"But this is just about porn games!" Yes, and weird religious fascists regularly mischaracterize queer people and queer art as inherently pornographic, they shouldn't be given an inch because there's no line for them, no cut-off point, they'll never be satisfied. Do you think they'll stop at porn?
Its not just porn, they classify Wikipedia as high risk media, videos from Gaza as adult media and are blocking children from domestic violence and sexual abuse resources. And so much more...
I can't help but watch all this and be reminded of the Mary Whitehouse initiated censorship we saw in the 70s & 80s... It never stops at porn. "Think of the children! They must be protected from porn.. And sex.. And horror.. And graphic violence.. And implied violence.. And values we don't like..."
Whitehouse and her organisation almost never watched the content that they tried to censor, and I’m betting it’s the same with this lot. They’ve just seen the titles and some screenshots and decided that nobody should be allowed to see it.
Yes, must protect the kids from the wicked ninja turtles!
“Americans were so concerned about violence in children’s shows back then. But at the same time, it didn’t stop them from going to Southeast Asia and killing people.”—Osamu Tezuka
Never once in history have they ever stopped at porn, not once.
These people always go after porn as a stepping stone. It lets them learn how best to make it illegal to be trans or queer or any combo there of.
This. It's the old "we all agree that (narrowly-defined thing) is wrong, yes?" tactic. Once everyone agrees, it's just a matter of pushing on the borders farther and farther until there are no borders.
Also whats wrong with porn games? If what they’re showing isn’t harming anyone then they’ve got a right to exist
And if you’re keeping it out of reach of minors it should be fine. But these types aren’t content with keeping it away from just minors.
The thing about being queer is that, much like being Jewish, every single moral panic has a funny way of actually being about you somehow.
Yeah. What’s stopping them for you not buying a MK game for being too violent
We only managed to get to the point where the upcoming release of GTA VI is gearing up to be a widespread cultural event regular press is covering and for which people are broadly considered dweebs if they raise a stink about the violence and sex by relentlessly bullying moral guardians for decades.
I mean sex workers have been dealing with this for decades. We frequently have our bank accounts shut down if they suspect what our work is and if we’re found to be using PayPal we’re banned for life
Project 2025 specifies that all queer people and especially trans people will be classified as pornographic and therefore subject to obscenity laws online and in public, and we've all seen how well things have gone when this plot was ignored for the last year
Honestly, what’s wrong with pornographic games?
Nothing
Like. That’s where people need to stand first and foremost I feel. Too much concession with people even suggesting “porn bad” and not “raise your shitty kids because we won’t do that for you”
And porn games are cool too to begin with, they shouldnt be censored because of dumbass reasons. And it doesnt take much for them to label furry as being porn, LGBT content as being porn. If they dont like it, it can be porn. And the same censors can be broad and used on even SFW content.
Bugs Bunny isn't even wearing pants, if that's not porn what is?
The new rules Itch says they're being forced on specifically call that bestiality.
Fascists never have to justify why they consider something porn or immoral. They can just say something is wrong and that's it. But creators have to constantly prove our right to create and be supported
Adults should also be allowed to buy porn if they want to.
And even if it is just about porn games (it's not), why the fuck should they be allowed to determine that I can't buy a porn game? Fuck em!
If our society decides it's okay with banning porn, anytime people want to ban something they'll call it porn.
AC:Odyssey had lesbians in it. LESBIANS, my god. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!1!
There is a weird infantilisation going on that I just can't understand. The desire to have those website blockers that schools have for the internet but expanded to the entirety of your life. I remember finding all the ways to get around those things as a teen but some people yearn for it. Baffling.
They don't want it for their own lives. They want it for everyone else's.
I agree but my errant thought I'm more talking about the people that submit to it, that would say "but they banned the bad thing". The sort of people that don't want to just hit the block button and are kinda ambivalent even receptive to authority. It feels like they haven't grown up.
"Non-consensual content" is on the updated list for itchio. So that so vague it's not JUST about porn games anymore. Guess what falls under that? Everything people don't wanna see. Why? because of the vagueness. Batman's origin is gonna get an update. But hey, at least his parents will be alive
Baldur's Gate 3 absolutely would count as porn to the people running these campaigns.
I don't know if it would. That implies a degree of consistency and understanding of the media in question I'm not sure I can believe from the people who organize these types of campaigns.
I would say all they understand would be "has sex, is porn".
Just like serial killers, they start with most vulnerable. After sexwork they'll go for LGBTQ and just like serial killers they won't stop on their own.
