Sex Game Pulled From Steam Greenlight. You Can Guess Why

Kotaku - In theory, Steam Greenlight will let any aspiring game developer get their game onto PC gaming's hottest online marketplace as long as enough gamers for for it. But that promise doesn't appear to apply to the makers of the erotic game Seduce Me. The game's listing was pulled from Steam's new Greenlight service last Thursday, the same day it was posted there.

[mafiahajeri]

Good.

[knowyourstuff]

The game is a lame game for losers who can't talk to women. You talk to virtual women who then perform virtual sexual acts for you - it's the virtual version of a blow-up doll. There's a reason Steam won't carry it, they don't want to be a place for sex games. There's plenty of places you can probably buy this game, but just like Walmart, Target, BestBuy and several other retailers, it changes your store and what you stand for when you choose certain products. Your target market changes, and it's up to the retailer as to whether they want to be a place where people want to buy pornographic material, be it movies, games, toys or otherwise. If you want to be a family-oriented store you can choose to be one, or not choose to be one. If you want kids to be able to search your site and buy things, then you'd be smart not to include pornographic material, else parents *won't let their kids onto your site, thus limiting a huge target market from potentially visiting your site*.

You have to know a thing or two about business to understand something this complex, and finding someone that smart on N4G is like a needle in a hay stack, as evidenced by all the comments from the noodnicks on this thread.

[ChickeyCantor]

"The game is a lame game for losers who can't talk to women"

Mind sharing your balls with these guys then? I'm pretty sure it's not gay at all.

[DragonKnight]

@knowyourstuff: Disregarding opinions on what we think about the people who would buy these games, I have 3 issues with your comment.

1. Steam Greenlight is marketing itself as being a place where ANY game can get a chance. If you're going to tell the developers of the world "you can put your game here as long as there's an audience for it" and then decide to change your mind because of what you consider to be a potential bad PR situation, then you need to change what you're saying to developers to "you can put your game here as long as there's an audience for it or it doesn't make us look bad"

2. Kids should NOT be purchasing games online. PERIOD! Have you seen the stories where parents credit card bills are racked up thanks to kids unwittingly purchasing every item they see for an MMO, not realizing they were spending real money? Steam is a site where you GET the games, not play the games. It's foolish to have children be considered a market on their own if they aren't legally allowed to buy games, and in the case of parents they can go on Steam and look for games for their kids themselves. Besides, almost every site online (unless specifically geared towards anything younger) has the minimum age of 13 for access to the site (yes, I'm aware people lie about their age) and 13 is not a child. Society says it's a teen, biology says it's an adult, and plenty of cultures consider 13 to be the start of adulthood.

3. What does it say that extreme violence is allowed on Steam but sex isn't? How is it a good image to have extreme violence, but a bad image to have sex? Is it me or is the argument "video games are causing kids to have sex at a younger age" subtly lingering just under the surface of that idea. So it's ok to say that violence is an acceptable type of subject matter for games, but sex is where the line is drawn? One type of subject matter has you killing everything in sight, the other has you seeing and interacting with a naked person. Ooohhh, the humanity. I guess sex education in schools should be replaced with "how to take apart, clean, and put any gun back together" since that's appropriate. Would you agree with parents who think sex education perpetuates the act more than if kids weren't taught about sex?

Double standards and puritan ignorance will forever be hindrances to maturity.

[fanboygamer]

I think you looked at this game/genre the wrong way. Your just thinking of the nerds that plays this game as being sad. Your are probably right about the people who play this game, but its the same for people buying sports game. Go out and play the sport yourself.

Just change your perception on things and you might see the reason behind these games. Like think of it as interactive porn and don't think about the sad users playing this game.

I agree with most of the things you say though.

@dragonknight

1. They had a line saying no offensive material. In video games that normally means no shooting american president's & no porn. However it is their fault that they did not make that clear enough, which is why they are changing it.

2. Steam wants to keep its market available to as many people as possible. They could easily have a mature/adult section (which requires proof of age) if they want, but they choose not to. Nothing wrong with that.
"... 13 is not a child. Society says it's a teen, biology says it's an adult, and plenty of cultures consider 13 to be the start of adulthood. "
Sorry for selectively picking out 1 tiny line from a massive paragraph, but that line just sounds like something a paedophile would say. LOL. Actually I could imagine a paedo saying that in court.
Not saying you are one BTW, just looking at the funny side of that line.

3. I agree with what you are saying, Violence is wrong. But you can't say violence is wrong so you might as well have porn aswell.
It's a game for adults so mentioning about kids at this point is not neccesary. It's just how society looks at erotic/porn games. Society still feels that drawing/animating 2d/3d porn is wierd and freaky 9except for Japan). Which is why you do not get animated porn in any other country apart from Japan.

Side note: After all this talk, I think porn should not be available as well... porn is quite sickening and freaky to be honest.

[christheredhead]

I really don't see whats so wrong with the game. If people don't want to play it, then skip over it. I think Valve should have let it go through the process like every other game, but that's just my opinion.

Gamers are ok with killing, murdering, torturing, adult language and all sorts of dark, twisted, and evil ideas in their games. Yet, when it comes to sexual themes or sexually themed games, people become embarrassed or offended. I'm not sure why.

[Dan50]

America is going to America.... :P

[TheTwelve]

huh

[Sketchy_Galore]

It's a shame but this kind of thing really was inevitable. Whether it was the game or the gamer, something was gonna get pulled off.

[Mutant-Spud]

A game that trains lads to seduce hot women...the horror!
In Saints Row you can pick women up and throw them under cars or crash tackle them onto the concrete.

[jessupj]

It's a real shame some people aren't mature and open minded enough to let other people that want to play this game, play this game.

[Kurylo3d]

thats the society we live in here in the united states. Sex is villified, violence is glorified. Its sad... really sad... Oh and bad words/profanity/cursing are worse then violence as well here.

[fanboygamer]

There is a big difference between erotic and porn. Looking at this game, it seems to be more porn than erotic. Well, I'm not too sure.
Think about the movie industry, they play erotic movies in cinema and sell erotic movies in DVD stores and Blockbusters. However, it is not the same for porn.
If they could get the game classified as erotic then I don't see why this game should be pulled from steam.

[Kurylo3d]

Well actually most video stores have the porn section in the back. I think blockbuster was like the only one that never did.

[fanboygamer]

Well I guess it depends on what country you are from. I just never noticed a porn section in stores. just thought you had to go to dodgy XXX stores to find porn.

Anyway, Valve/Steam has made it clear that they don't want any erotic games at all.
I guess the company has to convince valve that this is not an erotic game but a dating sim(...with additional sex scenes).