Steam, one of the largest platforms for free expression in gaming, has now officially proven themselves to be more than a little hypocritical by censoring a new game on Steam Greenlight by publisher Skaldic Games. For all Steam's claims of creating a more open, accepting community, it appears that some subject matter can still be deemed too "controversial" for Gabe Newell and his cronies to allow in their safe space. "What could be considered too controversial for Steam, a platform that allows users to purchase games like Mortal Kombat X, Grand Theft Auto V, and some trans-activist platformer about murdering the Patriarchy?" you may ask? The kind that upsets everyone's favorite internet dwellers, the Sarkeesian Social Justice Warriors.

The game in question, called "Kill The Faggot," allows players to step into the shoes of some kind of person with some kind of firearm, a unique experience in the gaming realm. More social experiment than game, it asks the question of us "Is Free Speech really that important to us, or is it just a shield for us to hide behind when attacked and ignore when we're offended?" These are the kind of high-minded questions that true art asks of us.

Whether or not you think the game is any good, its wholesale removal from Steam Greenlight sets a dangerous precedent and shows Tumblrites that our safe spaces are no longer our own. They have won. What ever happened to letting the free market decide?

"I disagree with what you say, but I would die for your right to say it."
-some old dead white guy

4336988 ...Seriously?

A game called "Kill The Faggot"?? I'm surprised that this upsets you at all.

4336996
I know, right? Clearly it's okay to have Gone Home espousing its "Die cis scum" attitude, but when the shoe's on the other foot...

4337004 You do know what "faggot" means, right?

4337008

Those assholes who ride the loudest motorcycles they can find around residential neighborhoods at night?

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Yes. Thanks for proving my point that free speech isn't important if you get offended.

4337008
A cigar?

4337013 It's a rather derogatory term that currently means "male homosexual". In that sense, even "gay" is less demeaning.

4337015 "Freedom of speech" does not mean "freedom from criticism". And having the word "faggot" in the game title can be seen as spreading hate speech.

And I don't think we really need more encouragement of hate and bigotry in our lives; online and offline.

If its so bad and offensive then people simply won't buy it. Same with Hatred.

4337034 I'm not the one who got upset enough to make a forum topic about this development. I'm simply explaining a likely cause for why the game in question got pulled from Steam Greenlight.

4337053 Agreed with what? You lost me.

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4337039
Exactly the point. We should let the free market dictate what is and isn't okay rather than censor all willy nilly like feminists do.

4337073 ...If we actually allowed the "free market" to dictate things like "morality" and "good will", then we'd be even more choked by greed than we already are.

The U.S. already has this problem; big business practically runs some portions of government, given how the American political system is vulnerable to corruption by the very nature of its current design.

4337028 True, but they didn't criticize the game. They censored it. Thus your point, while good, is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

4337105 What would you have done, then?

4337123 Let poeple decide for themselves whether they want to play, ignore or write a negative review. Seriously, I don't like games/TV shows like that so I simply don't play/watch them. The only people that shouln't play a game like that are young children, and that's what ESRB is for.

4337160 The ESRB system hardly stops a lot of parents from ignoring the rating anyway. And don't even get me started on the single-digit aged demographic that runs rampant online.

I don't think the "censorship" of a single game (with a questionable title) is going to make things much worse at this point.

In fact, I'm more interested in knowing why there are so many parents allowing their underage children to play clearly 'M' rated games. I don't get that at all...

4336988 The Game is Free

Apparently it was all a social experiment, and people took the bait with flying colors. I think this was a great stament of how hypocritical people have become about what's ok and what isn't ok in fiction. You can kill these people but not these people. The game was joke and anyone. I play mortal kombat and you don't see men ripping spines.

4337253 I didn't even know the "game" was a thing, until this topic started.

Even if I had seen it myself on Steam Greenlight, the most I'd probably do is just facepalm lightly, shake my head, and say "...really?"

And then I'd just keep browsing the game list. Personally, I'm more concerned about the parents who are utterly laissez faire about the games they buy for their kids. Not all parents, mind you, but too many.

I mean, if the underage demographic that connects to the Internet is large enough to be a measurable statistic, then shouldn't that raise red flags somewhere?

4337311 True. Games can be more impressionable on children then mature adults. A kid might not realize the game is satire, but hopeful the kid has better taste in games.

4336988
I know you're probably half-joking, but I'm not good with quips, so I'll just say what I really think about that:

Just calling a game "Kill the Faggot" was kind of crossing a few lines there, don't you think? I guess it was a joke or a social experiment of some kind, and could count as free speech, but I don't completely blame people for being upset about its existence and I'd never, ever play it myself, unless it was so blatantly satirical and self-condemning like "The Bill Cosby Fun Game". Still, I guess since Steam supports everything, it's only fair that they have everything on it. Sure I wouldn't like it or even play it if it made killing the titular "faggots" look like a righteous thing, though I might like the game if it was as a satire of hateful attitudes like extreme homophobia, but even if that wasn't the case, I probably wouldn't get rid, I'd just not ever spend a cent on it, or even play it for free. If it is what you say it is, a deep and semi-satirical take on how some people sometimes use free speech, then I'd probably play it myself to appreciate the satire and deep questions. If you're joking even more than I thought, and it's just a game about a guy with weapons killing people he deems "faggots" and nothing more, then I won't play it. I won't try to get it censored, but I'll boycott the Hell out of it.

EDIT: ...My God. You're serious aren't you? In that case I'm with you. I may not want to play the game anyway, but just because I don't like something, doesn't mean I'll try to illegalize it. Not buy it? Yes. Play it for free? Probably not, unless somebody told me to write an accurate review on it. Censor it? No. Just no.

4336988
Remember when?