Super Seductive 3 suggests the types of “sexually explicit images of real people” that are apparently not allowed on Steam. “/>
Valve refused to approve controversial pickup artist game Super Seductive 3 on sale on Steam. The company says the game breaks a rule, saying that Steam “does not send sexually explicit images of real people,” according to messages posted on Twitter by the creator of the game Richard La Ruina.
La Ruina, who describes himself as a “dating guru” and “the biggest AUC in the world”, describes the Super Seductive series in press materials like “a humorous video game on the go (FMV) where you learn the art of sexual attraction.” Players do this through conversation prompts in the style choose your own adventure interspersed with actors filmed showing the exaggerated results of these choices. “I did this with the intention of helping men who are generally shy, introverted and afraid to approach women,” La Ruina told The Verge in 2018.
The first game in the series was suspended from Kickstarter and then barred from PlayStation Store in 2018, but that game and its sequel are still available on Steam to this day.
A free demo for the third game in the controversial series was briefly presented as part of last month’s edition of the Steam Games Festival, but it was supposedly removed from the collection after an hour because Valve decided to give an additional review to the game. “We’re not sure if we can launch the game,” Valve said in a message in early February, as shared by La Ruina (Valve did not respond to a request for comment from Ars Technica).
Later, in February, La Ruina said he had received “clearer guidelines” from Valve on what changes needed to be made to get Steam’s approval for Super Seductive 3 and then said he had begun to make “targeted cuts” based on this guidance and the “lawyer’s advice”. But over the weekend, La Ruina said that Valve told him that they were “at an impasse” and that “we are not going to sell the game or review it again … this decision is final.”
La Ruina wrote that the decision applies both to the original version of the game and to a “censored” version designed to be suitable for streaming on Twitch. He also said that he is looking for an ESRB “M for mature” rating, but that Valve suggested that it would have no effect on his decision.
Finding the line
Specificities aside, Super Seductive 3The situation highlights the difficulty that some creators of Steam games had in finding the line between “appropriate” and “inappropriate” on the platform. While other gaming platforms have detailed guidelines (if applied inconsistently) on what types of content are and are not allowed, Steam in 2018 announced a new broader standard for Steam. This standard was centered on the idea that, as Valve put it, “if you’re a developer, we shouldn’t choose the content you’re allowed to create … we’ve decided that the right approach is to allow everything on the Steam Store, except for things that we decided to be illegal, or pure trolling. “
“We are not the taste police,” Valve’s Jan-Peter Ewert told developers at a Russian gaming conference at the time the policy was announced.
Since then, Valve has tried to clarify that the so-called “troll games” are those that “just try to incite and sow discord”. When it comes to adult non-trolling content, however, certain adult-themed games are being barred, while others find a comfortable home on the platform. The specific line between these two types of adult games from Valve’s point of view has never been very clear to developers or players. An expert in localizing visual novels (who asked to remain anonymous) told Ars in 2019 that “the main factor seems to be that they are banning many games based on the fact that the characters are wearing school uniforms. There is no other topic in common that we can find. ”
In case of Super Seductive 3, Valve appears to be citing a newly articulated standard of “not sending[ping] sexually explicit images of real people “beyond the” illegal “and” direct trolling “patterns of the past. The vast majority of games listed on Steam’s” Sexual Content “store page feature hand-drawn or computer-animated 2D images of half-naked characters in question, rather than photographs or filmed images of real actors. On the other hand, titles like “Bad Ass Babes” or “iStripper”, which feature nude images of real actors, have recently been removed from the Steam Store (although extremely discussion pages NSFW still remain on Steam to celebrate its brief availability).
La Ruina previously posted that he feels Super Seductive 3 differs from these more explicit applications because “any framework for Super Seductive 3 it would be safe for Instagram (nozzles, etc.). “He also says he is ready to make all the necessary changes to the game to conform to Valve standards, if Valve could clearly articulate what they are.
“I do not feel that we are in any kind of impasse,” he said. wrote in a message to Valve. “I’m ready to use a butcher knife in the game and take weeks to make all kinds of edits.”