Random Gaming Thoughts

[J T]

Steam has seen quite an influx of eroge titles lately. The store front is starting to look like a soft porn anime shop. Yet, the games are being censored to blur out the nudity. I can't decide if I'm more annoyed with the fact that I'm seeing so many shitty visual novels with submissive and squeaky anime girls on the store front, or if I'm more annoyed that they are being censored while other games can revel in violence with nobody really caring, or when people do care, like with the game Hatred, the game ends up back on Greenlight with an apology from Valve.

I guess I value freedom of expression, but I also value quality and there are a lot of shitty visual novels being released these days that are cluttering up the Steam store and making it look like a cheap hentai shop.

[AppleQueso]

wtf is the point of a censored porn game?

[J T]

Or, wtf is the point of a porn game? You can't use a controller and watch porn at the same time. It doesn't work like that.

[dsheinem]

Or, wtf is the point of a porn game? You can't use a controller and watch porn at the same time. It doesn't work like that.

Yet another argument for the superiority of a mouse & keyboard setup for gaming.

[isiolia]

I can't decide if I'm more annoyed with the fact that I'm seeing so many shitty visual novels with submissive and squeaky anime girls on the store front, or if I'm more annoyed that they are being censored while other games can revel in violence with nobody really caring, or when people do care, like with the game Hatred, the game ends up back on Greenlight with an apology from Valve.

AFAIK, the Greenlight thing was before Hatred got rated. As it has since received an Adults Only rating, that'll likely keep it from actually showing up in the Steam store.

[MrPopo]

Steam has seen quite an influx of eroge titles lately. The store front is starting to look like a soft porn anime shop. Yet, the games are being censored to blur out the nudity. I can't decide if I'm more annoyed with the fact that I'm seeing so many shitty visual novels with submissive and squeaky anime girls on the store front, or if I'm more annoyed that they are being censored while other games can revel in violence with nobody really caring, or when people do care, like with the game Hatred, the game ends up back on Greenlight with an apology from Valve.

I guess I value freedom of expression, but I also value quality and there are a lot of shitty visual novels being released these days that are cluttering up the Steam store and making it look like a cheap hentai shop.

Are the games actually censored, or is it just the storefront? Because I can totally see the storefront being censored due to the lack of any real protection.

[dsheinem]

Are the games actually censored, or is it just the storefront? Because I can totally see the storefront being censored due to the lack of any real protection.

http://kotaku.com/the-sex-games-that-st ... 1680718912

[J T]

Are the games actually censored, or is it just the storefront? Because I can totally see the storefront being censored due to the lack of any real protection.

http://kotaku.com/the-sex-games-that-st ... 1680718912

Yeah, I had just seen this article before making my post. It is NSFW by the way.

[dsheinem]

Yeah, I had just seen this article before making my post.

Ah, I wondered if that was the case.

My take away from the article is that the censoring is basically the only thing that allows the games to be carried on Steam at all - Steam won't carry AO games and, without censorship, these games would clearly fall into that category (even if they aren't actually ESRB rated). I'm not sure what their rationale is about having a no AO games policy, but I suspect it is tied to fear of potential legal repercussions. In any case, it is the companies that make the games that censor them so that Steam will carry them...not Valve.

On the other hand, Steam allows users to post whatever they want to about the games including patches, workarounds, images, etc. So people who want the uncensored version can still get it with a very small amount of extra work.

As a proponent of free expression that also wants to see Steam stick around as a platform for all kinds of games, I guess I think Valve's current approach is probably the best way to handle it.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I didn't even know they had those on Steam.

If I was looking for survival based games, what would be suggested?