After controversies regarding adult games and inconsiderate content, Valve has decided to take a definitive stance on games on its platform. Now, so long as a game 'isn't straight up trolling or illegal', it'll be allowed on Steam. In a post on Steam called "Who gets to be on the Steam Store", company staff described the troubles of trying to regulate games, as well as deal with laws in multiple different countries. Citing these issues, and the climate after the removal of the school shooting game Active Shooter, and the panic over adult content being targeted for removal, Valve wants to clarify that it's time to disclose their new policy.

"Everything" will now be allowed on the Steam Store, so long as it doesn't break any laws or isn't considered trolling ("trolling" was not defined) meaning developers will be allowed to distribute their games with no fear of removal. According to Valve, this will let them focus on other important features or components to the company, rather than "policing" content.

To combat potential issues this may raise, you'll now be able to block certain types of games, such as overly gorey, hentai games, and other undesirable subject matter. Valve states that even though controversial games that deal with racism, sexual themes, violence, varying quality levels, etc will make it through approval to be on the Store now, it does not mean Valve supports these types of games internally. If a game does turn out to be an issue, they will handle things on a "case by case basis".

Source

 

[Scarecrow B]

I still don't understand how in this age of so much "freedom" we have to deal with this level of whining and censorship. If I want to play X obscure japanese game and someone else doesn't, then let me be, there is no need to censor/ban such game just because you don't like it. And using the argument "because it's offensive" is the worst thing to do since that is completely subjective.

 

[gamesquest1]

I'm... Conflicted. On one hand, I'm glad that they're loosening their grip. On the other, I'm really concerned that this might potentially see the spawn of a lot of racially/culturally charged games making it in, since there will be minimal moderation

Although, maybe that's including in "trolling". If that IS the case, then this is only a good thing in my eyes

honestly I doubt there is much of a market for them anyway, let them sit there with a few crazies, "banning" something often just makes it seem more interesting to people......I would expect most people wanting to make silly troll games would make a shit game that wouldn't do a good job advertising that BS anyway

I would say it would probably be enough to have a "non promoted" flag on games that are overtly offensive so they don't appear in the store unless you search for that specific title

 

[Deleted User]

First they get rid of human customer service, now they're abandoning what little quality control exists.
Such a lazy and dodgy company. Not like I ever bought anything there anyway because the store is too cluttered with crap to sift though to find the good stuff. When I actually did, I wasn't too keen on my inability to complain they violated their own contract.

Valve makes Chinese companies look good.

 

[RedBlueGreen]

Fuck now it will get flooded with even more Asset flips and half-assed games. I guess GOG is the way to go now days then...

Steam already has a ton of shitty greenlight and low effort cheap games already. So I don't think it'll be a massive difference.

First they get rid of human customer service, now they're abandoning what little quality control exists.
Such a lazy and dodgy company. Not like I ever bought anything there anyway because the store is too cluttered with crap to sift though to find the good stuff. When I actually did, I wasn't too keen on my inability to complain they violated their own contract.

Valve makes Chinese companies look good.

I really don't think there will be any less quality control since it's already so non existent it doesn't seem to be enforced. Now they're just allowing games that people may be offended by like porn and super graphic games.

EDIT: Typos

 

[Plstic]

Steam already has a ton of shitty greenlight and low effort cheap games already. So I don't think it'll be a massive difference.

I really don't think there will be any less quality control since it's already so non existent it soesndo seem to be enforced. Now they're just allowing games that people may be offended by like porn and super graphic games.

Yeah, most indie titles coming out from greenlight are pixel shit so it won't be any different.

 

[Deleted User]

I'm heavily divided on this one. Yay porn games! Boo, they aren't sorting out the trash anymore! Yay Memes, but also Boo memes. Yay, Steam is now basically Newgrounds. Boo you have to pay for the games if it turns into a "Sike!" 3 hours in.

 

[grossaffe]

So actual porn is now allowed on steam?

Extra steamy.

