tl;dr

These sex games will raise money for SWOP Behind Bars. Check out the simultaneous #SexGamesJam.

Be aware that many of the games in this bundle include explicit sexual content. Please consider A Note on Content & Player Consent and A Note on Censorship, below.

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The Bundle

The #FuckingCensorshipBundle responds to yet another online games platform seeing fit to remove its "adult" and "sex" and "porn" games. Here's an article about the recent GameJolt purge.

We, makers of sex games, know that these ongoing acts of censorship are prelude to further exclusion and destruction of the art, work, and livelihoods of marginalized people, queer people, and sex workers. Therefore, we have created this games bundle with several aims:

• To highlight sex games. We're here, our work is here, and you can't just make us go away. (We are also making new sex games at the #SexGamesJam!)
• To raise money for the support of sex workers and others in the sex industry. Money raised through the sale of this bundle will go to SWOP Behind Bars (@swopbehindbars), a support and advocacy group for currently and formerly incarcerated sex workers.
• To bring attention to a platform that (for now at least) has not censored sex games and sexual content. 

All money raised through the bundle will go to John R. Harness (@cartweel) who will then donate it to SWOP Behind Bars.

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A Note On Content & Player Consent

There are nearly forty games in this bundle. They vary wildly in terms of format, "heat level," and exactly what sex acts are alluded to or explicitly depicted within them. Many games are trying to be sexy--to get you off. Others deal with sexual themes in notably un-sexy ways--to make you think about sex, or through sex, or against sex. (Maybe some of them accomplish both?) Not all sex acts within these games are necessarily good, wholesome, or unproblematic.

Please take advantage of the various content warnings, descriptions, and other information provided by each game to curate your own approach to the contents of this bundle. Many games include explicit instructions on how to communicate about consent and desire with other players. Feel free to opt in or out of any game at any time, and consider taking time after playing a game to ground yourself (and other players) through discussion, reflection, and relaxation.

Again, these are games about the messy subject of sex; or, these are games  that use the messy tools of sex to talk about something else entirely. Take your time to decide if and how you want to engage with each game.

A Note On Censorship

There are games about pedophiles and sex between teenagers in this bundle. There are games about non-consensual and dubiously consensual relationships and sex in this bundle. There are games made to be funny, or to express anger or grief or powerlessness or shame in this bundle. There are humongous animal cocks and dehumanized robo-psyches in this bundle. There are games about sex in this bundle.

Which is to say that this bundle contains exactly the sort of games that might be censored, labelled, or thrown away in other contexts. If any of these games seem to you like it should have been left out because of its problematic content, remember that this bundle exists in order to protest the censorship of games from an online platform. Its creators hope to push back against censorship of games with topics and imagery such as these.

How might we, as game makers and game players, develop the tools to reduce harm in our communities without simply replicating the conservative tactics of censorship? I (John R. Harness, the producer of this bundle) am unsure of the answer to that question, and I doubt that this bundle serves as a perfect answer or model to questions such as this. Nevertheless, please take this collection as it was intended: as a showcase of games that might otherwise be hidden or depreciated. Book bannings are preludes to book burnings. Let us build libraries!