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 

 

News in Brief

There's a lot going on, both in Second Life and online gaming. So while we're trying to find some time to write an in-depth article, here's a few topics in brief.

Burn2, the largest annual art and music festival is taking place on Second Life. There are numerous music events and art exhibits over the six sims. To get there, head to Burning Man- Deep Hole (174/32/25). The festival lasts to Sunday October 20, with the high points being the Burning of the Man on Saturday and the Temple Burn on Sunday.

Also going on is the Gacha Guild event. Taking place twice a year, people can purchase avatars and accessories. The hot item for this event is the Spirit Fennec avatar, of which people are selling for as low as ten Lindens on Marketplace. Starting up a few days ago was the event's "Hallows 2019 Silent Hill Hunt," which promises big scares and big prizes. The event ends on November 1, and is located at Dew Drop (189/180/1002).

The controversy over the game company Blizzard banning of a game tournament winner and stripping him of his prize money continues. A few days ago, they announced he would still get the prize money, but was still banned for six months. But this hasn't stopped the criticism from it's customers, human rights organizations, or US politicians. The company's largest annual event, Blizzcon, is just in a couple weeks and fans are planning a protest there.
Image from Vice

Stay tuned for more information.

Bixyl Shuftan

Satirical Aritst Kake Broek Banned From Second Life

Art can sometimes be strange, weird, even disturbing. But at what point should an artist be punished for his or her work? Late last month, satirical artist Kake Broek announced he had been permanently banned by Linden Lab. This sparked protests, and questions about just why the satirist had been expelled from the virtual world.

Read more in Extra.

Reader Submitted: My Banning From Faery Crossing, And Beyond

When people think of someone being banned from a sim, they usually think of a troublemaker. But what if the person had made numerous attempts to reconcile differences? In a reader submission sent to the Newser, MajikVixen (Bluevioletvixen Lorefield) describes her situation with the Faerie Crossing community, of which despite her efforts to smooth out differences she ended up banned from the area. Here, MajikVixen presents her side of the story. But the most important thing, she feels, is that there can be a life after banning for a resident of Second Life.

Read MajikVixen's story in Extra.

Hillary Clinton Group Claims Trump Organization Leader Banned

It's not yet confirmed, but it may be the beginning of the end for Second Life's most well known group of supporters of Donald Trump.

On the evening of June 30, a member of the Hillary Clinton 2016 group, who requested to remain anonymous, stated that there was a group notice that JP Laszlo, the leader of the Trump Organization and a few other Trump groups in Second Life had been banned by Linden Lab and their sim, "The Wall," had been confiscated.

J.P. (jp.laszlo), leader of the biggest Trump group in Second Life got banned by the Lab and their main sim was seized.  J.P. and other associates no longer appear in people search or in any affiliated Trump groups.

J.P.'s group has been well known to troll SL residents (including us) with their political propaganda and harassment tactics.  I guess Linden Labs had enough of it. :-D

The notice was given by Priscilla Cox (Prissycox), the head of Hillary Clinton 2016.

A search for JP Laszlo both using inworld Search and on secondlife.com proved fruitless. The sim was still online when I checked. While it was blocked to visitors, it had been closed to them under JP as well.

Of exactly why JP and others of the Trump Organization were banned, the informer doubted it was for anything done with the Clinton group, "they had done some minor griefing to the Hillary HQ nothing major really.  So not sure what precipitated LLs big move last night." She had heard of a griefing incident at Bay City not far from where they had a building. But when I later talked to Marianne McCann, she had strong doubts that the Trump Organization was involved or that even if this were it would get a permanent ban in response as the incident in question was minor. However in the past, JP and his Trump Organization were accused of taking part in the outright griefing of Bernie Sanders supporters, in addition to the pranks they admitted pulling, such as the Trump Wall. Hamlet Au of New World Notes basically called for Linden Lab to ban members of the group for violations of Second Life's community standards. JP denied his group was griefing, "We are not trolls, just political activists with a sense of humor and fun." But others begged to differ,

More information may come in over the next few days, but with JP's account removed, it's doubtful he will be coming back to Second Life. While no doubt there will continue to be trolls harassing people in Trump's name, it seems the largest group of Trump supporters has just been swatted down.

