Adult games are under attack from payment processing companies right now, but there are things you can do to help!

If you haven’t heard, Itch has been forced to prevent all NSFW projects (games, comics, and anything else) from appearing in search/browse/tag results and the “related games” tab. Additionally, a small number of games (6 out of the 705 titles on my lists, for one sample) have been entirely removed from sale due to more direct complaints from payment processors about their themes.

TL;DR: Support artists by buying or promoting their work, complain to the payment processors that are responsible for this to pressure them into reversing course on this issue, and if you are a NSFW artist, take steps to protect yourself.

Q: What can I do to help support developers right now?

If you’ve been considering buying a game or tipping for a free title, now would be a great time to do that, as it will now be much harder for new players to find those games thanks to these changes.

That difficulty can be massively reduced though! Promoting impacted games on social media or your own website/list and spreading lists like https://itch.io/c/1814648/tf-games will be massively helpful for getting eyes on people’s projects!

Additionally, many developers and artists have other places where you can support them, like SubscribeStar/Patreon, merch stores, alternative storefronts, and direct donations.

Q: What can I do to fight this?

Call, mail, and email payment processing companies like Stripe, PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa. You can find contact information and example scripts at https://yellat.money/ or https://stop-paypros.neocities.org/. Consistent and persistent pressure is key here. This really needs to be a continuing thing in order to be effective (check out this thread for info on what makes companies notice calling campaigns), and calling a handful of those numbers every day is a simple way to make your voice heard.

• Don’t give them a reason to hang up on you. Be polite and calm, while making your demands clear.
• The longer this campaign lasts, the better, as it will likely need to last a month in order to really disrupt their operations.
• Email is the least effective, as it is easy to filter out and ignore.
• Tell other people to call! The more people who call, the harder it is for them to deal with.
• Mastercard phone tree tip: When it asks you for your Mastercard number, let it repeat the question a few times and it will transfer you to a customer service rep.

For UK residents (only! Do not do this unless you are from the UK!), in a related issue, if you want the UK to repeal the act that just went into effect that forces websites to collect information on your real life identity in order to let you access to adult content (including purely educational sites like Wikipedia) or direct messaging services like Discord, there is a petition here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/722903 (It has already hit the threshold where Parliament will need to consider it for a debate, but more public support will help it)

Attacking Itch itself would not be productive since they really don’t have any leverage against the payment processors forcing them to do this. Their only other option here would have been to lose access to payment processing entirely, which would not sway Stripe/MC/Visa/PayPal at all but would make it impossible to keep the site afloat, and in turn, sink everyone on the site as well. Their initial communication on this (or lack thereof) was deeply frustrating to say the least, but there aren’t any potential positive outcomes from going after Itch. That energy would be better directed towards helping artists or putting pressure on people who actually have the power to reverse this action.

If you want more ways to help, https://yellat.money/ and https://stop-paypros.neocities.org/ list out lots of other ways to make your voice heard.

Q: What can creators do to protect themselves?

Keep local backups of your projects, make a website that you control (not just a Carrd/Linktree, something that you own), consider starting a mailing list/RSS feed so your fans can stay up to date on your projects, and look into alternative places to host your projects or accept donations.

For TF game developers, https://TFGames.Site is a popular database of free TF games. They don’t host the games themselves and they are not a storefront, which makes them much more resilient against these sorts of attacks than Itch.io or Steam are, but they also aren’t really directly comparable for the same reasons.

For comic artists, https://wechange.me/ is a dedicated site for buying/selling TF paycomics that is owned and operated by TF artists, and their creator applications are open! https://bsky.app/profile/wechange.me/post/3lupiph5jls2o

I would have preferred to announce this under better circumstances, but while I have you here (tarot deck announcement and mailing list announcement in case I need to re-host the TF games list):

If you’re interested in a TF-themed major arcana tarot deck, I will be offering one in the very near future! I'm working with the To Change team to reprint the tarot deck created for their TF tabletop roleplaying game’s crowdfunding campaign, which features unique TF-themed illustrations on each of its 22 cards. Additionally, the deck will include 7 double-sided art cards featuring TF pics from the To Change and Island of Doctor Moreau RPG books.

If all goes according to plan, the “crowd sale” campaign will launch on August 1st. I say “crowd sale” because the deck is going to be produced regardless of how many people support it (unlike in a crowdfunding campaign), but the price will go down based on the number of copies sold, because I’ll be passing on some savings from ordering in bulk to you. You’ll pay whatever the lowest price we hit ends up being, with the starting price during the campaign set at $14.49 US. The deck will still be available after the sale, but that'll be your chance to get it at a lower price!

Also, if you would like to be notified via email in case I need to re-host the list: https://forms.gle/jSq4yYFRxsUGKoeUA

(and hey, while I’m promoting crowdfunding-ish TF stuff, the Mice Tea folks are crowdfunding a very cute Margaret plush over here! https://plushifylab.com/products/margaret-plush)

Sorry it took me a while to get this post out, this whole situation has been pretty overwhelming.