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Collective Shout Purge Sees Horror Games In Crosshairs (nmiagaming.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Collective shout seems to have expanded its scope: games like cult classic Fear And Hunger have been removed from Itch.io, while horror game VILE: Exhumed has been delisted from Steam just a week after launch.

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[–] 78 points 1 year ago (8 children)

The worm that keeps getting put into payment processor's brains is that they might somehow be held criminally liable for games people purchase. It's like telling a bus driver that they might be liable because they gave a ride to someone who robbed a store.

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  • [–] 59 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    NOW that they've started curating, that has become way more likely to actually happen. They could have claimed to be a neutral carrier before. Actively filtering means they've decided to take on that responsibility, and the consequences for missing stuff.

    They're morons

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  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago

    That what I just dont get about this.
    If payment processors think they are liable because these games cause harm then where does it stop? Supermarkets sell cigarettes and so on...

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I've heard this reasoning a few times. I don't buy it. Illegal content is already illegal. You aren't allowed to sell it. Policing particular content beyond that doesn't cover your ass. In fact, it implicates you if you do process payments for illegal content.

    I've never seen any argument from them that this is the reasoning. The only rule they need is that you aren't allowed to sell illegal content on your platform. That covers everything. Going beyond that implies there's a different reason. They're being influenced by something else other than the law.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    Illegal content is already illegal.

    I think it actually is more complicated. There are anti obscenity laws in the United States where these companies (Steam and Itch.io, but also Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and Paypal) are based. The way those laws have been applied have been mostly permissive in the recent past, but I think there's reason to believe that this could change quickly. We may find ourselves in a situation where the highest court decides that this has all been illegal this whole time. Procedural and legal norms are feeling a bit shaky these days. People wonder why payment processors would bend over backwards on behalf of some group of aussie weirdos, but maybe being on their good side isn't the concern. Maybe it's that they're trying to self regulate to get ahead of any government action. Collective Shout may just be highlighting to them the most risky instances, making it so that they have no plausible deniability with regards to the content they are processing payments for.

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