kids).

Actually Germany and other jurisdictions tend to go after who they think they can get the most money out of first and that if they can effect a large company they can use that to intimidate smaller people.
Most likely Steam/ Valve got some sort of notice from whatever German authority is over that issue. Rather than try and deal with a court case they did the same thing I did with my sites and simply blocked the content from that region.
It's not hard to regionally block a location. However, I always put up why I blocked the people when they tried to reach it and then tell them if they have an issue bring it up with the authority causing the problem.
I have yet to see anything like that in the EU region get fixed. Guess most those living under the EU like being ordered the fuck around. Haven't seen them raise hell over the stupid new IP laws they got just an example.

 

[Succubus Hunter]

Yes, as long as Eroge makes money Valve would not pull the content off their platform. I do agree, this is why it makes no sense that Valve "randomly" started to require age verification. If Eroge was costing them money to host, then they would have pulled them all. Pulling it out of one country. According to Google, Germany remains one of the most important countries for the gaming industry, the largest in Europe. While this does not translate 1:1, this should give us a starting point on the potential revenue that adult games provide them.

But, no. I don't really agree with the idea that Valve doesn't care about adult games. They have received a fair bit of negative publicity and public outrage about adult games both before and after Valve began to host them. Despite this, Valve has continued to press forwards and maintains the games on their platform. This indicates to me that either; a. They are fighting censorship or b. Adult games make them enough money to balance the PR problems, and I highly doubt it's "a" for a company like Valve.

Yet why is it Germany? If this is just "Valve being Valve" what made them make the change? Why is it that all of a sudden this age verification is a big deal? Something has to have caused this change. I am not denying that Valve has deliberately decided to cut Germany off, but the real issue is "why did they do it."

If I were to take a shot in the dark, I am guessing the credit card companies were a part of this problem as well.

Actually Germany and other jurisdictions tend to go after who they think they can get the most money out of first and that if they can effect a large company they can use that to intimidate smaller people.
Most likely Steam/ Valve got some sort of notice from whatever German authority is over that issue. Rather than try and deal with a court case they did the same thing I did with my sites and simply blocked the content from that region.
It's not hard to regionally block a location. However, I always put up why I blocked the people when they tried to reach it and then tell them if they have an issue bring it up with the authority causing the problem.
I have yet to see anything like that in the EU region get fixed. Guess most those living under the EU like being ordered the fuck around. Haven't seen them raise hell over the stupid new IP laws they got just an example.

I could see that being a part of the problem as well. Germany must be losing money like crazy with it's failed social policies. Not That money has to be made up somewhere and sadly that is usually at the expense of the net contributors.

 

[Interesting_name82]

Can't blame them when a good chunk of those games are about incest or something that isn't quite... Ethical.

I mean it's why I'm here but let's not forget that it's illegal

 

[TheHighSpire]

And people wonder why brexit happened when theres nations like germany voting on things in EU.

You clearly don't know much of Brexit if this is your take on it.

 

[Succubus Hunter]

You clearly don't know much of Brexit if this is your take on it.

No, he has the right idea.

 

[Turning Japanese]

Can't blame them when a good chunk of those games are about incest or something that isn't quite... Ethical.

I mean it's why I'm here but let's not forget that it's illegal

Yeah, it'd be a goddamned tragedy if someone did something unethical in a video game. No doubt they'd end up some sort of crazed sex fiend and raping their entire extended family.

 

[Hadley]

Its incredible how stupid people here are. The title is completely wrong. GERMANY HAS BLOCKED NOTHING! Valve decided to block Games, Germany could not care less. Valve knew that its technically illegal to sell Adult-Games without Age-Verification and since they are too lazy to implement a Age-Verification they just banned all Games.

 

[rf96]

Its incredible how stupid people here are. The title is completely wrong. GERMANY HAS BLOCKED NOTHING! Valve decided to block Games, Germany could not care less. Valve knew that its technically illegal to sell Adult-Games without Age-Verification and since they are too lazy to implement a Age-Verification they just banned all Games.

