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Twitch bans Adults Only games

Dryk

Member
Our goal at Twitch is to create a safe, welcoming, inclusive community platform where everyone can feel comfortable and have fun. From time to time, we update our Rules of Conduct (RoC) in pursuit of this goal and to match emerging issues in the video game industry.
Games suitable for 17 year olds: Safe and welcoming
Games suitable for 18 year olds: Ban this sick filth

The ESRB rating system is weird. Though to be fair the Australian rating system is General, Restricted to 18+ and then 3 different levels of suitability for 15 year olds.
 

stilgar

Member
Adults Only games are verbotent, but borderline prostitution is still perfectly cool with Twitch:



As ridiculous as it is, I wouldn't call it "bordeline prostitution". More something along the lines of "interactive stripping"? I don't even know why I'm arguing :p
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Watch someone shot and kill people point blank in a game, Yes great fun. Watch someone walk around nude in a game, No that is too much. This country is so backwards when it comes to violence and sex.
Nudity alone isn't enough for an AO rating. And a game depicting copious amounts of explicit sex is essentially porn, so it has to be age screened. And it scares away advertisers, who don't want their brand tainted with smut.
 
Absolutely ridiculous. People should be able to stream any game they want.

Sure they can. Just not on Twitch though. Steam is the same, you can't sell AO games unless it is censored IIRC. Very very few games are AO any way.

Also I have no problem with how some female streamers run their channel, every body does every thing possible for a leg up in a competitive environment, if a woman wants to show more cleavage purposefully for more viewers who gives a shit - all the more power to them. Those interested will appreciate it and those aren't won't even be watching the channel so I don't see the issue. I'm not interested in that side of twitch but don't see why men or women can't do that or people who want to see it can't. There are already 18+ warnings set on channels for mature content.

Also although twitch made that rule of "don't show too much cleavage etc", it's barely enforced at all.
 

Buzzman

Banned
Adults Only games are verbotent, but borderline prostitution is still perfectly cool with Twitch:

gx9BYmc.png

psst:

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/twitch-sexy-streamers-rule-change/
 

Corpekata

Banned
As ridiculous as it is, I wouldn't call it "bordeline prostitution". More something alpong the lines of "interactive stripping"? I don't even know why I'm arguing :p

You're arguing because calling cleavage "borderline prostitution" like he did set off a "that's some stupid shit" part of your brain.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Hatred definitely had an entry on the ESRB page before. They must have removed it.

I can't find any evidence of that being the case. Numerous articles say that the devs said it's been rated AO, but that's about it. Also, I doubt the ESRB pulls ratings information down upon request (that strikes me as counter-productive), but I don't live in the US so I'm not familiar with how the organisation operates.

Edit: See HGH's post below.
 

HGH

Banned
Nothing new here I feel, this movement to crack down on some games has been going on for a while. Although I recall incidents where Twitch mods tried to ban a streamer who had just finished MGS4 and was watching the ending because "Streaming movies is not allowed on Twitch, please provide evidence you are playing a game". That was funny as heck. A less funny incident was when they cracked down on SK streamers telling them to stop because they're "not actually streaming a real game" or something.
To people freaking out about San Andreas, you should check out the official blog instead of PC Gamer:
Wait a second. Why does the Twitch mod keep citing Polygon as a source? That seems dumb as hell.

that's weird. their website seems to think they have been
Hatred hasn't been rated.
They're using Polygon, but if I check the Steam store it says they basically sent a questionnaire to the ESRB that automatically assigns a rating to the game IF they were to submit it for rating. So technically it doesn't have a rating but has a "potential" rating.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
They're using Polygon, but if I check the Steam store it says they basically sent a questionnaire to the ESRB that automatically assigns a rating to the game IF they were to submit it for rating. So technically it doesn't have a rating but has a "potential" rating.

Ah. That clears things up.

It was rated back in January.

See HGH's post. It hasn't actually been rated.
 
I can't find any evidence of that being the case. Numerous articles say that the devs said it's been rated AO, but that's about it. Also, I doubt the ESRB pulls ratings information down upon request (that strikes me as counter-productive), but I don't live in the US so I'm not familiar with how the organisation operates.

Edit: See HGH's post below.
I definitely saw the entry on the web site back when the devs talked about it.
 

thelastword

Banned
Someone should just make a streaming service that allows for AO games and content, just age verify and categorize it from regular games.
 

Gintoki

Member
I thought this was well established, but I guess they wanted to remind streamers ahead of a certain game's launch.
 

Buzzman

Banned
Someone should just make a streaming service that allows for AO games and content, just age verify and categorize it from regular games.

Is there anyone out there really clamouring for those games to be streamed though?
Not every single piece of content needs to be shown.
 

Corpekata

Banned
Is there anyone out there really clamouring for those games to be streamed though?
Not every single piece of content needs to be shown.

No, people are just being over dramatic.

Nobody's gonna leave the service or launch a new one over the 12 viewers you might get streaming Playboy Mansion: The Game.
 
There's more money for them this way

You mean the advertisers that want to show their boring uneffective ads only in a cuddly familiy friendly enviroment? Well they are just as wrong.

They should shoot some ads with brazzers or something, would be far more interessting.
 

Xater

Member
Can we ban the gambling stuff as well? That seems weirder to me on Twitch. Probably not going to happen because it makes them bank.
 

