Last Week Nutaku Butchered Tenioha! and This Week Steam Bans All-Age Mystery VN

[Nier]

https://www.pcinvasion.com/valve-removes-game-core-audience-pedophiles

Being a non-J speaking VN fan sucks, what "good news" will we get next week? The shutdown and removal of all VNs in the West? RapeLay controversy v2?

[Soulless Watcher]

“we think this novel’s core audience is pedophiles” - Valve

Wow what a very professional and researched reason for removing the game. If they could point to a specific problematic scene within the game that would be one thing, but I think we all know that Valve employees don't touch 99% of their bot run storefront. It's just very bizarre that valve randomly decided to step in with a visual novel that has never had any sexually explicit scenes and no community outrage.  

Looking into it a bit more it does seem a bit more understandable when you see that description of the protagonist. "He has a severe case of Lolita complex and has even gone as far as to set up hidden cameras in the school bathrooms". I'm still not convinced that this is reasonable, but in western society in which protecting hypothetical children is much more important than protecting actual children, I can see why valve took the game off the storefront.  

1 hour ago, Nier said:

The shutdown and removal of all VNs in the West? 

I doubt steam would go that far, the reason why the storefront has gone to shit was visual novels. They essentially said that they have no idea why people buy visual novels, so they are scared to do any curation for fear of taking down stuff that might sell. 

Edited December 11, 2017 by Soulless Watcher

[Zakamutt]

Quote

Last Week Nutaku Butchered Tenioha!

But They Claim To Have No Knowledge Of This Being Done And Say The Devs Did It, Actually, So Who The Fuck Knows, But Yeah It Was Nutaku Releasing It So We Remain Suspicious

Quote

This Week Steam Bans All-Age Mystery VN

That Looks Like Pedo Bait Any Way You Slice It Honestly This Isn't Weird At All Holy Shit

---

I mean, the headline would be less snappy if you told the truth. But you wouldn't be spreading misinformation, which is always nice.

[Plk_Lesiak]

To be fair, from what I've read the game has some seriously questionable elements and western companies in general are super-sensitive when it goes to anything that can resemble child porn. The statement about paedophiles being the "core audience" might be stupid as f***, but I'm not surprised about what happened - this is one thing that will most likely not change in foreseeable future, at least when it goes to major store-fronts like Steam. Devs might find another channel to publish their game anyways and Valve's overreaction definitely created some free publicity for them. I wouldn't be that worried about it.

[Yuuko]

Meanwhile Monobeno is on Steam 

[Dreamysyu]

Quote

This is a mystery visual novel for every gentlemen and gentlewomen who love little girls!

Really, I am not surprised this got taken down. I don't know anything about the actual content of this game, and I don't particularly want to know more, but if you want to publish your game on a platform like Steam, you don't put lines like that in your description.

[Deep Blue]

If the point of the VN and the developers was to take an stance AGAINST promoting crimes against children they didn't do a very good job and the message doesn't convey AT ALL...

Specially not when your main artist draw just loli hentai and the art in the VN itself depict children in very suggestive posses or in places that you would relate to a jav  and I'm not just saying that while I look at the cover and one of the girls  (they all have between 8 and 11 yo) has like a condom in her mouth, yes, yes I know, it's probably just a healthy food or something that will turn that little girl into a strong woman : D

Edited December 11, 2017 by Deep Blue

[Nier]

32 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Really, I am not surprised this got taken down. I don't know anything about the actual content of this game, and I don't particularly want to know more, but if you want to publish your game on a platform like Steam, you don't put lines like that in your description.

It's an all-age game and everybody love little girls , only heartless people wouldn't.

[Dreamysyu]

3 hours ago, Nier said:

It's an all-age game and everybody love little girls , only heartless people wouldn't.

It's way too easy to misinterpret this line. It's easy to put all blame on Valve, and if the game is exactly like you say, they probably deserve it. But you can't expect life to always be fair. If the developer doesn't put any effort into avoiding misunderstandings like that, they can't really complain about this situation.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Dreamysyu

[Nier]

17 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

It's way too easy to misinterpret this line.

