itch.io

I see posts like:

"The Fascist state of new Deutschland banned your game here, thankfully I can bypass steams anti-porno filter through itchio." 

Rather concerning, as it is just blatantly untrue. And uses very "loaded" language.

Or to quote a full post from you:

"ah... Unfortunately Germany has banned F&H. The censorship is just more strict there. I believe all Adults Only games are banned there, no matter what the reason for that rating is. If you buy it on itchio, I can give you a Steam key to go with it, maybe that way you can bypass the watchful eye?"

Which led me to actually investigating the index situation. And I could not come up with anything. Proving a negative is impossible. So I find it concerning when a dev uses factually wrong statements like this for, dunno, PR oppression points

I might be a bit too on the edge on this topic due to rampant Russian propaganda everywhere. But factually wrong remains factually wrong. And the wording you choose here is very close to the stuff the bots post. As they try to paint a picture of a "Western enemy who is even worse then what they are doing." Especially censorship is a popular topic among conspiracy theorists.

So they way you used those words in this blatantly false statement really rubbed me the wrong way in a really really bad way.

I am not here for political alarmism, I actually wanted to buy the game. And I am always happy if I can get around the scummy wallets of Valve or worse companies. But after seeing that post I had to make sure that I am not giving direct financial support. To a propaganda arm of an army that's currently attacking a neighbor. That's just a line I am not willing to cross. But That's the extent of my "activism" You are free to delete this. Or ask me to delete this, to which I will oblige and set this case to rest. Which means there won't be any follow up from my side in any way shape or form. I just wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt before I draw my conclusions. Which is a step that is too often skipped on the internet in my opinion.

Also since I did the research now anyways I am more then willing to share:

https://www.bzkj.de/bzkj/indizierung/wie-laeuft-ein-indizierungsverfahren-ab/lis...

Official website of the institution in charge of the age ratings. Specifically the part talking about the "index" simplified as "banned" even though that's not actually very accurate in the vast majority of cases as even indexed games can still in most cases be commercially sold and owned. Yes, age ratings. Remember when I hinted that "banned" is often an exaggeration? Well, "entirely unsuited for children" doesn't matter if you are only selling to adults. So that's why "censorship" is just factually wrong here and additionally "loaded" from propaganda use. Also even actually banned works can be discussed publicly by everyone who is not acting as the creator. Because there can be a ban on advertising and that can be a fine line if you directly benefit from sales. But it's entirely irrelevant for everyone else. Another point against the accusation of censorship.

So there is actually an easy solution for Valve. Just add a proper age verification. Or an opportunity for a competing companies. But in your case. You might benefit from this:

https://www.bundesanzeiger.de

This is the place where the "bans" are published, again, extremely simplified. As this site covers all updates including cases where games get removed from the index. Yes, games can get a reevaluation that gets them removed. And that is made public on literally the same place, even in the same type of document. They contain a list of new entries and old entries that are removed. So the index is not just growing.

Indie Devs like you are probably legally in the green if they just mark their game as not appropriate for children.

See:

https://www.bzkj.de/bzkj/anbieterpflichten/

The general gist is:

The bigger you are, the bigger is your responsibility.

https://www.bzkj.de/bzkj/vorsorgemassnahmen-207480

Literally starts with:

"Größere Anbieter von für Kinder und Jugendliche relevanten Diensten müssen angemessene und wirksame Vorsorgemaßnahmen treffen, um diese effektiv zu schützen und ihnen eine sichere digitale Teilhabe zu gewährleisten."

First 2 words: "Bigger Providers"

But admittedly that's uncomfortably vague. I would just make my online shop "adult only" if I had no legal team. Which would be 18+ in Germany. We are still not quite in the internet age, to quote Merkel: "Das Internet ist für uns alle Neuland.". Actually a meme. Mocking out of touch politicians. But also an actual quote.

But if i was in an actual, and I quote:

"Fascist state" I guess this post could get me in trouble. But I am so unafraid of that that I post this without VPN and provide you the police page to report me to:

https://www.polizei.rlp.de/de/onlinewache/