Steam Gaming Service Removes A Number Of Adult Games Following Pressure By Credit Card Companies, Paypal Blocks Steam In Much Of The World

 

If you're a fan of game with mature themes, there's been a development on Steam that will likely leave you worried and/or upset. It seems following pressure from credit card companies, Steam has taken a number of adult-rated games off it's list for sale. 

 

In a PC Gamer article, Value, which owns Steam, was reported as saying, "We were recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks. As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store."

 

Earlier, Steam had enacted a new, and vague, rule about banning "Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers."

 

An article in The Guardian stated the pressure by the credit card companies was due to pressure on them by "Collective Shout," a group seeking to ban adult content from Australian Internet access, saying the corporations were "facilitating and profiting from rape, incest and child sexual abuse game sales."

 

The result has been a backlash. On change.org, a petition was started protesting the censorship of the games, "not because they're illegal, but because they offend the personal values of executives or activist groups," going on to say, "These same payment processors allowed platforms like OnlyFans to operate with minimal oversight, despite multiple credible reports and lawsuits alleging the presence of real sexual abuse content involving real-life minors. That is a criminal failure of responsibility. Yet, when it comes to entirely fictional depictions, these same companies act swiftly — shutting down creators, restricting access, and acting as global censors." 

 

So far, the petition has gotten over a quarter million signatures. One who left a comment identified himself as a member of the LGBTQ community, "Banning sexual content never stops there, it always include non-sexual things. As such the fight to protect people’s right to sexual expression is vital for protecting my right to exist." 

 

Mastercard eventually responded, but denied making any pressure on Steam, "Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations."

 

To add to Steam's troubles, Paypal became unusable in most of the world as an option to pay for Steam purchases. It was reported in The Gamer only users in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, and countries which use the Euro can still do so. At first, Valve offered no reason as to why, but later would explain, "In this case, one of PayPal’s acquiring banks decided to stop processing any Steam transactions, which cut off PayPal on Steam for a number of currencies"

 

As of now, it is unclear when the delisted games will be restored, or when Paypal will be fully useable again. 

 

Sources: PC Gamer, The Guardian, The Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun 

 

Bixyl Shutan 

 

Flickr Limiting Adult Images To Paid Accounts, Limits on Private Images

A number of Second Life residents, notably content creators, have plenty of images on the Flickr photo service. So some may be affected by a couple changes last week, announced in the Flickr blog.

Today we’re announcing some upcoming changes to our Terms of Service that will help us continue to preserve the art, expression, history, stories, and memories of all Flickr members for the next hundred years. These changes fall into two distinct buckets, and will affect Flickr free members.

The first change is that adult images, or "restricted or moderate content," will be limited to paid accounts, or Flickr Pro members. And those with free accounts can no longer upload them without risk of deletion. "Moderate" is defined as partial nudity, such as bare breasts and bottoms. "Restricted" is defined as full-frontal nudity and sexual acts. It's up to users to label pictures as such. If a Flickr moderator finds a picture they see as incorrectly labeled, an account 's rating may be changed so it's not defined as safe.

The second change has to deal with pictures that can't be seen by just anyone, but are restricted in who can view them, or "non-public photos." Flickr is now limiting free accounts to fifty pictures with restrictions on who can see them. Those who have more without upgrading to a paid account risk having pictures deleted.

We love being entrusted with your photos—but we love seeing them get discovered, added to groups, and submitted to photo competitions even more. We’d never turn you away if you just want a safe place to store a lifetime’s worth of images, you’ll just need a Pro membership to do so.

Flickr Pro costs $8.25 USD per month, or $6 a month when billed annually ($72 a year), or $5.54 a month with a two year plan ($132.96 for two years).

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Announcement: Furry Fashion Changing Sim Rating to Adult

To Our Valued Patrons,

We have big changes coming to Furry Fashion and we want to make sure everyone is in the loop so things go smoothly!

2018 is bringing in a new Furry Fashion, we will be converting from a mature sim to an adult sim. So what does this mean for you?

It means more merchants, new themes, and new attractions!

Of course, it also means new rules. We want to be clear that we do not plan to be a "Yiff" sim, there are enough of them as there is. We will be welcoming adult attachments with some restrictions, and we will be having (private) adult attractions.

This also means we will be disallowing child avatars and products on sim as well. But fear not! We will have a separate FF branch for our merchants and patrons that enjoy these!

Thank you for taking time to read this, we hope 2018 will be a killer year for us and we look forward to working with you!

FF Management

Editors Note: Talking to owner Amethyst Crystal, she explained that the final decision was made only after lengthy discussion with the staff, including listening to the concerns of those with reservations about changing the sim rating. Certain behaviors are still not allowed, and the security personnel will still be enforcing those rules.

Press Release: 2013 "Boobiethon" Fundraiser

The Sixth Annual BoobieThon in SL will be a fantastic, yet bittersweet, addition to this October.

It is not without regret that we have decided that this will be the last year for the BoobieThon in SL.  We have found such enjoyment in getting to know survivors in our community, sharing art, builds, and irreverent pleasures as we have raised money to fight breast cancer through research, survivor support programs, and prevention education.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your support in the past 6 years and invite you to join us for the final BoobieThon, may it be the best ever!

Your Bosom Buddies,
The Lady of Skye;  Lady Chief of Clan Bellambi; Duchess Loch Avie,  Eva Bellambi
and Lady Twilight; Keeper of Dreams; Seneschelf of Winterfell, Serra Anansi

Since 2008, we have been working with wonderful volunteers, artists, builders, scriptors, and donors in Second Life.  We find that the time has come for us to end this particular fund-raising effort in Second Life. 
                           
Thursday Oct 10th
12pm - 2pm
Strip Blitz Chess
Hostess Toubanua T'Kreth
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Winterfell%20Laudanum/142/228/22

Thursday Oct 10th
7:30 - 8:30pm
Burlesque for Breasts (no children avatars, please) 
Hostess, Ahnyanka Delphin  
Location TBD
                           
Friday Oct 11th
7:00pm - 10:00pm
"Swords and Sorcery" themed dance
Hosts, Consulate Europa and Steelhead
DJ's, Fuzzball Ortega and Zanya
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Steelhead%20Port%20Harbor/130/221/29

Saturday Oct 12th
Noon - 2pm
Strip En Garde Tournament (no children avatars, please)
Hosts, Stereo Nacht and Wulfriðe Blitzen
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MariKesh%20Mondrago/181/73/26 

Saturday Oct 12th
1pm - 3pm SLT  SLT
Art Auction closing
Hostess and DJ, Eva Bellambi
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Winterfell%20Absinthe/192/215/25
                                              
Sunday Oct 13th
1pm - 4pm SLT
THE BoobieBall (no children avatars, please)
Hostesses, Eva Bellambi and Serra Anansi
DJ and Mistress of Ceremony, Gabrielle Riel
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Winterfell/145/253/24

The Adult RolePlay 2012

For Second Life residents interested in adult-themed role-play areas and groups, it can be difficult to find just the right one. It can also be just as hard for such groups to find individuals interested in joining up with them. A member of one such group has began organizing an inworld convention for both, the "Adult RolePlay 2012."

Read more in Extra.