 

[AbyssalMonkey]

Too true. Part of me does at least wish that they would do something more about standards in terms of quality control, but I guess in the end, we're pretty much the ones who decide which games go on, what is essentially, the garbage list. Still annoying to see crapware on my "recommended" list, though. I think they should have some sort of quota system in place, where if a game fails to reach X number of sales in the first month, or quarter of release, then it gets removed. That way there's not so much shit clogging their database.

good, let the customer decide what they want, your job is a store not an arbiter of taste, I would like to see a better system to deal with crapware, I'm sure they could make a volunteer system to get people to download a game free and if a high enough number of people flag a game as shite it would be delisted, maybe let people earn a little bit of steam credit for their time....ofc I'm sure people would end up trying to abuse the system, but if they made it kinda exclusive so people cant just make fake accounts to bot positive ratings etc

Do you people not understand what a store does? Valve is a private business, not the government. Private businesses need to make themselves look good. The first and most primary way businesses do this is by curating what they sell. When you walk into a supermarket, you don't see them selling ANYTHING, you see them selling the things that they know sell: big brand names, value brand knockoffs, and first party repackaged goods. You don't walk into a produce store and see them selling "Jim's Tomatoes, picked 5 days ago".

People seem to forget that, once upon a time, Valve did curate their store. It's only been in the past 5 years or so, that they have stopped. Valve has been losing their oh so trusted brand dominance ever so slowly. This will only serve to accelerate the process.

 

[Xzi]

Valve makes Chinese companies look good.

Rofl, seriously? Probably the most good-natured developer in the entire industry, who always produce quality titles, and they're worse than Chinese companies because you're too lazy to wishlist the games you like? Give me a break.

Wasn't even a week ago that people here were complaining about the exact opposite, that curation was "too strict." It's obvious they're not going to please everyone no matter what they do.

 

[Mark McDonut]

This is weird.

I feel like Valve is trying to see what they can get away with, which is concerning, but after they get backlash they kind of dial it back, as seen here and after the whole skyrim paid mods ordeal.

I liked Valve better when they were game makers, not internet police or shady internet used car salesmen.

 

[Justinde75]

Extra steamy.

Nice pun

 

[Subtle Demise]

Do you people not understand what a store does? Valve is a private business, not the government. Private businesses need to make themselves look good. The first and most primary way businesses do this is by curating what they sell. When you walk into a supermarket, you don't see them selling ANYTHING, you see them selling the things that they know sell: big brand names, value brand knockoffs, and first party repackaged goods. You don't walk into a produce store and see them selling "Jim's Tomatoes, picked 5 days ago".

People seem to forget that, once upon a time, Valve did curate their store. It's only been in the past 5 years or so, that they have stopped. Valve has been losing their oh so trusted brand dominance ever so slowly. This will only serve to accelerate the process.

Yeah those are physical stores, where floorspace is extremely limited and much more valuable. Valve is not running out of bandwidth or storage space anytime soon, so they can afford to put everything on display. A lot of those garbage games are super cheap anyway, like several cents. A little thing you show your friends, "look how shitty this game is! Lol" or a little time waster trying to break it more. Or even just something you want to look at out of morbid curiosity. At the very least they make interesting youtube videos too.

 

[RedBlueGreen]

Do you people not understand what a store does? Valve is a private business, not the government. Private businesses need to make themselves look good. The first and most primary way businesses do this is by curating what they sell. When you walk into a supermarket, you don't see them selling ANYTHING, you see them selling the things that they know sell: big brand names, value brand knockoffs, and first party repackaged goods. You don't walk into a produce store and see them selling "Jim's Tomatoes, picked 5 days ago".

People seem to forget that, once upon a time, Valve did curate their store. It's only been in the past 5 years or so, that they have stopped. Valve has been losing their oh so trusted brand dominance ever so slowly. This will only serve to accelerate the process.

