First Uncensored Adult Game for Steam gets Banned in 28 Countries

[pas008]

lol this is fun

just like when someone told be about movie below her mouth on netflix had to lock my account on after watching it a few times lol, but so kids couldnt watch

 

[MandoPanda]

14 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

break the internet.

Because how how amazing Japanese porn is. I so can't wait for that day...

[Arika]

funny thing is, if the developer finds another platform to sell on, they would likely make more money because people are going to buy it thinking " why did this game get banned in so many countries" therefore exposing more people to the game than if it was left untouched.

[FPSwithaWacomTablet]

41 minutes ago, Arika S said:

funny thing is, if the developer finds another platform to sell on, they would likely make more money because people are going to buy it thinking " why did this game get banned in so many countries" therefore exposing more people to the game than if it was left untouched.

They do have other platforms, that of which shall not be discussed here. 

[Wh0_Am_1]

17 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

But.....................

  Reveal hidden contents

Why is Japan on the list?

 

did they forgot to pixelate the genitals?

 

Funny isn't it? Usually it is Japan censoring their content for foreign nations E.G the US, but yet this time it is them censoring foreign content...

[Supportsneedlove]

15 hours ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

referring more to some of the african countries, not even sure how many people there can afford a computer, much less a game like this.

Yeah, I know. It was just me trying to be funny

 

[mr moose]

19 hours ago, GlobalPentahedron Corp said:

I heard a few years ago the people who run Australia's censorship are super religious.

Wow I just did an image search for the game. This game is a safety risk - it will poke your eyes out!

Nah, hardly anyone in Australia is super religious (less than 5% of the population).  It's just something people use to either gain votes (think Tony Abbot) or use to argue a hidden agenda (they are only banning it because they are religious).  There are guidelines that define how things get rated and a failure to rate = a ban.   Websites, movies and games are rated and only banned (not rated) if they can be bought by people under 18 (steam allows this) you'll also find that there are no locally hosted porn sites unless they have actual age verification (not just a question with a button you press).  The problem here is not the content of the game (because it hasn't been reviewed) but the fact steam can't/won't age  verify which means the dev risks having to pay the costs if their is an issue with it's listing.

 

18 hours ago, leadeater said:

So when are those 28 countries banning pornography? Inconsistent idiots, oh no not a age restricted game! Think of the children!

 

What exactly do they think this achieves lol.

Australia applies the same rules to pornography as they do to movies and games.  The reason it won't get to sale on steam in Australia is because of the ability of underage people to buy it.  If they submit it for review and the game gets an RC (restricted content) rating they can sell it to adults. There is no law saying adults can't buy the game in Australia but there is a law saying RC rated games cannot be sold to underage people, just like porn.   

 

[mr moose]

3 hours ago, Arika S said:

funny thing is, if the developer finds another platform to sell on, they would likely make more money because people are going to buy it thinking " why did this game get banned in so many countries" therefore exposing more people to the game than if it was left untouched.

Exactly, if they just put the game on a cd/dvd, they can sell it at sexy land, ClubX, crazy horse and all the other adults stores.  The only way a sex based game is going to get banned in Australia is if it depicts or educates on how to engage in sex with children, animals or in a criminal manor.

[leadeater]

24 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Australia applies the same rules to pornography as they do to movies and games.  The reason it won't get to sale on steam in Australia is because of the ability of underage people to buy it.  If they submit it for review and the game gets an RC (restricted content) rating they can sell it to adults. There is no law saying adults can't buy the game in Australia but there is a law saying RC rated games cannot be sold to underage people, just like porn.

And what is the minimum age in Aus you're allowed to get a credit or debit card? Debit cards may have changed things a lot but most places you have to be 16 or 18 to get anything with Visa/Master Card capability, so yea 16 maybe be a problem.

 

Steam really doesn't make it any easier to buy restricted adult content than any other platform if you have the capability to pay for it online.

 

Also far as I can tell the game has been banned outright, it's not Steam specific however the popularity of Steam made them "see it".

 

Edit:

Also most of the adult games on Steam also sell on other websites, uncensored. My original statement still applies, inconsistent idiots achieving nothing.

[mr moose]

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

And what is the minimum age in Aus you're allowed to get a credit or debit card? Debit cards may have changed things a lot but most places you have to be 16 or 18 to get anything with Visa/Master Card capability, so yea 16 maybe be a problem.

 

Steam really doesn't make it any easier to buy restricted adult content than any other platform if you have the capability to pay for it online.

 

Also far as I can tell the game has been banned outright, it's not Steam specific however the popularity of Steam made them "see it".

 I read this to mean they decided not to sell in those countries, not that it was banned.

