Poll of the Day > Credit card companies should not have this kind of power

(+) Yeah! (+)

willythemailboy posted...

That is exactly the regime utilities operate under now. They cannot refuse to service a strip club, for example, regardless of "reputational risk" or any other factor other than nonpayment.

I didn't know strippers took master card and visa. Where do they swipe them?

SinisterSlay posted...

Where do they swipe them?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9dff179d.jpg

Questionmarktarius posted...

...and the huge advantage credit card companies gain under this legislation, is that they'd be functionally immune from busybodies and firehoses.

You'd think that the credit card companies would be on board for this alone, but we'll see.

SinisterSlay posted...

I didn't know strippers took master card and visa. Where do they swipe them?

Because no strip club has a bar or anything, right?

willythemailboy posted...

You'd think that the credit card companies would be on board for this alone, but we'll see.

I'm still assuming they are.
This makes them less responsible, which is always a business goal.

willythemailboy posted...

Because no strip club has a bar or anything, right?

How do you pay for a dance at the bar?
It was bad enough when Canada phased out the 1 and 2 dollar bills and now we have to throw loonies and toonies at the strippers

SinisterSlay posted...

and now we have to throw loonies and toonies at the strippers

ouch

Okay Tyler Durden

willythemailboy posted...

That is exactly the regime utilities operate under now. They cannot refuse to service a strip club, for example, regardless of "reputational risk" or any other factor other than nonpayment.

I already posted the relevant parts of the bill.

AltOmega2 posted...

Okay Tyler Durden

Sounds like a plan.

Revelation34 posted...

I already posted the relevant parts of the bill.

I've been trying to agree with you for the last 20 posts but you just keep arguing anyway.

willythemailboy posted...

I've been trying to agree with you for the last 20 posts but you just keep arguing anyway.

If it was how they "operate now" then they would not have been able to blackmail Steam.

Revelation34 posted...

If it was how they "operate now" then they would not have been able to blackmail Steam.

I am describing how UTILITIES operate now, and saying this new law is effectively making payment processors operate under the rules utilities operate under. Thus my first post:

willythemailboy posted...

They're basically turning payment networks into a utility rather than a standard service. Your phone carrier, gas company, waste disposal service, etc. can't refuse service to you for being a convicted sex offender, but your bank and payment services currently can.

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Acting on their monopoly is making them visible for an anti-monopoly suit.

Isn't that happening to Google too?

Whatever. They'll get away with it. They always do.

SinisterSlay posted...

now we have to throw loonies and toonies at the strippers

Makin' it hail.

Flappers posted...

Isn't that happening to Google too?

Whatever. They'll get away with it. They always do.

Not if that new bill passes.

If anyone has a Reddit account, go here and tell people to call and email their credit card companies. The group behind this got them to do it with only a thousand calls/emails, and far more people than that have been hurt by this, so we can get them to back down with enough pressure: https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/1m7x5zc/after_steam_they_came_for_itchio/

Bat178 posted...

If anyone has a Reddit account, go here and tell people to call and email their credit card companies. The group behind this got them to do it with only a thousand calls/emails, and far more people than that have been hurt by this, so we can get them to back down with enough pressure: https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/1m7x5zc/after_steam_they_came_for_itchio/

Yep. Even more of a reason why we need that bill to pass. The only content like that that should ever be removed is if it's against the law.

Collective Shout is evil, they are like Jack Thompson but actually dangerous

To be clear, as I know not everyone follows this news, Visa has been refusing service to sites with anime porn and even IRL dating sites in Japan since a few months ago (long before these Collective Shout lunatics got involved) actually putting some of them out of business, with Visa Japan's CEO very openly and smugly claiming they can and will do whatever they want to "protect their brand".

Visa and Mastercard have also been called into congress several times about their abusive duopoly position, controlling 90% of the payments processing systems on the planet. To which they usually just roll their eyes to knowing congress can't do crap about it.

I feel like, if anything, based on their previous behavior, Visa and Mastercard wanted to start censoring anime games outside of Japan anyway, and just used these Collective Shout lunatics as their perfect excuse to do what they wanted to do already, while having them absorb the blame (which they are very proudly doing).

so a payment system is cancelling companies because they might get sued...

imagine if you could sue the Treasury if cash was used in a crime, ya?

