I have a question for the Itch management.
As far as I can see the payment systems' demand was either unofficial, or the notification protocol was violated. In both cases, the actions of the payment systems should be regarded as pressure from a monopolist in matters that are not within their competence (+ many other violations).
I assume that a tactical decision to urgently deindex makes sense, but only if you want to buy time and turn the situation in your favor. But I see the removal of games, from which I draw a very sad conclusion.
In addition, Itch has always positioned itself not as a store, but as a community. Maybe these are just beautiful words and marketing populism to lure the audience. So tell me, if we are a community, then maybe it's worth it for the Itch management to go for an international court with сollective appeal? We as a community, with our religious and cultural preferences, do not want to be interfered with and forced to give up our identity. This is a matter of our survival as a community. And, by the way, a very tolerant community, where individuals, creators and ppls fantasies are respected. This is our religion. And we are free people who have the right to do so. And we also have the right to be protected.
I want to see a transparent answer from Itch: Is this just a store, or are we a community after all? And if it's about community, then provide a link to sign a сollective appeal to the court. I think we are ready to defend our ideals.
Trust has definitely been undermined, and it will take years to justify today's mockery of creators. And fighting in court will be difficult, but it's worth it. Because this will define what Itch is for.
I want to add a few more emotional words. I was truly shocked by these events. I consider myself a progressive person, and these activists with incomprehensible and alien morality from the country of far away past years want to turn the sexual revolution back. Where is their tolerance for other people's work, for other people's feelings and even fantasies. FANTASY! Damn, these people are simply at the level of monkeys in terms of understanding the line between reality and fantasy. What can we talk about next? Ban entry to itch from Australia if such untolerant people live there. No Australian = no problem, mb?
I also want to talk about the consequences. Maybe someone has heard of social psychology and the like.. Well, it took more than 15 years to bring the gaming porn industry out of the darknet and pirate sites. People just began to believe that they can not be ashamed of their sexual desires. To have comfort in selling and buying like all normal ppl do. Just gave up pirate sites who simply steal developers content, hack into the code, make changes to intellectual property at their discretion, and distribute it (and sometimes even profit from it by selling or collecting donations for publication). And returning to these conditions again is terrible. Developers will be unprotected again. Itch, you gave us hope with your sermons about the community, and now we have this...
I really want to be heard and properly explained whether my hopes were not in vain.