Post by redonihunter in Some sex/nudity vs full-on "NSFW" - itch.io

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redonihunter119 days ago

is there a difference

No.

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tl;dr

Well, for one thing, all games are for gratification, else they would not be games. Also there is absolutely no situation or framework where it is necessary to show explicit nudity to tell a story, especially in a game where you control every pixel. So if you put it there, you did so for a reason. What audience do you expect by doing so? Minors? People that only enjoy looking at naked pixels in an artistic non sexual way?

But to answer your question:

Itch has no age recommendation or rating. It is yes or no. There is no inbetween.

The users see "[ ] Show content marked as adult in search & browse"

The publishers see "[ ] Has sensitive content — This project is not suited for minors or the workplace"

Intent does not matter. If you show explicit nudity, this is considered not suited for minors or the workplace.

You can think about it another way. Would a walkthrough video of your game be allowed unrestriced on youtube?

So maybe consider removing the explicit things. There is hand bras. Underwear. Different angles. Strategically placed environment. You control what the player sees. If they see nudity, it is because you chose so. Even censor bars for comical effect are an option, if you have a 4th wall breaking funny game.

The part about not suited for minors can also involve non explicit things. A pure text adventure about sex would fall into this.

For tagging, the nsfw marking is meta information and those games only appear to users that have that option activated.

Actual tags are not relevant here. But you will get a reminder to mark it nsfw if you select tags like "adult". And people browsing for "adult" will expect explicit games. A lot of violent, scary or bloody games are in the nsfw category. Or other games that are just not suitable for minors in the eyes of the developer.

An age recommendation sure would be nice. But indie games typically are not officially rated and the age recommendation would be different for different regions. Very different.

So your game might be T or 12+, but still nsfw on Itch ;-)

Scary Pixels119 days ago

Thanks for replying. I don't have time to respond to all of your points, but as a response I'd encourage you to try to see if you can find a difference between something like Picasso's/[insert artist here's] Nude paintings, and a Playboy photoshoot of a glamour model.

Yes, all games are for gratification (well, some arthouse games aside), but not all games that contain nudity/sex are for sexual gratification. I doubt people toss off to Outlast, for example, and that contains nudity/sex references.

Anyway, I wasn't looking to get into an argument about this, I was simply seeking an answer from someone who might have some authority as to whether or not there is special tagging for games that contain sex and nudity but aren't porn games (as I've never released a game that contains nudity before so I wanted to get it right), and whether they're filtered differently on the site.

From what you've said at least, it sounds like there is no difference insofar as tagging and filtering is concerned, and that a game like Outlast would be lumped in with porn games. Again, I'm not criticising this - I'm not even interested in getting into a debate, to be frank - I'm just trying to ensure that I tag my game correctly.

hechelion119 days ago(+1)

Everything has already been said, but just to clarify:

As the moderator told you (and he's not a staff member, he's a volunteer community moderator), the only way to get an official response is by contacting support. The forum isn't usually monitored or answered by the staff (sometimes the administrator replies, but very rarely), so asking here isn't a good way to get an official response from the staff.

The community usually answers questions here. And as @redonihunter mentioned, Itch only has a binary flag that indicates whether a game has sensitive content or not, and the system that restricts access to that content is based solely on that flag. Then you have the tags, which allow you as a user to filter content, but at the Itch.io website level, there's no difference.

P.S.: Due to recent events, the staff is overwhelmed, and response times can be very long. Depending on your request, the staff may not respond at all.

redonihunter119 days ago

Very unlikely that someone with authority will give you a definive answer. Best you will get is some vague line about how Itch does not like people trying to stretch the limit of what is sfw. I have seen similar threads.

If you have explicit nudity, there is no discussion, the game will be considered nsfw. If not by you, then by some users that will report your game. This is not a discussion about a region specific age rating. Also, you mentioned the game is in part about sex. So why is this even a thread.

Citing Outlast. Come on. https://www.esrb.org/ratings/10004839/outlast/

Outlast is rated M for Mature 17+ by the ESRB with Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Sexual Content, Nudity, and Strong Language.

Sex sells. That is not a new insight. And using it to make a game appealing does not make the game artistically superior. Or the oil paintings one tries to sell for a living, because none want's to buy the boring things you painted.

One can do art and tell things without being graphically explicit. Espcially in a game where you control every pixel. So why do it. Maybe because the material is not for minors to begin with, like a gore horror intense violence game. Or maybe because, well, sex still sells. In movies it is often used as a shock value, or to show that this is for mature audience. Or as eye candy. Fan service. Rule 34 is a thing for a reason. Oh, and from the other side, adult games are still games. If people were in it for some quick recreational inspiration, there are other sites for that. But they are adults. Why play Mario, if they can play adult Mario. And why look at a landscape oil painting if you can look at something more exciting.