Lokarin posted...

so a payment system is cancelling companies because they might get sued...

This is why i suspect the credit card companies are behind that legislation.
If they're banned from being moral guardians, then they're completely blameless.

Questionmarktarius posted...

This is why i suspect the credit card companies are behind that legislation.
If they're banned from being moral guardians, then they're completely blameless.

but in capitalism money is the moral guardian /s

Questionmarktarius posted...

This is why i suspect the credit card companies are behind that legislation.
If they're banned from being moral guardians, then they're completely blameless.

"This bill will say we have to do business when we don't want to"

"Good"

Revelation34 posted...

"This bill will say we have to do business when we don't want to"

"this bill means we don't have to cave to every pissed-off activist group anymore"

Revelation34 posted...

"This bill will say we have to do business when we don't want to"

"Good"

I think any time they receive money is a time when they want to do business, no matter what they say in public.

Questionmarktarius posted...

"this bill means we don't have to cave to every pissed-off activist group anymore"

It would be the opposite since there's a counter group to the original removal that includes the ACLU.

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mastercard-visa-under-fire-petition-payment-giants-not-police-legal-content-blows-1739406

Business magazines are noticing this now, and are angry at the credit card companies.

Revelation34 posted...

It would be the opposite since there's a counter group to the original removal that includes the ACLU.

you do be spouting words like you understand things, but are somehow unaware of credit scores.

Revelation34 posted...

It would be the opposite since there's a counter group to the original removal that includes the ACLU.

But less than 2000 screeching Karens apparently outweigh the ACLU and national governments.

ooger posted...

you do be spouting words like you understand things, but are somehow unaware of credit scores.

I didn't have a credit score in the 90s. Literally everybody on this forum except for PO and capt wouldn't have had one since everybody else would have been a minor in the 90s.

willythemailboy posted...

But less than 2000 screeching Karens apparently outweigh the ACLU and national governments.

It will get overturned if that bill passes. We just need a lot of people to contact their senators.

But you know if itch knew exactly what they had in the store they wouldn't need to carpet bomb the entire nsfw side of the store.

Revelation34 posted...

Literally everybody on this forum except for PO and capt wouldn't have had one since everybody else would have been a minor in the 90s.

I think more of us were born in the 1970s than you think.

Revelation34 posted...

It will get overturned if that bill passes. We just need a lot of people to contact their senators.

You're far more optimistic than I am. Compare this to the Stop Killing Games petition: 100,000 signatures to get anyone to even look at it vs. 1400 screeching Karens going from emails to action in like a week.

Vicaris posted...

But you know if itch knew exactly what they had in the store they wouldn't need to carpet bomb the entire nsfw side of the store.

I think they were told to nuke anything even remotely NSFW, not that they were told to take down some of it and they got excessively trigger happy.

willythemailboy posted...

You're far more optimistic than I am. Compare this to the Stop Killing Games petition: 100,000 signatures to get anyone to even look at it vs. 1400 screeching Karens going from emails to action in like a week.

https://action.aclu.org/petition/mastercard-sex-work-work-end-your-unjust-policy

Itch's new FAQ: https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq#is-adult-content-allowed

Easily the most disturbing thing on here is the ban on animal-related content. That means even SFW games starring anthro characters are banned, despite them having been a thing since the start of gaming and some of the biggest gaming franchises starring them. Vague "non-consensual content" is also really bad, too.

what's weird is that everyone knows porn is extremely profitable

so they're genuinely shooting themselves in the foot and saying they don't want boatloads of more money, since card holding companies make money on every transaction

this can't be shareholders, i don't even think this is ceo level, since their bottom line is to make more money, it has to be something above them.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

what's weird is that everyone knows porn is extremely profitable

so they're genuinely shooting themselves in the foot and saying they don't want boatloads of more money, since card holding companies make money on every transaction

this can't be shareholders, i don't even think this is ceo level, since their bottom line is to make more money, it has to be something above them.

What would be higher? The removed content isn't illegal in America so it can't be the government.

Revelation34 posted...

What would be higher? The removed content isn't illegal in America so it can't be the government.

The Heritage Foundation own the current government, and this shit is part of Project 2025.

Bat178 posted...

Itch's new FAQ: https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq#is-adult-content-allowed

Easily the most disturbing thing on here is the ban on animal-related content. That means even SFW games starring anthro characters are banned, despite them having been a thing since the start of gaming and some of the biggest gaming franchises starring them. Vague "non-consensual content" is also really bad, too.

