this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2025
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Collective shout seems to have expanded its scope: games like cult classic Fear And Hunger have been removed from Itch.io, while horror game VILE: Exhumed has been delisted from Steam just a week after launch.

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[–] wabafee@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Gotta love the Collective Cunts.

[–] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

One thing I'm hearing a lot of is that this is a Christian lobby group. I did not see obvious signs of that on their website, though some of the language felt like an intentional alternative to how I (social worker) would discuss issues of women's empowerment. Like they were holding space to later include "LGBTQ+" in their definition of problematic content. I am more than willing to believe an activist group from that demographic would lie to push their true agenda. Who has a good news source discussing their ideology?

[–] hamsterkill@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The founder is a well-known Christian "pro-life feminist" from Australia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melinda_Tankard_Reist

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

She was the founding director of Women's Forum Australia, [...]  It also promotes a trans-exclusionary ideology and campaigns against transgender rights.

Right so assuming she's not Lesbian, then her being anti-LGBTQ+ is a safe bet. If she somehow is Lesbian, she's going to be anti-BTQ+ at the very least.

[–] nialv7@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Pro life feminist is an oxymoron

[–] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

So she's savvy with her words so people don't recognize the true anti-gay crusade. A true wolf in bitch's clothing.

[–] IzzyJ@lemmy.world 43 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Why cant the payment processors just fucking ignore them oh my god

[–] notarobot@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago

I think all the higher ups are afraid to admit they consume adult content so they will act as if it's wrong.

The people who would typically be expected to push back against collective shout also typically wouldn't be expected to do anything effective whereas the people involved with collective shout are the type of people who give politicians money.

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[–] Strider@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

This will be fun 🍿.

(before downvoting: don't worry, this won't go over well)

[–] heyWhatsay@slrpnk.net 30 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Isn't there some hacker group putting Collective Shout in the crosshairs?

[–] Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago
[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 61 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

That slope got real slippery real quick.

[–] raynethackery@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I think there are probably some skeletons in the closets of Collective Shout's members. It's always projection with these people.

[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 38 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Wait, that's actually their logo? A butthole?

[–] sdfric88@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 2 days ago (3 children)

A stretched out pink butthole full of cum, yes

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 2 days ago

New punk band name found

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[–] IzzyScissor@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

E Pluribus Anus.

So close to the Greendale flag from Community.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 106 points 3 days ago (1 children)

First, I don't understand why processors give a fuck. Do they imagine people are going to just stop using credit in protest of how other people spend their money? Tell me another fucking joke.

Second, I'm not a game developer, but I suddenly want to make a horror game that includes graphic, exploitive, gratuitous depictions of everything they complain about. And name the game Collective Shriek.

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 80 points 3 days ago (10 children)

The worm that keeps getting put into payment processor's brains is that they might somehow be held criminally liable for games people purchase. It's like telling a bus driver that they might be liable because they gave a ride to someone who robbed a store.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 60 points 3 days ago (3 children)

NOW that they've started curating, that has become way more likely to actually happen. They could have claimed to be a neutral carrier before. Actively filtering means they've decided to take on that responsibility, and the consequences for missing stuff.

They're morons

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 8 points 2 days ago

i assume you’re allowed to buy guns with them in the US? that’s WAY more directly attributable

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[–] prex@aussie.zone 26 points 3 days ago

That what I just dont get about this.
If payment processors think they are liable because these games cause harm then where does it stop? Supermarkets sell cigarettes and so on...

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[–] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 48 points 3 days ago (8 children)

I don't get why the gaming platforms are removing games instead of removing the objecting payment providers as a payment option for purchasing those particular games.

If visa doesn't want people to purchase game X with Visa, then remove Visa as payment option for buying game X.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't get why the gaming platforms are removing games instead of removing the objecting payment providers as a payment option for purchasing those particular games.

I think the issue isn't that the payment providers don't want to support the purchase of those games with their card. They want to stop offering their services to a platform that sells those games.

[–] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It appears that in the future, Itch will allow creators to opt out of payment providers, meaning that it's probably on a per game basis, not per platform. That Itch and Steam are not making a per game solution now, is most likely because their current software doesn't allow it and they need time to rework it. Itch has promised various changes already, Steam has been mum afaik.