It’s not just about porn. There’s a reason the right calls trans and gay people perverts. Porn basically means anything these people don’t like and it’s not gonna stop here
Porn is first next is any kind of 'indecency' then any kind of violence (thats not state sanctioned of course) until its all banned. I guarantee the people at the top hate videogames in general and think theyre just filth and a waste of precious time that you could be using to fill their pockets
That's what I was thinking there are lots of +18 games that probably are going to be next in line.
Already started. UK is under full censorship now bc of this act. Games are censored. Information and videos from Gaza censored as adult media. They classify Wikipedia as high risk media and want children blocked. Children are banned from domestic violence , sexual abuse and sex ed resources.
I mean, it wouldn't take much to classify games like Stellar Blade as porn
These religious anti-porn people tried to ban Mass Effect back in the day. So it's not just about porn. They'll try to ban everything. You always have to fight them.
even if it WAS just porn it would still be fascist but it is of course worse because sex workers are always the canary in the coal mine
I just do some search proof and BOY THE BUTCHERING...Like i was expecting something less bad. This NEED to be stopped. bsky.app/profile/reds...
If you don't realize how far these moralistic crusaders will go if allowed to dictate terms, you're going to be in for a shock, because there's no end to what they'll seek to curtail by calling it obscene or straight up lying about it. You've not lived through censorship if you don't realize that.
they want to be the only ones with a voice, and they'll use all their power to get what they want
This is the same stepping stone as going after trans rights. They start with women and children because they know that's easier for people who don't know to get on board with and it's the same porn and porn games. And no it won't end there because it never ever does.
I mean, they already lied about basically all of the steam games they fingered. And the one stand-out example an argument might be made for depiction of child abuse wasn't exactly gratifying the situation so much as using it to reinforce moral anger in the player.(Ready or not's drugged kid)
When I was a teenager, a bunch of prudes calling themselves the Parents Council got Slipknot banned from performing in Ireland for over a decade with claims of obscenity and acts of violence. They could do that to something as innocuous as a metal concert with vague claims of obscenity.
I've spoken before about film censorship when I was growing up, so I'll make it short, but quite a lot of films were banned here in Ireland, like Natural Born Killers, probably banned because Woody Harrelson's slutty mesh top or something something promoting violence. This was all recent history.
And yes, porn by itself should be worth protecting, but I'm speaking specifically to the people who think it'll stop at things they find icky. It won't. Never has.
Porn industry hold a LOTS of problems. But don't get me wrong. Censorship isn't and will never be the solutions. Even worst, making it illegal will just make the workers lost the human rights they already have trouble to maintain.
And yeah it isn't like we genocides entire population just because the pope or some Christian kings didn't like them.... "Sodoms"... Crusades... Witch hunt... Just to name fews most knowned ones.
You want to believe in a god. Good for you. No really if it make you feel better I'm happy you are! But don't use that faith to hide or justify your hate.
Saw this just yesterday! A little reductive but the general sentiment I agree with of course
Especially these days when the vast majority of porn is made by the performers themselves rather than production companies
It always starts with porn, it will end with all free speech, porn is just the easiest target to start with
Not that long ago just showing ankles was concidered as obscenity...
Woody is too sexy for Ireland
Okay, I have never seen this slutty mesh top and it is quite something 👀
It's all the Satanic Panic with the numbers filed off.
I saw them play a few times back then, the only obscene violence was happening to the drums
I mean, with the itchio list alone you'd ban Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, Read Dead Redemption 2, probably the whole Mass Effect trilogy and that's only skimming the surface.
One thing everyone has to understand is that even beyond the pornography element we are dealing with people who consider pop culture in general to be demonic.
you can't engage with them in good faith, either. like these people see themselves as the morally-ordained warriors of God, and in their madness they ruin and destroy and still think they are immovably in the right.
like some of the underlying theology is straight-up apocalypticism. their moral compass is utterly warped and I think some people really don't get that
They already went after Detroit Become Human before this, a game that only ever depicts abuse and sexual exploitation in a negative light.
isn't the saying "give them an inch, they'll take a mile?"
Porn is inherently worth defending anyway. Even the gross porn I hate.
D&D, Doom, fucking Pokémon. These ghouls will go after and have gone after anything they view as even slightly subversive. Don't give them an inch.
Another approach I’ve thought to this, is we need to let these idiots block payment gta. Or at least try to. If gta 6 is prevented from being sold because it has content that these backward terfs don’t approve of, so so many gamers will riot.
