NSFW games aren't listed
without being logged in you can go to browse and select tag adult/nsfw/erotic and get to see adult games in infinity scroll without any confirmation needed. neither the thumbnail nor the two screenshots are sfw for nsfw games in most cases.
If this is intentional, it is bad design. those game do not show up for other tags, like renpy, though.
This has nothing to do with individual games.
Try for yourself. This takes like 10 seconds. Just open an incognito window of your browser, go to itch, go to browse, select tag adult. Or Erotic. Or Eroge. Or type nsfw (you have to type it, because nsfw is not a suggested/featured tag. it is not in the list ;-)
This also happens, if you have adult content deactivated in your settings and go to browse and select adult tag.
While this might be intentional, I doubt it is. And if it is, I will call it bad design. It circumvents the specifically designed button you have to press to enable adult content. (Show content marked as adult in search & browse)
I reported this weeks ago to support, but maybe I was not understood, as you just demonstrated. you would not have attributed it to individual games otherwise.
It only works for ... non-adult tags. Including "sex".
Also, marked as adult should be a searchable tag. I shall make a thread about that.
From what I understand, Itch doesn't block such content, it just hides it.
If you explicitly look for it, it is normal and expected that you can see it.
You must actively and explicitly search for said content, if you try to enter said game, you will get the warning window, which you can skip at will.
Again, it's expected behavior, adult content is not blocked, only hide.
What should not happen is that it shows you that type of content if you are not looking for it, for example, if you only search for 3match, then it should not list games that are 3match+NSFW
Not quite. Pick any adult game. Go fresh browser/incognito without being logged in. Type exact game name and search. You will not find that game. Even though you explicitly looked for it, even by name. You cannot even find the creator, if you search for the creator by name.
The need for account and option toggled on prevents you from accidentally browsing adult games. Even if you type them by name or use any of the adult tags. You only get there by direct link. That is the expeced behaviour.
It does works for a tag like "sex". Try it out. You can find around 70 game with it, that are not marked adult - because they are not adult games. They just have that adult sounding tag. Tags are irrelevant for marking as adult. You do not even need any tags at all. Marked as adult is not the same as tagged as adult. I made a thread about this https://itch.io/t/2892152/make-marked-as-adult-a-searchable-tag
The expected behaviour is circumvented by selecting tag adult. Or nsfw and some others. Suddenly you see all the games in browse, even without an account. Providing you with the direct links you need to access them. Just re-read the response from no time to play. No login, no nsfw games - but this is not, how it currently is. If it were intended behaviour of the site, I expect he would have known that exception: that you can still browse for adult games by selecting some adult tags.
And if that is really intended, it should change. You might equate searching for tag adult with giving ok to see adult content, despite the option being off in settings. I do not. Having one clear setting and then circumventing it kinda , is very bad design. There is a reason that setting is buried ... well in the settings and not some toggle button in browse. And if you only need select tag adult, it becomes some button in browse.
I dimly remember browsing on itch last year when I did not have an account. I could not find any adult games back then. And I am pretty sure, that I tried the tag adult, because, you know, it is in the list and starts with an a.
I understand your point.
I see two explanations, on the one hand, it may be that the search engine automatically activates the search for content marked for adults under certain keywords, such as "NSFW" and not for others, such as "sex".
The second is that it is a mistake.
Either way, the person who has the last word is the administrator, without offending the excellent work that @no time for play does, but he is a moderator and from what I have read, he does not work or make decisions regarding the itch functioning
Keep in mind that if I search for a name, I'm not necessarily looking for adult games, that is, the engine has no way of knowing it, because in itch there are many games with similar or repeated names.
On the other hand, if you search for NSFW, you are actively looking for adult content.
The point is, that you are not supposed to be able to browse for adult content, without having an account.
Selecting tag adult in browse should not change this. It suddenly ignores, wether you are logged in or not, and if you are logged in, wether or not you have opted in for adult stuff.
In other words, the itch browse feature should under no circumstances provide users with the direct links needed to access adult content. Except if they are logged in and opted in.
that is not correct, you can search for the same content using another search engine like google.
for example, take the name of a game with adult content and google with site itch.io and you will find it (with or without an itch account)
What I understand is that the idea of hiding the content and having a warning window is to prevent someone from mistakenly accessing said content, not that it is blocked.
It seems to me that the system works perfectly for what has been said, which is to hide the content, but not block it.
You could further limit access to such content, but that is a decision of the itch administration.
Did you misread the highlighted browse? That was not the verb for using your browser. That was a reference to the feature right next to the itch icon. It is called Browse.
Browsing for direct links elsewhere is not the issue. The issue is, that you can get those direct links with itch's browse feature, without opted in. The correct behaviour would be to display nothing or a page that you need an account and not just show the goods. (In the case that all games tagged adult would be marked adult. I can not verify that. But I doubt that it is congruent, as the "sex" tag example showed.)
if you search for NSFW, you are actively looking for adult content
I disagree. This might be splitting a hair to you. But you do not search for adult content, you search for games tagged nsfw/adult or whatever. Tags are meaningless on itch. They are chosen by the developer. I can have a book with adult or mature themes, that is definitly not nsfw (it is text), and tag it accordingly for the tagging mechanism. The tag description even says so: "For adults, often containing sexual or mature content." It does not read "For adults only."
That is actually what my thread is about. You cannot search for adult content. You can't. Seriously. You can only opt in and search for other stuff and adult content is not hidden in your browsing. You do not know, if it is actually adult content.
I get your point, and it doesn't blow my mind. The problem comes because you are doing an analysis from a perspective that is only technical. That is, at the "code" level you can have a game labeled NSFW that is not for adults.
But as humans, if we're looking for NSFW content, it's because we're looking for adult content.
You can argue that there are exceptions, the problem is that no matter what system you create, there will always be exceptions. Therefore, you must seek a balance between what you want to achieve and the resources.
I understand that you do not see a big problem here, but no need to be apologetic about this bug. And a bug it is. Or very, very poor design.
Imagine you feel save in the knowledge that you double checked at account creation that you will not be bothered by those filthy adult stuff you heared about. Then you go to browse for some new games and explore the feature.How to find games with tagging. So you go to the list and see the Adult tag. Curious what might be tagged adult and not be "adult" you select it. Or worse, you misclick. You see lots of games and as soon as you mouse over the icons you are confronted with nekkid cartoon boobies. The very stuff you double checked that you have turned off.
You and I do not have a problem with that. But there are enough fundies to cry havoc over stuff like this. I did not mention it back then, and wrote to support instead. But nothing happened. And as it came up here again, I did mention it, but apart from you, no one cares.
Believe me, I see your problem and I understand your point and I consider that you are right. You are not the only one who believes that the tag system can be improved.
My point doesn't deny that, but that it's impossible to keep everyone happy with a limited amount of resources, for example, if you block adult content, a lot of people who are adults and don't mind playing those games, maybe they never even know they exist, because you need to enable an option you never knew existed.
That leads to people who make adult content receiving far fewer views.
For some people that is good, for others it is not. I believe that the current system, as a balance to this problem, works well, it could be improved, for sure, but perhaps that means investing many more resources. That's why even if I understand your problem, I can't give you 100% reason, which also doesn't mean that I don't consider your arguments reasonable.
