Valve Allows "Everything" In New Steam Game Policy

||| Evelynn Neiss |||

Following the controversy surrounding video games on Valve's digital content platform Steam, the company has announced that it will allow everything on its platform and said that doing so is the right choice. Valve has struggled to find some balance in terms of how it polices the games on its platform as video games gain more and more traction as an accepted form of personal expression and even art.

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Video games are joining the ranks of entertainment alongside films at an ever-increasing rate. Some developers have taken to outright trolling and Valve has put their foot down on that in the past by banning such games as Active Shooter which allows players to simulate being in the shoes of a school shooter.

The game hit stores just days after the Parkland, Florida shooting leading to backlash and ultimately being pulled from Steam. The gaming platform's policy on policing content has led to criticism from developers who say they are being censored. One example is Eroge games from Japan which contains what most would consider softcore pornography.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">- IMPORTANT NOTICE -<br>I&#39;ve received an e-mail from Valve stating that HuniePop violates the rules &amp; guidelines for pornographic content on Steam and will be removed from the store unless the game is updated to remove said content.</p>&mdash; HunieDev (@HuniePotDev) <a href="https://twitter.com/HuniePotDev/status/997257011384340482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Valve eventually apologized to the companies who received threatening letters but said their games are still under review. Being banned from the biggest digital distribution platform on PC would be catastrophic to many small game developers. Now, instead of banning "questionable" games or games that some may find offensive, Valve has decided it will now permit "everything". With the small exception of "things we decide are illegal or straight up trolling".

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Serious props to Valve for letting developers and players choose what to make and what to play. This is Steam as it should be. A free market. <a href="https://t.co/htVDKFgMOS">pic.twitter.com/htVDKFgMOS</a></p>&mdash; HunieDev (@HuniePotDev) <a href="https://twitter.com/HuniePotDev/status/1004447165240897536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Source: http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/394437-valve-steam-game-policy