* * * * *

A visit to Lionheart Ahadi revealed that the Clinton HQ was no longer at the block it and the old Trump HQ had been on. It's owner Candace Larganta had earlier hinted it would be up until after the July 4rth weekend. But there was another Clinton building at
Lionheart Pumbaa (205, 210, 28). The Trump building by the old Trump Organization that had been across the street from it was gone to, though one biker bar did put up a Trump sign.

In real life, the primaries are over, and both Clinton and Trump are trying to unify their parties behind them. But a number of Republicans are reluctant to support Trump, and many "Berners" say they will not vote for Clinton reguardless of whether or not she gets Sansers' endorsement. In both Second Life and real life, it's been an interesting election.

*Addition*  Contacting JP Lazslo through his Facebook group "Donald Trump Still Thinks Your Waifu is S***," he confirmed that Linden Lab had indeed banned him and others in his group. He also made a short but to the point post on his Twitter account.

Bixyl Shuftan

Protest and Banning at Burn2

Burn2 calls itself an event of "radical free expression." But on Sunday October 21st, this principle was put to the test when the festival grounds were the scene of a protest. The result was those taking part in the protests, and supposedly even those just watching, were banished from the Burn.

What was the protest about, and why did the Burn staff ban them? Read more in Extra.

Runescape Puts Rulebreakers on Public Trial in "Botany Bay"

Bots aren't a problem only in Second Life. In the MMO game of Runescape, they're a problem for both the staff and honest players alike. For those not familiar, a "bot" in Runescape is a player put under the control of "macros" to perform a repetitive task, such as mining and woodcutting. Illegal, if a player is caught, it results in a warning and a short ban. The second time is a more severe warning and a longer ban. The third time results in a permanent ban with the account removed.

Lately, the Jagex staff  "decided to have a little fun" with the disposing of those caught three times. So they came up with "Botany Bay," a dreary prison-looking place that can be visited in only one manner, accept an invitation from a town caller to take part in a "trial" of a three-time offender.

 As we hunt for and identify botters, you - the good citizens of Giellnor - will be the ultimate deliverers of justice! Unrepentant and persistent bot-users will now find themselves banished to Botany Bay. This foreboding island is the staging ground for trials run by the Botfinder General, where there's only one verdict, and justice is swift and uncompromising.


Those accepting a town crier's invitation to take part in a Botany Bay event will be teleported to the courtroom. Rotten tomatoes are available to pelt the condemned, whom is cowering in a small platform in the middle of the court. The players have no say in whether or not the account on trial is guilty, that's already been decided. Instead they decide on a choice of three fates: crushed by a giant limb, fried into dust by an energy beam, or devoured alive by some unknown something from below. Repeat jurors are awarded the "Pitchfork of Vigilantism" and later the "Pitchfork of Justice."

The accounts in question have been banned anyway, so the purpose of these trials is for show. There's just something about seeing a cheater get his/her coming.  There's also the possibility that Jagex also had in mind these trials were to cut down on criticism. By giving these show trials, that would give the impression something is being done about theft.

Such a system could easily be replicated in other MMOs after adaptations, and perhaps Second Life. It's easy to imagine a "Botany Bay" for copybotters. But suppose if such a system was being set up on the Grid? Why not allow the jury to determine an avatar's guilt or innocence?

I  imagine though that those accused of griefing would prefer to take their chances with the Lindens instead of a jury. Suppose someone accused of dropping particle bombs on Luskwood found themselves facing a jury of furred avatars?

Oh well, one can dream.

Source: Jagex

Bixyl Shuftan

A Titanic Misunderstanding

A few years ago, Bixyl Shuftan wrote a much commented-on article about people getting banned from places because of their avatar's appearance. Recently, he was alerted about a protest at the Titanic sim, the protestors saying they were banning furry avatars even though they were following the dress code. But a closer look suggested a somewhat different story.

Read more in People.