Quote

Germany have laws against selling to people under 18 and require software to verify ages which steam does not currently have. Thus every country on the list has a law that potentially makes selling this game illegal and as such we cannot sell to that.

 

You can get a debit Visa from as young as 12.   regardless of that though, steam does not offer age verification. Which it needs to do in order to sell restricted content in Australia, just like porn sites and adult shops. 

 

[leadeater]

32 minutes ago, mr moose said:

You can get a debit Visa from as young as 12.   regardless of that though, steam does not offer age verification. Which it needs to do in order to sell restricted content in Australia, just like porn sites and adult shops. 

Steam does or warns, the age verification on Steam is no different to any other Adult/pornographic website or online store to buy theses games. All are literally a simple click or assumption of age based on having a Visa/Master Card, the only difference is the wording Steam uses likely is not compliant with law which would take them less than 15 minutes to remedy.

 

 

The above is simply a Steam issue, the platform itself doesn't make it any easier to purchase something you are not legally allowed to due to your age.

 

32 minutes ago, mr moose said:

I read this to mean they decided not to sell in those countries, not that it was banned.

Yep, the steam community page was much better explained than the article was. They just aren't putting on Steam for those countries.

[DeLorian]

10 hours ago, AimTuxx said:

Being banned in all of these countries is going to gain more interest in the game. If you're asking me, those countries did the game a favor. 

This. It will only raise curiosity even if that game turns out to be a complete utter crap. But any forbidden fruit is sweeter. I imagine with something like NordVPN or PIA you can easily bypass that. Don't fap, because God/Jesus/ whatever is watching you!

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

Steam does or warns, the age verification on Steam is no different to any other Adult/pornographic website or online store to buy theses games. All are literally a simple click, the only difference is the wording Steam uses likely is not compliant with law which would take them less than 15 minutes to remedy.

 

 

The above is simply a Steam issue, the platform itself doesn't make it any easier to purchase something you are not legally allowed to due to your age.

 

That's just the problem, it isn't age verification, it's just asking you to say your old enough.   There are very few porn sites hosted in Australia for this very reason, age verification is messy and no one wants to do it for porn anyway.  Which is probably why steam won't do it. 

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

Yep, the steam community page was much better explained than the article was. They just aren't putting on Steam for those countries.

From what I read they did put it up but started to get complaints, which could mean anything from angry grandmothers sending rude emails to official letters of inquiry from government officials.  So they decided not to sell it, which means in Australia it very likely hasn't been reviewed for a rating yet.

[leadeater]

1 minute ago, mr moose said:

That's just the problem, it isn't age verification, it's just asking you to say your old enough.   There are very few porn sites hosted in Australia for this very reason, age verification is messy and no one wants to do it for porn anyway.  Which is probably why steam won't do it. 

There is no way to do age verification online, it's impossible because the only methods available are ToS with consent agreement and assumption based on having a Visa/Master Card. This is sufficient in Australia already (far as I know, or doesn't get dealt with), Steam can do that if they wish and it would comply like everyone else are.

 

Having a Steam cache in Aus doesn't make them any different to anyone else, they all have cache servers or use services like Akamai cache etc.

 

Adult content is not the only thing that lacks proper verification and requires no more than agreeing to ToS or a signature with no actual check with legal consequences or liability. It's harder to get a loan or other kind of store card/debt than it is to access Adult content.

[mr moose]

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

There is no way to do age verification online, it's impossible because the only methods available are ToS with consent agreement and assumption based on having a Visa/Master Card. This is sufficient in Australia already (far as I know, or doesn't get dealt with), Steam can do that if they wish and it would comply like everyone else are.

The only way to do proper online only age verification is to also have access to some very private pre verified information (I.E drivers license or birth certificate), that is information you don't want a private online entity having.  You can't verify age without also verifying identity.  Which is were the big problem lies. 

 

There was a proposal in the UK  a little while ago for an age verification card, you went to a shop and showed the salesperson your DL or BC, then they sold you a card with a code on it.  Sites could use that code to verify that you were indeed 18+,  because theoretically you can't get the card unless you are, just like you can't buy alcohol unless you are.  That would work very well in this situation because it provides a way to verify age without identity. But like most things suggested by a government committee it got poo poo'd for very stupid reasons.

 

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Having a Steam cache in Aus doesn't make them any different to anyone else, they all have cache servers or use services like Akamai cache etc.

Which is why the game is on offer in some countries but not others. 

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

It's harder to get a loan or other kind of store card/debt than it is to access Adult content.

For very good reason.

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Which is why the game is on offer in some countries but not others. 

On Steam, you can likely buy it elsewhere in most of those countries online. Spotlight issue, Steam is known and easy to see.

 

4 minutes ago, mr moose said:

There was a proposal in the UK  a little while ago for an age verification card, you went to a shop and showed the salesperson your DL or BC, then they sold you a card with a code on it.