No. Unless you are a pervert? Are YOU a PERVERT!?

Little girls are cute and endearing, just like chickens

(I am sorry, I hope that picture wasn't too lewd for you?)

17 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

It's easy too put all blame on Valve, and if the game is exactly like you say, they probably deserve it.

The blame is solely on Steam and their reason for removing it is completely stupid.

This is the Steam page before the removal:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:wVsvaV-GFswJ:store.steampowered.com/app/710370%3Fl%3Dkoreana+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Notice that Steam reason for banning the game wasn't because it was an eroge or anything, as a matter of fact they couldn't attack the game itself because it's an All-Age title, so instead they come out with the bullshit excuse that their reason for banning it is basically because "pedophiles would buy this game".

Edited December 11, 2017 by Nier

[NowItsAngeTime]

Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

[Decay]

The Key to Home is 100% pedo bait and if Steam doesn't want that on their store then that's fine by me.

[Dreamysyu]

12 minutes ago, Nier said:

Are YOU a PERVERT!?

Damn. I've been caught. (no)

13 minutes ago, Nier said:

The blame is solely on Steam and their reason for removing it is completely stupid.

This is the Steam page before the removal:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:wVsvaV-GFswJ:store.steampowered.com/app/710370%3Fl%3Dkoreana+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

I don't know, this page didn't really change my opinion, but maybe I'm just too tired to interpret it correctly. Again, I don't know what the actual game is about. Looking at the page, I'm not surprised why someone would think why this could be a pedo bait. If you are dealing with somewhat monopolistic companies like Steam, this is your death warrant.

[XChaosX]

Nutaku is a piece of censoring garbage, and Steam is a DRM piece of censoring garbage. Tell both of them to stop being asinine, boycott both of them, and move on.

[Dergonu]

This makes me wonder what Sekai Project will do about Maitetsu. If this all-ages game can't make it on steam, how the hell will an actual loli eroge? (Of course the H won't be in the steam version, but if valve bans games that doesn't even have H to begin with, surely a game that originally does have tons of loli porn should be a no-no, right?)

At least they already confirmed a Denpasoft version, so people can buy the game from there anyways, but... hm. RIP steam users?

[Plk_Lesiak]

26 minutes ago, Dergonu said:

This makes me wonder what Sekai Project will do about Maitetsu. If this all-ages game can't make it on steam, how the hell will an actual loli eroge? (Of course the H won't be in the steam version, but if valve bans games that doesn't even have H to begin with, surely a game that originally does have tons of loli porn should be a no-no, right?)

At least they already confirmed a Denpasoft version, so people can buy the game from there anyways, but... hm. RIP steam users?

I'm afraid that Steam might never become a friendly space for lolicons.

------------------------------------------------------------

BTW, Dergonu-sama, where do those screens in your signature come from?

Edited December 11, 2017 by Plk_Lesiak

[Dergonu]

9 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

BTW, Dergonu-sama, where do those screens in your signature come from?

SonoHana Nyuu Jene. Ai x Aya = best girls.

[Plk_Lesiak]

9 minutes ago, Dergonu said:

SonoHana Nyuu Jene. Ai x Aya = best girls.

Damn, now I have to actually go and buy New Gen after all. I need to look for some additional sources of money. :s

Sry for OT...

Edited December 11, 2017 by Plk_Lesiak

[novurdim]

Nice, maybe they'll finally ban SakuraGame next.

[Nandemonai]

I went to go take a look at Maitetsu's Steam page, only to find it hasn't actually got one.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if the game doesn't wind up releasing on Steam after all.  And if it does, it will only be because the game's promotional materials (at least the ones up on the game's site right now) aren't pushing the sexualization angle.  They push the slice of life angle, none of the characters are explicitly underage, and the main character isn't a grown man with an explicit avowed interest in little girls.  Sure, it might be a lolige.  But they're not marketing it as one.

