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Follow up - Steam Keeping Sexual Content ...kind of
7 years ago
Almost forgot to make this post. ^_^;;
There's a video version available here if people want to hear my voice being spoken. https://youtu.be/T6_90osI_bE
Good news. As you likely figured out from the title, Valve has sent out emails saying to disreguard there recent demands for censorship of various anime games.
Thanks to all the people who notified me of the update. Laini, Sedra, and ric 4567.
So, what happened? At this point, enough time has passed and enough digging has been done that we seem to have a complete picture of what happened. Or at least, as clear as we can reasonably expect. So let's go over everything from the top.
A traditional Christain morality group, formally known as Morality in Media, rebranded itself as the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation and adopted social justice buzzwords and tactics. I'm just going to call them Morality in Media as it's more memorable, and descriptive. Anyway, they demanded Valve remove or censor various games from Steam. Valve caved, sending out emails to various game developers demanding they censor their games or they'll be removed from Steam.
There was some fan backlash, ranging from hashtags, to a petition that was passed around. While Morality in Media did a victory lap.
A few days later, Valve sent out another wave of e-mails, this time telling developers to disreguard the previous emails, that they would be re-reviewing the effected games, and would get back to them. And there was much rejoicing.
This doesn't mean they are completely safe yet, as they are still under re-review, but it's unlikely that Valve is going to strip them from Steam. As mentioned last time, there is worse on Steam, and they likely don't want to lose money. As others have pointed out, they won't get rid of broken games and asset flips from Steam, so why put time and effort to policing anime boobs?
-Why backtrack?-
Why did Valve have a change of heart? Was it the petition, was it the backlash or the hashtag? Was it because the group was revealed to be right wing and not left wing? Honestly, we might never know.
But personally, I'd go with the story similar to what happened with Hatred. Some mid-tier employee was either sympathetic to the cause, or was just a little jumpy, saw the demands and sent out the emails demanding censorship. When the news reached the ears of the higher ups like Gaben, they poked their head in the door and told said underling to knock it off. They appologised and maybe gave said employee a smack on the back of the head with a rolled up newspaper.
This version of events is simple, and to me makes more sense than some of the other theories.
For example, the theory that Valve is willing to cave to SJW demands, and only walked back when they learned this was right wingers using the weapons of the left. I don't buy that because games like Hatred, HuniePop, The Witcher, The Last Night, and many other games SJWs hate are not only still on Steam, but are sometimes promoted. If Valve were sympathetic to Social Justice, they would likely either burry these games amongst all the shovelware and asset flips, or they would ban them outright. Same goes for theories about Campo Santo somehow controlling Valve.
Another theory I mentioned last time is the idea that Apple is somehow involved. Again, why walk it back?
That said, I won't be surprised if we start seeing a sort of "regular steam" and a "kids steam" for countries that are big on censorship.
-Say nothing-
Morality in Media haven't said anything about it Valve walking this back.
As I said in the original video, there was a small number of people who were quick to throw weebs under the bus, saying that only degenerate incel paedophile losers care about this, and they haven't said much since the walk back either. I found one that tried to laugh this off as neckbeards getting mad over nothing, but that's about it.
So yeah, that's pretty much everything. Chances are the review will say everything is fine. I don't know if I'll make another post if Valve bans them after the re-review, but as I said before, if that happens Valve will open the flood gates as anime fans report everything, while censors on the left and the right will use that victory to try and get other things banned.
There's a video version available here if people want to hear my voice being spoken. https://youtu.be/T6_90osI_bE
Good news. As you likely figured out from the title, Valve has sent out emails saying to disreguard there recent demands for censorship of various anime games.
Thanks to all the people who notified me of the update. Laini, Sedra, and ric 4567.
So, what happened? At this point, enough time has passed and enough digging has been done that we seem to have a complete picture of what happened. Or at least, as clear as we can reasonably expect. So let's go over everything from the top.
A traditional Christain morality group, formally known as Morality in Media, rebranded itself as the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation and adopted social justice buzzwords and tactics. I'm just going to call them Morality in Media as it's more memorable, and descriptive. Anyway, they demanded Valve remove or censor various games from Steam. Valve caved, sending out emails to various game developers demanding they censor their games or they'll be removed from Steam.
There was some fan backlash, ranging from hashtags, to a petition that was passed around. While Morality in Media did a victory lap.
A few days later, Valve sent out another wave of e-mails, this time telling developers to disreguard the previous emails, that they would be re-reviewing the effected games, and would get back to them. And there was much rejoicing.
This doesn't mean they are completely safe yet, as they are still under re-review, but it's unlikely that Valve is going to strip them from Steam. As mentioned last time, there is worse on Steam, and they likely don't want to lose money. As others have pointed out, they won't get rid of broken games and asset flips from Steam, so why put time and effort to policing anime boobs?
-Why backtrack?-
Why did Valve have a change of heart? Was it the petition, was it the backlash or the hashtag? Was it because the group was revealed to be right wing and not left wing? Honestly, we might never know.
But personally, I'd go with the story similar to what happened with Hatred. Some mid-tier employee was either sympathetic to the cause, or was just a little jumpy, saw the demands and sent out the emails demanding censorship. When the news reached the ears of the higher ups like Gaben, they poked their head in the door and told said underling to knock it off. They appologised and maybe gave said employee a smack on the back of the head with a rolled up newspaper.
This version of events is simple, and to me makes more sense than some of the other theories.
For example, the theory that Valve is willing to cave to SJW demands, and only walked back when they learned this was right wingers using the weapons of the left. I don't buy that because games like Hatred, HuniePop, The Witcher, The Last Night, and many other games SJWs hate are not only still on Steam, but are sometimes promoted. If Valve were sympathetic to Social Justice, they would likely either burry these games amongst all the shovelware and asset flips, or they would ban them outright. Same goes for theories about Campo Santo somehow controlling Valve.
Another theory I mentioned last time is the idea that Apple is somehow involved. Again, why walk it back?
That said, I won't be surprised if we start seeing a sort of "regular steam" and a "kids steam" for countries that are big on censorship.
-Say nothing-
Morality in Media haven't said anything about it Valve walking this back.
As I said in the original video, there was a small number of people who were quick to throw weebs under the bus, saying that only degenerate incel paedophile losers care about this, and they haven't said much since the walk back either. I found one that tried to laugh this off as neckbeards getting mad over nothing, but that's about it.
So yeah, that's pretty much everything. Chances are the review will say everything is fine. I don't know if I'll make another post if Valve bans them after the re-review, but as I said before, if that happens Valve will open the flood gates as anime fans report everything, while censors on the left and the right will use that victory to try and get other things banned.