I posted this elsewhere, because I've noticed this "porn clause" being paired up with another one lately... bsky.app/profile/did:...
Yeah, I saw that, too. And the 'furries are bestiality' clause, too. And the 'no non-consensual' ... like, the turtles don't consent to Mario stomping them!
It... would be kinda *weird* if they did, wouldn't it?
Oh, I guess that's another rule violated! 'No degrading content'.
It gets better? ... remember Shiek?
Uhh...?
You don't know about Shiek and Zelda? Oh boy... See, Ocarina of Time has our dear princess hiding herself as an (apparent) male ninja going by Shiek. And it's like a plot point, not something which you can kinda skim over. Draw your own conclusions as to what objections can be made there.
I know that exists, but not the relevance to the itch rules? Also, there are other sheiks, too.
Oh, just that if one was really intent on certain targets, Nintendo has a LOT of options. It's weird once you start looking with an eye of crazy people intent on bending the rules to do whatever they want.
People forget Fox lying about Mass Effect
I'm so fucking tired of puritans forcing their own sexual insecurity on the rest of us.
Is there anything I can sign or do as an American?
ACLU petition
File a complaint with a payment processor. Preferably by phone :) bsky.app/profile/acva...
My game got banished from itch a few days ago. Yes, it has pornographic scenes in it. No, it's not a porn game. It's a story I want to tell that happens to have buggery in it. We have to fight this with all we have. And we will win.
Itchio already shadow banned or outright removed a bunch of queer games with no NSFW, they did it instantly.
It legit feels like they were EAGER to do that at a moment's notice....
And anything they think MIGHT be, because they LOVE overfiltering and you can forget whitelisting things that have the chosen Bad Words (see everything that has lost funding over the prefix 'trans-'). My middle school in 1997-98 filtered the entirety of Germany and all JPG files as adult content.
When they went after Twisted Sister in the 90s it was under the guise that the lyrics were pornograpic (even when that interpretation was solely in the minds of the PMRC)
While this is true, I also think an appropriate is that porn should be legal and accessible. Please stop moralizing my dick. Stop telling anyone that they should be ashamed of enjoying erotic fiction. We are adults and if we want to see porn, let us.
“All books can be indecent books Though recent books are bolder For filth (I'm glad to say) is in The mind of the beholder When correctly viewed Everything is lewd (I could tell you things about Peter Pan And the Wizard of Oz, there's a dirty old man!)” - Tom Lehrer
If you give the fascist enemy even a tiny fraction of a millimeter, they’ll take miles. They must be stopped
I don't think the people who think THIS is "hardcore pornography should be deciding what video games and TTRPGs adults can purchase and other adults can make money selling to those who wish to purchase them.
(I'm assuming this book has been challenged by these evangelical freaks. Seems like one they would go after, but I didn't actually confirm it)
Oh yes, it was deeply controversial among American fundamentalists
We let them succeed in taking down one form of expression, they won't stop until all that's left is what they want us to see. I didn't love 1984 as a story, but like... hello?
Porn itself is worth defending. No queer "next steps" needed.
Yeah they literally talked about going after grand theft auto next 💀
Someone was trying to tell me LGBTQ games weren't affected but I also have seen someone say the total search results being nearly half of the results from before the changes. There's no way half of the LGBTQ games were Adult games.
I call it the Cancer Offensive. They’ll start by attacking and demonizing a small group then they’ll use that argument to include a broader spectrum of perceived offenders and continue to spread like a cancer until they can control the narrative.
Melinda Tankard Reist is the woman behind Collective Shout. She successfully attacked Detroit: Become Human because it depicted domestic violence. There's no world in which that game is porn yet that is one of her targets.
They accuse us of twisting language, but that's one of their oldest tricks.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY57...
Basically already happened! The first game they reported was banned _in some countries_ not because of its themes alone; it was deemed too violent (was a cishet incest rape game). But then the TERF "charity" appointed themselves world police based on what they _disliked_. bsky.app/profile/maoc...
It's the same crap they did with interracial relationships back in the 60s and 70s--and trying to do again now. Portray them as pornographic so they can justify bigotry under the guise of being "anti-porn."
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/72... If you're in the UK it's also worth signing this petition and writing to your MP against government age restriction censorship which has already been used to restrict stop smoking, advice for sexual assault survivors, and of course, LGBTQ+ content in the UK
