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Game has been unindexed. What can I do?

A topic by CoolKittyRhymes created Jul 30, 2023 Views: 923 Replies: 15
Viewing posts 1 to 2

I have had a game distributed for several months and recently requested additional space for an update. I was told it was denied based on a single complaint that Itch was distributing adult content without age verification of the consumer, rather than any violation of my own. The game is categorized under adult content and marked as NSFW, so from what I understand I've done all I could on the distribution front.

Following this I noticed the game was no longer indexed (not showing up in browse or direct search) and not receiving the traffic it used to.

I had responded to both the denied request and the complaint to explain the above information and also confirming the game does not include (or imply) underage sexual content, just in case they thought that was the problem. This information is even stated in the product description and in-game.

At this point it's been over three weeks with no response and I don't know what action to take next. Is this standard practice for Itch to penalize devs/creators based on one complaint without any investigation? And is there something I'm missing that's not explained here (https://itch.io/docs/creators/getting-indexed) that will get the game indexed again?

Moderator

No, your game has been deindexed by staff, and far as I know itch.io staff investigates before taking action. Please share your ticket number so I can let an admin know and tell you for sure.

That said: Stating that your characters are 18+ is not a sufficient defense, especially as the game description also says this is about teenagers in school. This could be the source of your problems. It should be more widely known.

From what I can tell the ticket number is 160929.

The email notification didn't indicate Itch did any sort of investigating; all it said was they received a complaint report and they forwarded it to me. The other email that denied the file size increase only stated it was due to an open case on my account.

The beginning of the game starts 2 months before the characters graduate. While it's generally accepted that teens will be 18+ at this time, it's explicitly stated in the description to avoid the ambiguity. There are other much more popular games I've played on this site that are similar in this regard.

In any case, the complaint was worded accusing Itch of distributing adult content to minors, not that the game contained underage content.

Moderator

Maybe I misunderstood the situation. Either way, I've let an admin know.

Show post...

well, maybe the main pproblem is that maybe the game should not be nsfw if you said "teenagers at school" maybe thats the solution

(+1)

Is there a way to speak with an admin or get a response from support? I haven't heard anything from them in over 5 weeks now.

Moderator

Five weeks is a lot. Can you share your ticket number?

Yes, it was already posted here: 160929

Moderator

So you did! My bad.

I hate to keep bugging you about this, but you're the only one of authority who's responded. Have you spoken to someone from Itch? What does it take to get any sort of communication from support? I've tried to be patient and not bombard them with nagging followup emails, but I'm going on 7 weeks now and this level of neglect seems absurd.

Moderator

I spoke to an admin the second time, too. There's nothing more I can do.

(1 edit) (+1)

Hi! I have the same problem as you, my games have been deindexed for about a month, I think it might be a good idea to team up so that if the support team responds to one of us, we can then talk to them about the other developer and have them fix their problem too (I don’t know if they will do it, but it’s worth a try).

My links to contact me:


    Moderator (1 edit)

    I recommend contacting support about your own problem (also, next time please make your own topic). Until then, please remove the Discord invite, the rules have changed a while ago and they're no longer allowed in the forum. Thanks.

    (+2)

    Sorry to hear about your situation, but Itch Support cannot be bothered to provide any sort of communication. Over 2 months they have failed to respond to three different queries, and there appears to be no way to receive help otherwise.

    This topic has been auto-archived and can no longer be posted in because there haven't been any posts in a while.