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This site still needs a coherent content warning system

A topic by Portrait Prophecies created Apr 16, 2021 Views: 775 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 3
(1 edit) (+3)

Effectively censoring games from the search engine if they're branded as having "sensitive content" and the only way to turn that off on your account is to dig through the options menu is extremely anti-developer. It's basically a shadow ban, for anything from having actual sex scenes in your game to simply even mentioning sex at all. 

For erotic games it's not a big deal because users will be deliberately seeking them out, so it doesn't make a huge difference in clicks potentially. But for other games that aren't in an explicitly "adult oriented" genre yet are given the "adult only" tag it completely buries them. Since the only users that will see the game are ones that have "sensitive content" toggled on, yet the main users that will have thought to toggle it on aren't looking for that kind of non-erotic or non-violent game. So the game just won't be seen.

It's ridiculous that the search engine even censors games out to begin with, for the very reason of it being effectively a shadow ban that locks users out of seeing your content if they haven't thought to toggle on the asinine "sensitive content" option. I doubt itchio even tells you that option exists when you make an account, you could browse this site for years without realizing.


The "sensitive content" brand should just be replaced with the option to display a popup when your game is clicked on, like the 18+ disclaimer some pornography websites have, and the popup displays a variety of potential content warnings you can choose from in metadata. Users have to click to "verify" they meet the "age requirement" or whatever and then it lets them see the game page.

(+1)

This subject has been discussed at length on the forums and in the Discord community. There is, to the best of my knowledge, a general community consensus that a content warning system is the way to go, but we're sort of forced to wait for Leaf to make a decision on the specifics and implement it.

I like both your suggestions. May I make one of my own (I'll make it regardless of anyone's approval, I'm from the USA)?

I think we should have a required age field on the sign up form (I forgot if we do have one), this data should then be used to automatically restrict users who are underage from viewing adult and mature (and maybe gory) content. They should also not have an option to disable the content restriction, but they should still be allowed to change their birthday or age field data provided they pass two consecutive CAPTCHA requests. IMO this is maybe a good way of doing it. It might violate GDPR though, so you know? Whatever floats your boat, Leaf / other Itch dev's, etc..

(I though a Leaf can float without the need for a boat... :-D j/k.)

(+1)

I'm not sure attempting to limit youth access to NSFW content is really worth it.

Kids and teens will find porn if they look for it, they will circumvent any protection you put in.

(+1)

Well, true, it's the whole spear and shield conundrum to begin with now, isn't it? You can make an impenetrable shield but then I'll just go find an unstoppable spear, in which case you will need to tape plate carrier armor to your shield to reinforce it, in which case I'll lob the spear from a rail gun, in which case you'll need to put an IPS system on the reinforced shield, in which case I will invest in a sensor jammer, and the conflict just keeps escalating from there... the problem is what you get when dealing with unpredictable actors behaving evasively and trying to overcompensate for the other party's evasions in a quest for an unknowable objective. Basically, it's like war: I build a cannon so you build a bigger one, so I install recoil cylinders so you build a trench, so I build a tank and you make dragon's teeth, and so on and so forth. :-)