Or perhaps they didn't want to deal with too much personal data from their users.

 

[Hadley]

There is no Personal Data with Age Verification Systems. That would be fucking illegal.

 

[Endrju]

Yeah Germans are the worst when it comes to censorship, bastards. Will have to move out at some point

 

[moskyx]

There is no Personal Data with Age Verification Systems. That would be fucking illegal.

Erm... how do you truly verify age without gathering user's real data? A bith date is no personal data to you? And no, gathering a birth date is not illegal as long as it's clearly stated why they ask you that and for what purposes, and they can guarantee a decent protection for those data against misuse

 

[Hadley]

Erm... how do you truly verify age without gathering user's real data? A bith date is no personal data to you? And no, gathering a birth date is not illegal as long as it's clearly stated why they ask you that and for what purposes, and they can guarantee a decent protection for those data against misuse

IDs have a Hash and all new IDs also have the Online-Verification build in, but nobody is using it.

If you are using the Hash-Method you just have to type in a Number on your ID which confirms your Age without using any personal data.

 

[MirageGarden]

DL Site is now dead too. At least from the googleresults.

htt ps://twitter .com/BishoujoNEWS/ status/1403781796156878859 ?s=20

 

[JustHereTofap123]

Aren't the laws getting tighter in Germany? I think I read something about §184. People from Germany won't be able to play some games from this site (and others) since the characters look too young, for example : Dating my Daughter.
Correct me if Im wrong.

 

[rf96]

Aren't the laws getting tighter in Germany? I think I read something about §184. People from Germany won't be able to play some games from this site (and others) since the characters look too young, for example : Dating my Daughter.
Correct me if Im wrong.

I can guarantee that German people will be able to play games from F95.

 

[SirDregan]

Sorry for necromancy and a bit of offtopic, but I can't open the site dlsite.com anymore.
Looks like, Germany now is blocking DLsite.com...

The site works fine VPN, but without, I have this:





I don't have access for whole 3 days now.

 

[Rethos]

Sorry for necromancy and a bit of offtopic, but I can't open the site dlsite.com anymore.
Looks like, Germany now is blocking DLsite.com...

The site works fine VPN, but without, I have this:

View attachment 3060652

View attachment 3060661

I don't have access for whole 3 days now.

I can confirm this.

But it's also kinda weird, because they even made a German translation for their page.



Also, doesn't Ci-en belong to DLsite? I can access that one just fine.

What's going on? Did out shitty government found out about this site and demanded it to be blocked as well?

 

[msz]

Wow so many wrongs in this thread. There is no censorship in Germany, nor does Germany or the German government censor or block anything. It is the companies that chose to do so. It is easier for them than to act according to law. In other words, it is easier to block a country from accessing your site or certain products then to develop an age verification system. There is also a reason why porn is not displayed in public stores. It is simply made for youth protection. If you like it or not, that is another story. Those laws however exist in pretty much every country even in the US. In the US this is called AO rating. Which prevent public display or advertisement. This is also the same reason for game in Germany not being sold uncensored in some cases - because there would be no public display allowed. However of course you can buy them and also have them. Just companies think they lose money if they cannot sell on public NON AGE VERIFIED platforms or stores.

Get your facts right and don't start talking about censorship or government issues if you are clearly having not the slightes idea of what is going on.

So Steam / Valve actively and on their own choice prevents the display of hentai/porn games to German customers to avoid legal issues. Which can simply be cleared by age verification beyond a drop down box.

DLSite is the one blocking Germany, not the other way around - for the same reasons.

in fact a country with active censorship laws is Japan, the country you all love to get games from with mosaic CENSORSHIP. At least in other countries you can get your porn without that right? And if there is non mosaic versions they are either modded or EXPLICITLY made for sales outside of Japan.