So, Valve\u2019s recent launch of Steam Greenlight has been accompanied by the tediously inevitable torrent of Half-Life 3s, 9\/11 flight sims, and other brilliant \u201cjokes\u201d that you can always rely on when pre-teens on the internet are involved. Offending users and their projects were promptly banned, but so was one an otherwise ordinary erotic game – Seduce Me by Dutch indie developer No Reply Games.<\/p>\n
The reason cited was that the game contravened Steam Greenlight\u2019s terms of service<\/a>, which prescribes just two restrictions on content:<\/p>\n “Your game must not contain offensive material or violate copyright or intellectual property rights.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Seduce Me was obviously flagged on the first restriction – but to put this in perspective, I just clicked through to the Steam Greenlight page, and the first game in the list is something called No More Room in Hell<\/a>, a \u201crealistic first person survival horror\u201d featuring guns, guts, and walking corpses.<\/p>\n Apparently what exactly constitutes \u201coffensive material\u201d is subject to some flexibility in the selection criteria, but the subtext is clear \u2013 unremitting and gratuitous violence is totally okay, sex is not*.<\/p>\n It\u2019s Valve\u2019s platform, and Valve can enforce whatever rules they want. In a statement to Kotaku, Valve rep Doug Lombardi said that, “Steam has never been a leading destination for erotic material. Greenlight doesn’t aim to change that.”<\/p>\n That\u2019s entirely their prerogative, but the refusal to host adult-oriented content of this sort is peculiar in an industry that happily makes most of its business in, well, other adult-oriented content.<\/p>\n This is one of those headlines I never expected to write, because honestly, I\u2019m actually very anti-pornography and pretty much anything and everything else that packages sex and sexuality as a product for sale. The reasons for that are quite beyond the scope (and the point) of this article, but the important thing is that I can simply choose not to buy porn<\/em>. It\u2019s really that easy, and it doesn\u2019t rely on censorship or any other third party intervention to make the decision on my behalf. The overwhelming majority of adults are quite capable of making those sorts of decisions for themselves – autonomy is great like that.<\/p>\n I\u2019m offended by the game, and going on the commentary I\u2019ve seen about it online, so are a lot of other people – but plenty of other<\/em> people aren\u2019t. The ongoing discussion on the MyGaming forum<\/a> is a case in point.<\/p>\n Games like Seduce Me wouldn\u2019t exist at all if there wasn\u2019t a viable market for them \u2013 it\u2019s the same reason games like No More Room in Hell exist. Why should my offence preclude other people\u2019s entertainment? It\u2019s not like I\u2019m being forced to take part.<\/p>\n As a fan of violent games, I must also readily acknowledge that there\u2019s tremendous hypocrisy in denouncing porn games while explicit gore gets a free pass every time. It\u2019s a paradoxical position, and it\u2019s something everybody should be aware of before standing in the way of those things we personally don\u2019t approve of.<\/p>\n Erotic game \u201cSeduce Me\u201d booted-off Steam Greenlight<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The problem with \u201cgirlfriend mode\u201d, according to a girlfriend<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Keep gay out of gaming<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Kama Sutra game rejected by Sony<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Video games \u201care fetishising violence\u201d, says Warren Spector<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n* Unless it\u2019s something like, you know, The Witcher (already available on Steam<\/a>!), because maybe enough unremitting and gratuitous violence can make up for the sex bits.<\/em><\/h6>\n
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