Hi everyone! I hope you’re alright! Reaching out once more to give you an update about the itch situation. But first of all, I’m letting you know I have created a FREE Patreon account so that you guys can download games from The Daughters of the Sun (TDOTS) again. They’re the only ones available as I’m writing these lines, but I will add all my games to make sure they just don’t get removed from the surface of the earth lol. Please note that I WON’T REMOVE THEM FROM ITCH (as most of you are here), so if you see any of my other games disappear, know that I’m not being petty, but censored looool. But regarding the Patreon, you should be able to download the games even without a Patreon account, as my posts are public and not members only, so don’t worry if you don’t have a Patreon account! Perhaps I’ll post paid content on Patreon someday, but I would need to think of something I can post at least weekly about loool

Now, I think I should update you to give more clear details about the situation, although you must have already read this in devlogs from other devs.

But basically, an Australian conservative feminist organisation, Collective Shout, was rightfully alerted by the presence on itch and steam of a rape simulator game entitled No Mercy. However, conservatives being obnoxious and unable of nuances, they decided to target all NSFW content, as if all of it were rape simulators. They also centred their actions around certain themes, that they mention in their open letter: the sexual abuse and torture of women and children. You can see where it starts becoming problematic: the theme of abuse isn’t inherently immoral, and you can tackle it in NSFW media without making something as distasteful as a rape simulator. This letter wasn’t addressed to itch or steam, but to the payment processors they use: these are the ones who told the platforms to act accordingly.

Now, Collective Shout has clarified their position on the matter: they did not want all NSFW content to be removed, and they approached payment processors after months of steam and itch ignoring them. You can find this take in their own words here. But according to them, they only wanted to target the rape and incest content normaising the abuse of women (which is a weird take to have anyway in my opinion???? normalising abuse isn’t any better when it concerns men?? gosh, does it motivate me to work on Waterlily on the Froth). Now, you’re free to judge from their open letters, but I think that they did have a more general intent, and are backtracking a bit here and shifting blame on itch alone, as if they didn’t contribute to our current predicament and to the precarisation of many game developers, and, when it comes to the VN space, many women developers, who explored, through their NSFW media, sex in a controlled environment.

But indeed, I can’t deny itch has been overzealous (or perhaps the payment processors had stricter expectations than Collective Shout pretends to have). Itch made a list of the topics they don’t tolerate on the platform, and it is as follows:

Note that itch speaks about prohibited themes, not just themes prohibited to endorse. Because, of course I wouldn’t approve of a game endorsing bestiality, as animals cannot give consent. Now, would I think a game focusing on Pasiphaë’s dangerous obsession for a bull and how it leads her to give birth to a literal monster, biological incarnation of her monstrous desires, would be problematic? No, it would just be the narration of a tragedy. And of course, “animal-related” sounds quite worrisome to all the creators of furry art.

Some are also legit curious. Let’s take the example they give of scat content. Do I like scat content? Nope. Do I find it disgusting? Yes. Do I find it immoral? Well, if all the involved parties consent (and in terms of game, if the game has appropriate trigger warnings and doesn’t contain any graphical depiction of it on its page), I don’t see where the problem is. Disgusting doesn’t mean immoral, and even my tastes aren’t guardians of morality.

So what can we do? Collective Shout has reported having received death and rape threats, which is obviously not a proper answer. From a pragmatic point of view, that makes them victims and creates some sort of “balance” in a situation in which indie creators were originally oppressed. But from a human and empathetic point of view, it is of course not acceptable to ever threaten someone that way.

However, the fact that Collective Shout has spoken up to explain they don’t approve itch’s measures proves one thing: our efforts work, our complaints are heard, and issues have started to be addressed. That’s why I encourage you, not to contact Collective Shout, but the payment processors behind itch and steam. This has been going on for a few days now, but let’s all remember this fight won’t be won in the span of a single week: if the problem persists, if they can’t ignore it without malfunctioning, then they will take it into consideration. So send emails, call them even to notify your dissatisfaction about the restrictions. And if you already have, do it again, to explain you’re disappointed the problem isn’t solved. Here are different resources with email addresses and phone numbers:

Stop Payment Processors from Censorship

Yellat Money

And that’s it! So, to summarise: I have a free patreon in case you’re interested, and if you’re willing to, we indie creators will appreciate your support (and have noticed it, especially in our downloads, thank you). Until then, toodaloo!