Whereas The Key to Home sure seemed to have been designed to be marketed that way from the get go.  I checked out their Steam page awhile back.  It had a screenshot that was obviously supposed to look an awful lot like a footjob without actually being one.  It's just much more open and obvious about it, and guess what?  Steam has the right not to sell something if they don't want to.  It is their service.  They obviously know about the porn games flooding onto Steam.  They've chosen to throw up roadblocks (the patches thing) but have continued to allow it.  They don't need to do that.  Nobody has a right to sell their stuff there.

If Valve decides "we're not comfortable allowing this title on Steam", they can do that.  I'm fine with them doing it because they're worried about bad press if the story somehow blew up.  I'm also fine with them doing it because Valve as a company decided 'this makes our skin crawl, we don't want this on our store'.

I would not be fine if Valve said something like "if you publish that game anywhere else, we'll never talk to you again".  That would be censorship.  Valve deciding it doesn't want to carry Imouto Paradise or Suck my Dick or Die or The Key to Home isn't censorship.  No one has a right to be heard using any platform they demand access to.  That's not how it works.  Other folks have the right not to associate with you, if they don't like you.  Steam is not a public utility.

[Tamaki Sakura]

I'm not surprised, given that the art looked liked something straight out of LO.

[novurdim]

1 hour ago, Nandemonai said:

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the game doesn't wind up releasing on Steam after all. 

I don't really get why people keep bringing up maitetsu in this topic, steam carries a whole lot of vns with loli heroines. The problem with The Key to Home is only in the fact that it's an EXTREMELY obvious pedobait. Main hero is a literal pedophile, the description straight up caters to people who "love little girls", every screen is either a sexual innuendo or a little girl in some whorish pose which is not surprising considering that the artist is famous for his loli porn. It has everything but actual porn. Even an all-ages version of some random eroge "I jerk off my onii-chan" (with a changed name of course and "pure" screenshots and description) likely wouldn't make people's skin crawl as much and possibly wouldn't get deleted.

[Dergonu]

36 minutes ago, novurdim said:

I don't really get why people keep bringing up maitetsu in this topic, steam carries a whole lot of vns with loli heroines.

Doesn't this kind of go without saying? Sure, SP can put SFW pictures on the steam page from the story, that look harmless enough. But if Valve was to do just a bit of research into the game, they'd find a super long list of loli porn scenes. (The game has a LOT, unlike your normal eroge with a loli heroine, which might have one or two.) If the suggestive poses in The Key to Home is pedobait, then Maitetsu is super pedobait. (I mean, have you seen some of the scenes in Maitetsu?)

The story and the H parts of the game are separated, so you can easily put just the SFW parts onto steam and cut out the H, but seeing as the game is technically still tied to a massive roster of loli porn, I'd think Valve would see that as pedobait regardless of the H being removed, simply because it clearly was designed with loli porn in the game originally.

 

I don't disagree with the removal of The Key to Home off Steam at all. In fact, I agree with Nandemonai, I think it makes sense. It does make me wonder what will happen to games like Maitetsu in the future, though, as Valve clearly aren't happy with "pedobait" games. Maitetsu is not your standard eroge that just happens to have a loli heroine. It's loli train simulator 9000. (/ω＼)

[novurdim]

1 hour ago, Dergonu said:

Doesn't this kind of go without saying?

Looking at this thread? No.

1 hour ago, Dergonu said:

But if Valve was to do just a bit of research into the game, they'd find a super long list of loli porn scenes.

They have literally never done that and have never shown any care about what's in the games outside the steam version. Even what's in those "free patches" (which maitetsu won't have, if I correctly understand sekai's policy) as long as those are not marketed on steam by the publisher itself.

1 hour ago, Dergonu said:

If the suggestive poses in The Key to Home is pedobait, then Maitetsu is super pedobait.

What compromised TKtH is their insane store page, not even the game itself. It's evident even from the way Steam had worded their reasoning for the removal. I believe that as of now your panic is completely misplaced. All-ages Maitetsu can be presented harmless enough to not even raise a brow. For one, its lolis don't look like average sluts.

Edited December 12, 2017 by novurdim

[Dreamysyu]

I can't shake off the feeling that this situation gave the game in question much more publicity than it actually deserves.