Source for Itch: "For NSFW pages, this will include a new step where creators must confirm that their content is allowable under the policies of the respective payment processors linked to their account.". https://itch.io/updates/update-on-nsfw-content

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 19 hours ago

Interesting! Maybe it's a similar situation on Steam, but the payment providers demanded the platforms act immediately (or at least too soon for them to make such changes).

Or maybe Steam gets too many chargebacks on NSFW games and is ok with this? Lol

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

This is what Steam will probably do in the future, and Itch.io is already looking into it. There's a reason all this garbage hasn't splashed GOG. GOG is based in Europe, where protection laws would slap silly any financial entity trying to pull this stunt on an European company (pressure groups have weaseled censorship and moral panics with other strategies though, just not this one), and they have so many more payment processors that PayPal, Visa and MC would just be dropped entirely and immediately for any of the other dozen or so alternatives. The issue is that in the US and Australia, the three headed shit dragon already lobbied governments to pull the ladder behind them, so no other payment processor could take their place or compete with them, establishing a legal oligopoly of the old money finance club. They won and have this power due to systemic and political failures decades in the making.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 37 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, that's not what the payment processors are requesting. They aren't saying they don't want to be used to buy this content. They're saying, if your platform hosts this content at all then they won't process any payments. It doesn't matter if the option is removed if the content is still there. They're using their power of monopoly to police content.

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[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 16 points 2 days ago (4 children)
  1. Itch has come out and said it's not Visa, it's PayPal and Stripe.

  2. Removing those payment options would cause a massive loss of revenue.

[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If this is true, all gamers who care about this issue of censorship should collectively boycott those payment processors. PayPal should be especially easy to disconnect from since they already suck.

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[–] sykaster@feddit.nl 19 points 2 days ago

You overestimate the adaptability of the average software stack. I worked at companies where even adding another button to the cart screen was a monumental undertaking

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[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 64 points 3 days ago (3 children)

So that's how it works. Maybe people should also start harassing payment processors for weapon purchases, buying fossil fuels, oversized SUVs and whatnot until they stop caring.

[–] unphazed@lemmy.world 32 points 3 days ago

Under their own reasoning, you shouldn't be able to buy a Bible with payment processing.

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[–] QBertReynolds@sh.itjust.works 51 points 3 days ago (4 children)

The Collective Shout logo looks like a butthole.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 25 points 2 days ago

Give them an inch, they'll take a mile.

[–] Shotgun_Alice@lemmy.world 65 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Called it. Soon all we’ll only be able to play baby games like Elmo’s big adventure puzzle book land, or something like that.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 35 points 3 days ago

It'll be some "evolution is the devil" creationism bullshit, because this is a Christian fascist movement.

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[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yay were back to the 2000s again, Jack Thompson rises again !

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[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 27 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Can we go after CollectiveShout Now ??

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[–] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 45 points 3 days ago

What I see is a new niche opening up for a website offering game sales through alternative payment processors.

Involving the MasterCard Mafia in your puritanical crusade is next to criminal. The only solution is to [CONTENT REMOVED FOR VIOLATING RESTRICTIONS AGAINST ADVOCATING VIOLENCE].

[–] curiousPJ@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

Wow.... This count have happened in the 2010's with the anti-gaming feminist and conservative movement at the time.

If only they knew to go after payment processors instead of identity groups.

[–] Salamanderwizard@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

God, I'm getting flash backs to that lawyer who hated video games and wanted them all banned. He had a hardon for the gta series. Jack something.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 21 points 3 days ago

Soon: games causes mass shootings! Prohibit all games! And the payment processors will just comply because again they're semi dictatorial greedy fucks

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Honestly horrors get old when you can read in the news about "respected people" calling to exterminate Gaza and build beachfront cottages there. Even from just reading that and knowing that the same people can put anything onto your Android devices via a Facebook update or any of the Google applications update, on a whim. Nobody will even know.

About this - is it even legal to obey such pressure?

EDIT: I mean, how is it different from banning sellers by skin color when racists complain, or by religion when Muslims complain (all Hindus are Satan worshipers, didntcha knaw), or whatever else.

EDIT2: But it pains me to see how public offering was, in fact, an important part of market regulations, when everybody just ignores it without getting 9 lifetimes in jail for executives. I was against it at some point. That is - customer associations are important, and there are almost none, and when customer associations demand businesses to act like public offering, then it's almost as good as if enforced, and no such regulation is a good stimulus for customer associations to keep existing. But - feels shitty when it's in the law of most countries and hasn't been removed.

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