Keep Fighting the Good Fight
It's not a good week for games and the world in general. To recap, some groups are putting pressure on payment processors (VISA/Mastercard/Stripe...) which in turn put pressures on sites like DLSite/Fanza/Steam/Itch.io/... to censor what is allowed on their platforms. They have been doing this for a while, at first targeting foreign sites you may or may not have heard of and being largely ignored. And then they came to Steam. And more. And everything escalated to high heaven and descended to hell in record time.
It's easy not to care. I personally do SFW works, though I had been commissioned to work on titles with NSFW elements (two of the titles I worked on have already been delisted from the sites they were on). I don't do horror. Heck, I mainly do free stuff, so not being able to receive payment for anything I do is... a given. Why should I even care?
First they came for the "perverts". Let them, say the people, the perverts deserve it (it doesn't matter that adults can choose their own entertainment). Then before you know it the arbitrary censorship includes what you hold dear, and that can be anything. A dev called it a digital book burning, and it's an apt comparison.
A lot more eloquent people have written about this and I encourage you to read these resourceful pages:
- Yell at Money, a recap of the situation and what to do
- Press Space to Jump feature. another recap of the situation
- Regarding itch.io and Steam's Policy for Adult Games
As someone who spends a lot of time on itch.io, it also saddens me that many people don't realize that this is not just a single platform issue. Leafo's original action might not be pretty, but the last thing I want is for the platform with such a vibrant jam scene to go under. It's prudent to have another space to keep your works though, and if you are a victim of the circumstances, check out BaiYu's list of potential storefronts. Some communities have cobbled together their own archive sites, which I won't be listing here for fear that unwanted parties stumble across this post.
Since we're where Indie Web is cool and the derision against platform is high, it is tempting to handwave this and tell makers to go build their own sites, but the problem does not go away. To get any money, you still have to get a hosting service that doesn't mind whatever you have on your site, a payment processor to work with you, and navigating the labyrinthine data processing laws countries like UK decides to enact.
On a different, related note: There is an effort to archive games from itch.io and related sites during this incident, and while this endeavor is largely a good thing, some unscrupulous groups have taken advantage of the situation to reupload games wholesale with new titles and descriptions clearly rewritten by AI. They pretend to be the original dev and is another hit to a vulnerable group of indie dev who already have rug pulled under them all week.
Read about the cases and what you can do to help here:
- A Cup of Eternity: Unauthorized reuploads, step by step reporting guide
- To Put Your Childhood Friend in a Refrigerator: Important Notice and Piracy Alert
If you want to host the games genuinely out of your generous heart, contact the devs directly. Most of them will be very happy for a honest good place welcoming them.
As bleak as things are, it's uplifting to see the communities band together sharing resources and tips. Keep fighting the good fight. You may only have your words, you may not be able to go out, you may not be able to do much, but you too can fight.