We’re currently in a new age of book burning—digital book burning, where mass censorship is upon us. Rather than censoring bigotted, hateful views that call for violence against marginalized groups, certain groups have pointed their aim at anything they deem problematic, including eroge, queer works, and more. First it was Steam, and now it’s itchio. Tomorrow, who knows.
This is not just a worrying trend—it’s outright alarming. But rather than speculating on what the future may hold, what can we do right now?
1. Stand with eroge devs.
Regardless if you make ero content, we need to stand with ero developers. These are our fellow developers, our neighbors, who are expressing themselves artistically. Furthermore, NSFW content can be a safe outlet for those who have been abused, as a way to work through their emotions without bottling it up. Banning NSFW content will not stop it. It will only make it harder for victims to express themselves.
2. Realize it doesn’t stop at eroge.
These groups will never be happy with just getting the Daz 3D games removed from platforms. No, they want any content they deem problematic to be removed, including queer games. American school systems are already targeting wholesome boys love manga because no queer media should exist in a conservative’s world. And naturally, they won’t stop at queer media either. The Hays Code is an example of how far this line of thought could be used.
This isn’t something that will go away by simply waiting or moving to other platforms, as they will target more content and be more vicious.
What can we do to help devs?
There’s not a lot we can individually do, but that doesn’t mean we’re helpless.
1. Contact payment processors.
The groups responsible for pushing this wave of censorship are doing so by contacting payment processors—namely Visa and Mastercard—and pressuring them into pressuring platforms like Steam & itchio to remove the content they deem irresponsible. However, this can also possibly work in the opposite direction. Contact payment processors (credit card companies, PayPal, Stripe, etc.) and let them know your disdain for them pressuring online platforms to remove content. If you’re a credit card holder, let them know. If you’ve used their platform for years, let them know. You’re not a nameless voice—you’re a customer and you’re angry.
2. Help the ACLU fight censorship.
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is an organization fighting for American liberties, including one of their current projects to stop Mastercard’s discriminatory policies against NSFW creators and sex workers. They have a petition but they also have other ways to support them, including sharing their posts, ways to act on their website, and the option to donate directly to them.
3. Share eroge amidst the chaos.
We can support NSFW creators by sharing their posts, giving their games exposure on other websites that do allow their content, and sending them money. Lots of developers are sharing ways to support them and how to help—listen to them and share their stories.
4. Archive and back up media.
If it’s not backed up in at least 2 places, then media isn’t properly archived. Amidst these censorship waves, media can easily become swept away and lost. Get a cheap jump drive and download the media that you enjoy. Sites like itchio allow you to download DRM-free, which means its yours forever—as long as you actually download it.
What can devs do?
Aside from the steps above, what should developers do? What can developers do?
1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Creators—especially NSFW ones—should not put all of their efforts into just one or two platforms. Platforms are ephemeral and nothing lasts forever. Even popular platforms like Vine vanish overnight. If you don’t own the website, then you don’t control how long the website stays alive.
I normally give this advice in response to social media platforms, as those are the most volatile, but it should be heeded for any type of platform. For a successful and long-lasting business strategy, you have to diversify. How are you doing risk mitigation if all of your income is coming in from one website? What happens if that website gets bought out and their policies change? What happens if they suddenly go under?
2. Look into other platforms.
As I mentioned before, this problem can follow us to other websites (as it followed devs from Steam to itchio), but having games and media on multiple platforms is still a good idea. There are several other platforms that allow NSFW media and general visual novels, such as…
- JAST – they’re a visual novel publisher and very friendly to NSFW games. They’re currently looking for more visual novels to publish to their platform, as per their Twitter. (you may also hear more about them on my blog soon… 👀)
- DLsite – they’re one of the biggest Japanese online platforms for media and games and allow for self-published games in a variety of languages, including English. They don’t take card payments as they previously also had to deal with these censorship waves, instead having a points system.
- Newgrounds – easily one of the oldest and most well-known online indie sites that’s still around, Newgrounds has been very open about their NSFW policies. The exception, though, is that they don’t have ways to monetize directly on the platform.
- Baiyu, a fellow visual novel developer, has a thread where he looks through to find NSFW site alternatives.
3. Don’t harass itchio.
Their delayed response and general handling of the situation wasn’t great and frankly unprofessional in most aspects, but we need to realize that they’re a small team being pressured into possibly being shuttered if they didn’t act fast. Itchio is most likely in a very precarious situation right now. At the end of the day, this wasn’t their decision—they were forced into it. Let’s focus our frustrations on resolving this rather than blaming them for everything.
These are troubling times and most likely will continue to be for a while longer. We can get through them, though, by supporting each other and sticking together. Continually showing up for each other is how we can help everyone survive. I hope these policies will change, but if they do it won’t be an overnight thing—it’ll be the result of a long campaign of showing up and letting our voices be heard. Don’t doomscroll, don’t fall into the belief this is how things will always be. A better future is only there if you first imagine it.
— Arimia