Before getting into the content of this page, I want to put a big ol' notice:
READ THINGS BEFORE YOU SHARE THEM
There's an old witticism (attributed to many, many famous names) that's even more true now than when when it first popped up: "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on." It's not limited to lies, either; misinformation can come in the form of just misinterpreting a situation, or being wrong but in good faith. Either way, though, it's important in an age of social media to be conscious of what information you're sharing and spreading. Read a post before you share it. If a post has a link to or screenshot of an article, read the article. Do your best to avoid amplifying malicious actors, who may use agreeable talking points to try to lure people into more destructive movements.
Now onto the actual intended content of this page:
Table of contents
- What's going on?
- How do we stop this together?
- What can I do as a creator?
- What can I do as a player?
- Recommended reading
- 🌟Cool Stuff🌟
How do we stop this together?
CALL. Contact payment processors, especially Stripe, to pressure them to back off of censorship. Be stubborn but polite. Take up as much of customer service's time as possible. The goal is to annoy them into submission. Ideally, you should speak with your own words; if you use a script, change it up a bit so the teacher doesn't notice. That said, calling with a verbatim script is better than not calling at all. Here are some helpful links:
- yellat.money - phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses
- Stop payment processors from censoring games! - phone numbers, email addresses, scripts
- 10k Phone Calls - Fight Censorship - phone numbers, email addresses, scripts
- Cheat sheet by Dieselbrain - a bunch of useful information all crammed into a single easily repostable image
What can I do as a creator?
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Make sure you have multiple backups of all your projects (released ones and ones still in development), and try to upload on as many platforms if you can. Exclusivity primarily helps out the platform, not the game. Spreading out as far as possible reduces the risk that you'll be devastated if any one platform deplatforms you or is forced to shut down.
Helpful links:
- Ren'Py NSFW Patching Guide by Bob Conway - step-by-step guide to creating adult patches for Ren'Py games
- Thread of NSFW-friendly distribution platforms - mostly focused on games but also has options for other media
- Indie Game Store Template by Liana - template for selling indie games on your own website. Make sure to read the documentation and research local laws before implementing this, as selling stuff on your own places you under additional rules and regulations that you wouldn't have to deal with on a storefront. But it's an option if you're willing and able to handle the risks, and theoretically Stripe would be less likely to target a single-dev shop than a whole storefront.
Recommended reading
These are relevant links that I think anyone trying to get a handle of this situation should read.
- How the Religious Right Censor Morally Objectionable Content to Target Queer and Adult Media - explaining how this situation was caused by the same group going after no-name extreme content as a tactic to deplatform all "objectionable" (to religious right-wingers) content
- Super Columbine Massacre RPG! - 20 years later, are the limits still winning? - about transgressive games, and how games are held to a higher standard than other media
- Rebuilding Community on the (Fujo)Web - series of articles about the struggles of indie web projects; mostly focused on fannish social sites, but the information is much more widely applicable
- The Impact of the Itch De-Indexings - an article about the itch.io situation which includes statements from affected developers
🌟Cool Stuff🌟
- Draw a Fish! - Do it. Draw the fish. You get to see it swim around with all the other fish everyone drew!
credits
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