How would you feel if it was NSFW Tiny Toon content @Bat178

sull56ivan2010 posted...

How would you feel if it was NSFW Tiny Toon content @Bat178

Lol wat.

Revelation34 posted...

Lol wat.

Bat had an obsession for a long time about the 90s cartoon Tiny Toon Adventures. I'm just wondering how he would feel if a company were to make an NSFW game based on that show. I just don't think he understands the darker side of content and what unhinged people will make.

That is a wild post.

Revelation34 posted...

What would be higher? The removed content isn't illegal in America so it can't be the government.

There are obvious answers to this that are mostly dismissed as conspiracy theories. The same people responsible for female characters being beaten with the ugly stick in western games but not in Asian games are also major investors in Visa and Mastercard. There's no "smoking gun" proof but anyone capable of pattern recognition can put 2 and 2 together.

sull56ivan2010 posted...

Bat had an obsession for a long time about the 90s cartoon Tiny Toon Adventures. I'm just wondering how he would feel if a company were to make an NSFW game based on that show. I just don't think he understands the darker side of content and what unhinged people will make.

Post #6.

Revelation34 posted...

Post #6.

Your feelings are hurt that others aren't siding with developers who make NSFW stuff. If it bothers you that much that those games no longer exist on Steam, then stop being in the hobby. Regardless of abuse of power, places like Steam and as of recent Nintendo (who have created stricter guidelines for Switch 2 development) are trying to stop low tiered slop from appearing.

sull56ivan2010 posted...

Your feelings are hurt that others aren't siding with developers who make NSFW stuff. If it bothers you that much that those games no longer exist on Steam, then stop being in the hobby. Regardless of abuse of power, places like Steam and as of recent Nintendo (who have created stricter guidelines for Switch 2 development) are trying to stop low tiered slop from appearing.

I have zero porn games on my Steam account. The issue is payment processors should not have that kind of power. Steam was not trying to stop them those types of games from being created. They were strongarmed into making the new rule.

Revelation34 posted...

I have zero porn games on my Steam account.

That's irrelevant. You having none doesn't change people not siding with NSFW developers.

The issue is payment processors should not have that kind of power.

And? A lot of NSFW stuff in adult games ain't exactly legal or toe that very thin line.

Steam was not trying to stop them those types of games from being created. They were strongarmed into making the new rule.

Good. The less of that crap, the better. Less clutter in the storefronts and more finding actual titles worth playing.

sull56ivan2010 posted...

That's irrelevant. You having none doesn't change the problem.
And? A lot of NSFW stuff in games ain't exactly legal or toe that very thin line.
Good. The less of that crap, the better. Less clutter in the storefronts and finding actual titles worth playing.

You claimed I was "crying" about it. It is completely relevant. All of the removed content is legal. There is no law in America about it. Also you literally have to disable the hide adult content option in settings in order to even see porn on there. Payment processors having the kind of power will always be a bad thing.

sull56ivan2010 doesn't know you can filter out NSFW games from showing up in the storefront?

ooger posted...

sull56ivan2010 doesn't know you can filter out NSFW games from showing up in the storefront?

It's enabled by default.

Revelation34 posted...

You claimed I was "crying" about it. It is completely relevant.

You having none of the porn games is irrelevant. You are basically crying that not everyone is siding with you and your stance. Your feelings are hurt that you aren't getting full support of what you're saying. Someone can not be a prude and still not be upset at NSFW stuff disappearing.

All of the removed content is legal. There is no law in America about it. Also you literally have to disable the hide adult content option in settings in order to even see porn on there. Payment processors having the kind of power will always be a bad thing.

Eye roll. No company, payment processor or not, is going to fully support NSFW games. Hiding the adult content doesn't mean the problem magically disappear.

sull56ivan2010 posted...

You having none of the porn games is irrelevant. You are basically crying that not everyone is siding with you and your stance. Your feelings are hurt that you aren't getting full support of what you're saying. Someone can not be a prude and still not be upset at NSFW stuff disappearing.
Eye roll. No company, payment processor or not, is going to fully support NSFW games.

I don't see any tears anywhere therefore there is no crying.

Good thing the payment processors are not the government then.