HGH

Banned
I definitely saw the entry on the web site back when the devs talked about it.

Could it be that what you saw was just the automated rating that got filed for it?
I think my earlier post wasn't on point(just based on the Steam page and discussions there), but I've found some comments that have elaborated on the issue on the twitch blog post:

User demeteloaf on Twitch said:
So just FYI, since I don't think you're clear on how ESRB ratings for download only games work....

If you do not have a physical version of your game, you're allowed to submit what's called the ESRB short form, which is an questionnaire that the ESRB website will use to automatically generate a rating for you to display on a download page. This is not the full ESRB rating process, and the game will not show up on the ESRB website as being rated.

It appears that this is what the hatred developers did. Since there is not an official ESRB rating, the developers could theoretically remove the rating listing from their Steam storefront, and everyone would be none the wiser...

If the Hatred devs just simply removed the rating from their steam page, would the game then be allowed?
Was it a giant marketing ploy? Could be.
 
Kind of a shame, but on the other hand: aren't there only like twelve Adults Only games? The examples they give in the article are Manhunt 2 and GTA San Andreas, games that are well over ten years old.

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_video_games yep, it's an incredibly small amount of games. GTA and Manhunt are pretty much the only interesting games.

That's what I thought too. It's going to make almost zero difference.
 

grandjedi6

Master of the Google Search
Could it be that what you saw was just the automated rating that got filed for it?
I think my earlier post wasn't on point(just based on the Steam page and discussions there), but I've found some comments that have elaborated on the issue on the twitch blog post:


Was it a giant marketing ploy? Could be.
That twitch comment is correct about the short form. But the Hatred guy kept bragging about how he was sending in the stuff for the long process anyway despite not being a packaged good and therefore not needing to. Which would have led to a formal rating being released. Yet there no longer exists the formal rating, if it did ever exist.

I suppose there is a scenario where they did go through the long process and did get a formal AO rating released that everyone saw, but then did something to get their rating revoked. At least short form rated games can be revoked:

A portion of games rated in this manner are tested by ESRB shortly after they become publicly available to ensure that appropriate ratings have been assigned. Additionally, ESRB reserves the right to request additional materials for supplemental review at any time. In the event content was not fully or accurately disclosed by the developer, either the rating displayed will be promptly corrected or, in egregious cases, the game may be removed from the store and/or its rating revoked.

Either way, the Hatred guy is obviously playing the AO rating up for publicity regardless of what he did or didn't submitted. And this new Twitch policy is still toothless since download games aren't obligated to get rated or reveal their ratings, meaning this policy only applies to some 90s sex games lol.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Is this censorship or is it a company imposing its values on its users? I mean is it fundamentally different to Microsoft/Sony/Valve/Nintendo not allowing AO/Pornographic titles on their platforms? (AFAIK, though we did have uncensored BMXXX on the Gamecube)

Edit: Was San Andreas really stuck with an AO because of hidden away unfinished fully clothed sex scenes? :lol. Then we have GTA IV/V with the fucking Euphoria Engine designed to make killing people feel more realistic and that's an M
I assume these restrictions will be solely based on the ESRB ratings?

What the hell is this shit

Reminds me of certain camsites
that I have zero experience with
. I dunno, her life, her body. If it works for her then who are we to judge her and her viewership?
 

Kinyou

Member
Kind of a shame, but on the other hand: aren't there only like twelve Adults Only games? The examples they give in the article are Manhunt 2 and GTA San Andreas, games that are well over ten years old.

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_video_games yep, it's an incredibly small amount of games. GTA and Manhunt are pretty much the only interesting games.
Makes the whole thing a bit more perplexing to be honest. Were these games really causing problems on twitch?
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Makes the whole thing a bit more perplexing to be honest. Were these games really causing problems on twitch?

Dude, people could ruin the lives of people if they showed some hot coffee scenes from SA

Edit: Oh, that's factually wrong now
Originally rated M, San Andreas was temporarily re-rated AO following the discovery of an incomplete "Hot Coffee" minigame that could be enabled with a mod, which featured characters engaging in sexual intercourse. Its rating was changed back to M following the release of a patched version of the game that excluded the offending content

Edit #2: Oh my god. The PC, PS2 and Xbox versions are still rated AO. But the PS3 version is rated M :lol. The fuck ESRB?
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
Putting Adult Only on steam seems like some sort of false advertising. They should have to put not rated, if they're not rated. Something seems wrong with that.
 
If someone actually believes this censorship I think my head might explode. Not being able to stream Hatred or some other shitty edgelord games is, quite literally, the least important thing to happen all year.
 

Tovarisc

Member
I wonder how much thought went into this RoC update and its wording before it was published because before hastily put together update they kinda banned Europeans from streaming very popular games like Witcher 3 and GTA V, because PEGI has given them AO/18+ rating. Twitch just forgot that ESRB doesn't give global ratings for games and things like PEGI do exist?

Their service and their rules, but I can't but think that this RoC update will affect only Hatred. If even that considering how unenforced whole "cleavage rule" is.
 

Handy Fake

Member
Fair enough. Probably don't want to leave themselves open to the inevitable lawsuit when some bairn gets caught by their Mother watching a virtual and bloody gangland shootout.

The games are rated, and it leaves them wide open if they allow unfettered streaming.
 
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