Or it could have the opposite effect. Imagine if GameStop and other retail game stores didn't carry games that they disagree with. They already don't have anything pornographic because usually that isn't allowed on consoles. But imagine if they didn't carry Fallout because there are guns, or didn't carry The Elder Scrolls because of violence and optional choices like killing innocents and stealing. People would have a really big issue with that. As long as something isn't truly objectionable you shouldn't refuse to sell it.

The only reason I use Steam is because it's basically necessary at this point for PC gaming. Most modern PC games are sold through Steam or sold via digital Steam codes. I'd much rather have a physical copy of a game, but for the most part that's finished since it's super easy to rip PC games. Yet Steam games still get cracked so I see no reason not to have physical copies.

 

[netovsk]

At this point where storefronts would sell kiddie porn and non-functional games as long as they got a cut I'd really really like someone to bring back the "Seal of Quality" Nintendo held after de 1982 game crash.

 

[gamesquest1]

At this point where storefronts would sell kiddie porn and non-functional games as long as they got a cut I'd really really like someone to bring back the "Seal of Quality" Nintendo held after de 1982 game crash.

research a game before you just mindlessly go buying random shite, we have the internet now, 5 minutes and I can find out exactly what a game is about

Do you people not understand what a store does? Valve is a private business, not the government. Private businesses need to make themselves look good. The first and most primary way businesses do this is by curating what they sell. When you walk into a supermarket, you don't see them selling ANYTHING, you see them selling the things that they know sell: big brand names, value brand knockoffs, and first party repackaged goods. You don't walk into a produce store and see them selling "Jim's Tomatoes, picked 5 days ago".

People seem to forget that, once upon a time, Valve did curate their store. It's only been in the past 5 years or so, that they have stopped. Valve has been losing their oh so trusted brand dominance ever so slowly. This will only serve to accelerate the process.

​

I see it more like a catalogue store with a totally unseen inventory, you go there, search what you want and buy it, why do I care if it sat on a shelf next to 100 useless pieces of junk that will never sell except to idiots, does a porno being placed next to beans make the beans go bad or something?

 

[Xzi]

research a game before you just mindlessly go buying random shite, we have the internet now, 5 minutes and I can find out exactly what a game is about

Should be common sense. I haven't bought a game I ended up hating since 2011 with Brink.

Edit: oh, and more recently No Man's Sky. Good thing that came out after Steam refunds were made available.

 

[MarkDarkness]

I am surprised at the level of politically correct attitude fostered in this thread and the community overall. Maybe I am from another time, but this commumity always stood for freedom first. What is it with all the "oh what if a game is morally questionable" deal? We as a broad community demand freedom to modify our systems to make them perform beyond developers wishes, so it stands to reason that we are objectively against blocking people out of participating in something unless they are being objectively criminal/clearly have bad intentions (spam, egregious flaming).

Let's not engage in double standards.

 

[Deleted User]

On one hand, this reminds me too much of the Video Game Crash in the 80s, how Atari's lack of curation led to an oversaturated market, and how that was their eventual downfall.

However, thinking it over, the circumstances surrounding modern-day gaming are much different than how they were in the 80s. We now have the internet at our disposal, meaning we can look up footage and reviews of a game withing seconds, and decide for ourselves whether the game is worth playing or not. Gone are the days of looking at a cover of a game and trying to judge whether or not it will be good from the box art. The industry today is much more savvy than it was 20 or 30 years ago, and I get the feeling Steam is banking on that; the marketplace already features user reviews and game footage for users to assess any given game.

While I'm not happy about the lack of curation on Steam and the shit that goes through it, at the very least, I don't have to buy and play it, and online viewers and YouTube personalities will pick out the bad games on Steam for users to see, so I guess that's some form of quality control. Besides, PC Gamers have always prided themselves in having a more open system compared to consoles, so this decision is really just taking that idea to its logical conclusion.

 

[SirNapkin1334]

hentai games

Wait, those exist on steam? Better tell @Eix about this.

 

[KingBlank]

I doubt anything will change, the average quality might go down 1%? It is already pretty bad.