So with that in mind I suspect having a game that literally allows kids to roleplay as a school shooter is probably not a good idea and might actually get people killed for real.

Well, the difference (IMO) is that as distasteful as anyone might find games like that, they're not really inherently harmful.

Meanwhile we do know that school shootings are a bit of a memetic phenomenon, with media coverage of one shooting often being a driving force to other shootings.

That I can definitely agree with. (and have agreed with from the start)

So like, it's not like NSFW games are the only type of content that is restricted in some form.

Yeah, and usually they do get taken down pretty quickly, at least on big platforms like Steam that do the slightest bit of content moderation.

www.cnet.com/news/politic...

Personally I just think that if you refuse to make a judgement call of what kind of content you do or don't allow on your platform, eventually the universe is going to invent something fucked up enough to force your hand either way.
So it's better to at least outline a few rules in advance.

Like, imagine a bunch of high school students create a rape game with the victim clearly designed after one of their classmates.

I don't think I could live with myself keeping that up on my storefront, even if there wasn't any court order to take it down.

Except we know very well that people DO get hurt aplenty by deepfake porn made of them, even if none of it is real and no actual physical abuse took place. So I dont see why we should be okay with the same thing in game form.

And I dont think hiding behind the legal system really abolves you either

Okay, so what if they cartoonified the real person's looks just enough to not look completely identical when creating their NPC of them?
How similar are they allowed to look before it's no longer okay?

Even if it's just on that, you're still not going to get around making rules for censorship.

No matter where exactly you chose to draw the line, it has to be drawn somewhere.
It's basically impossible to avoid eventually having to make a judgment call on these things, so I don't think just shelving this discussion forever is a good idea either.

I KNOW, that's the entire problem!
But I don't think going 100% all in on "No Censorship Ever!" is a real solution either.

What about actual child porn?
What about, again, someone making a school shooting sim?
What about people making rape simulators with the vicitms styled after real celebrities?

Still, I find it kind of hard to define where exactly I'd draw my line in the sand on what should be allowed and what shouldn't, that doesn't ultimately mostly boil down to "You'll know it when you see it."

I fully agree that banning all games that include things like incest or non-consent in a kinky manner is a horrible idea, but I'll be honest, if I was in charge of Steam games like that would still be getting the fuck banned, just like if someone made a school shooting simulator.

One of them was literally just called "Reincarnation in another world going to rape All NPCs VR".
And like, that's not someone artistically exploring Non-Consent as a kink, or victims trying to deal with their own abuse through the medium of games, that's a straight up rape simulator.

So I agree with everything you just said in principle, but I'm still a bit iffy about this overall thing, because I looked at the list of games that Steam banned over this, and most of them don't really fit into that pattern.

Okay, I seriously don't get this premise.

"Watch out what's happening with all the data you generate online --otherwise the earth will be invaded by giant invincible alien death beam killer robots!"

???

How many times has this game launched, unlaunched and relaunched again by now?

I'm pretty sure it's at least three cycles, maybe four.

i think the last decade is a clear evidence that hypocrisy is preferable to honest displays of cruelty and depravity