We actually have that, it's called an "18+ Card". 

http://www.18plus.org.nz/

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

On Steam, you can likely buy it elsewhere in most of those countries online. Spotlight issue, Steam is known and easy to see.

 

We actually have that, it's called an "18+ Card". 

http://www.18plus.org.nz/

No, not like that.  

 

The proposal was that they could mass produce cards with a scratch off panel that has number key on it (similar to the apple itunes vouchers),  that key can be used like a discount voucher code online,  except all it does is verify the users as 18+.  In order to get the card you have to buy it from a newsagent or similar.  So just like selling alcohol,  the shop is only allowed to sell it to people who can prove they are old enough.  That way you can verify your age to any website without giving them any personal details at all.    This system might not be fool proof (nothing is) but it gives websites a way to actually verify age, it gives users a way to verify age without compromising personal identity, it avoids the whole mess about security and only data. 

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, mr moose said:

The proposal was that they could mass produce cards with a scratch off panel that has number key on it (similar to the apple itunes vouchers),  that key can be used like a discount voucher code online,  except all it does is verify the users as 18+.

And how is that any different, no way it would be a free service so why not have a permanent card that is tied in to an online age verification service. Temporary card doesn't really make much sense.

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

And how is that any different, no way it would be a free service so why not have a permanent card that is tied in to an online age verification service. Temporary card doesn't really make much sense.

It wouldn't be free but it also wouldn't be expensive, there is no need for it to be more than $1 a card and the card can have multiple codes on it (if a card had 5 codes on it then I could prove my age to 5 different websites for $1 as opsed to the NZ age card which cost $50. 

 

But the big difference is that this doesn't tell the website anything except prove you are over 18,   There is no personally identifiable information within the code, is simple proof of age.

[mr moose]

8 minutes ago, leadeater said:

And how is that any different, no way it would be a free service so why not have a permanent card that is tied in to an online age verification service. Temporary card doesn't really make much sense.

Also, let's be honest, how many websites are you going to sign up to that you need to prove your age?  steam, GOG, 3-4 porn sites?  maybe 15 max. that's $3 and no having to go to the post office with your documents and have your photo taken, you got to the corner store and ask for a can of coke and age pass, you come out with change from a fiver and proof of age for websites you'd rather they didn't know who you were.

[leadeater]

9 minutes ago, mr moose said:

But the big difference is that this doesn't tell the website anything except prove you are over 18,   There is no personally identifiable information within the code, is simple proof of age.

And neither would an 18+ card, you're giving them a number not the literal card, it's a valid number or it's not. Online verification service would do a validity check on behalf of services that use them but would not store any actual data and it's sole purpose would be their ability to hook in to multiple different identity authenticators like NZ Hospitality 18+ card, like online payment processors.

 

Edit:

You're also stuck on that example card being $50, it's $50 because basically no one gets one because it's useless and you need something that verifies you are 18 to get it like a drivers license.

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

And neither would an 18+ card, you're giving them a number not the literal card, it's a valid number or it's not. Online verification service would do a validity check on behalf of services that use them but would not store any actual data and it's sole purpose would be their ability to hook in to multiple different identity authenticators like NZ Hospitality 18+ card.

so the difference would be that in one instance the government (or whoever they contract has all your personal information on file for verification and possible know what websites you used it on plus it costs you $50 or the other option is there is no personal information on file anywhere, the same verification process can happen to validate the card number you have is legit and it costs you less than a pie.

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, mr moose said:

so the difference would be that in one instance the government (or whoever they contract has all your personal information on file for verification and possible know what websites you used it on plus it costs you $50 or the other option is there is no personal information on file anywhere, the same verification process can happen to validate the card number you have is legit and it costs you less than a pie.

Ahh no, see edit. Think online payment processors. If you object to this idea stop paying for stuff online.

 

Zero personal information would be given or possible to get. Card number only, nothing else.

[Thaldor]

@leadeater and @mr moose, you are in the very core problem why there really isn't a good age verification on any site or service. Problem really isn't how it's done, there's a lot of ways how it could be done, problem is that every country has it's own laws and demand different level of verification and getting something global would need so much cooperation between coutries and their governments to make laws or make ammentments that it's just impossible.

[leadeater]

Just now, Thaldor said:

@leadeater and @mr moose, you are in the very core problem why there really isn't a good age verification on any site or service. Problem really isn't how it's done, there's a lot of ways how it could be done, problem is that every country has it's own laws and demand different level of verification and getting something global would need so much cooperation between coutries and their governments to make laws or make ammentments that it's just impossible.

That's pretty much why a middle man would be required like payment processors, to deal with all that crap.