Hot take, but Steam, a platform used by millions of children, should not have adult games.

▲ SyrupThinker 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Seems overly protective, and possibly a bit ridiculous depending on your sensibilities, if thought through.

By similar logic supermarkets should not carry alcohol or tobacco, theaters cannot show 18+ movies (even non-explicit ones), and entire parts of some cities need to be redone because of their red-light districts, because there are some at central locations a kid could reasonably stumble into.

I think just restricting access to this stuff, being discreet about it, and maybe limiting advertisement, is enough. I've lived somewhere with a pretty plainly visible red-light district close to the central train station, yet most people don't even realize it is there. I'd hope something similar could be accomplished for Steam as well.

Finally, at the end of the day parents gotta parent.

▲ Glant 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Hot take, but parents should, y'know, parent. Steam offers parental controls which can disable the store entirely, and have a whitelist for which games can be played along with other features.

▲ spicyusername 2 days ago | parent [-]

    Hot take, but parents should, y'know, parent

I can tell you're not a parent, because if you were, you would know that basically none of the digital solutions provided by tech companies to facilitate gating adult material from children actually work or are in any way thoughtfully designed.

Every one of these "just shunt the responsibility from the giant corporation with infinite resources to the parents who are already stretched thin" is another link in a long, long chain that is the woes of modern parenting and really in the woes of modern life, in general.

Historically we have typically gated adult content from children via opt-in systems, not opt-out systems, like you're describing - e.g. Adults opt-in to sensitive content, not children opt-out. There is a reason adult stores are separate from Walmarts and that 21+ bars are separate from family-restaurants.

Also these games are absolute garbage, so I'm not sure why everyone is jumping on this issue like we're losing something of significant cultural value... Why is low-quality XXX-slop the line in the sand we're deciding to rally around... This is not a slippery slope to fascism, or whatever make-believe story we're peddling about this situation, its somebody somewhere doing the right thing, for once, and slowing our seemingly inevitable decline into Biff's Casino Future the teensiest bit.

	▲	ranguna a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That's a fair concern about parental controls in general - many digital solutions are indeed poorly implemented. However, Steam actually has quite good parental controls (check out the sibling comments for examples). Rather than assuming Steam falls into the same category as other problematic software, I'd suggest checking out Steam's family features before drawing conclusions. Happy to discuss the specific merits of Steam's parental controls once you've had a chance to look at what Steam actually offers.
	▲	snailmailman 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Steam has pretty good built in parental controls imo. You can allow-list or block-list games, and block viewing various content on the store, or even entirely disable the store. There are tiers to filtering such as “frequent violence” “any nudity” “frequent nudity” and “adult only”. You can also separately disable the viewing of user-generated content, which I think disables the steam workshop. And even set playtime limits. Steam’s parental controls are pretty good if used properly.
	▲	Krisando 21 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		> I can tell you're not a parent, because if you were, you would know that basically none of the digital solutions provided by tech companies to facilitate gating adult material from children actually work or are in any way thoughtfully designed. I can tell you Nintendo's parental controls work correctly. Even the eShop doesn't display any content not suitable for younger ages for accounts under the parental control restrictions if configured correctly.
	▲	stirfish 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		As a parent, I don't want my child reading your comment. Also, your comment is absolute trash, so deleting it wouldn't be a loss of anything of cultural significance. No, I will not talk to my son about it. Hacker News has unlimited resources, so they should do it for me. I'm already stretched too thin - I have to get to Walmart to buy more wine and ammunition before it closes.

▲ 0cf8612b2e1e 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I can buy all manner of smut, boner pills, and dildos from Amazon.

	▲	benoau 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		You can buy Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne albums on iTunes containing very illicit lyrics and adult themes.

▲ marky1991 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What is your justification for this position? How does this not reduce to "steam shouldn't sell games that aren't fit for toddlers"?

▲ spicyusername 2 days ago | parent [-]

    What is your justification for this position?

Children shouldn't be exposed to pornographic material until an appropriate age.

    How does this not reduce to "steam shouldn't sell games that aren't fit for toddlers"?

The same way that a speed limit, age of consent, or drinking age doesn't get reduced to nobody can drive, have sex, or drink.

	▲	marky1991 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		"The same way that a speed limit, age of consent, or drinking age doesn't get reduced to nobody can drive, have sex, or drink." I really don't understand your logic here. Are you not saying "Steam shouldn't be allowed to sell pornographic games to adults"? Or are you saying it's ok for steam to sell them to adults, but not children? (But that was already the case, even before all of this). If you are saying "steam shouldn't sell pornographic games", how is that like any of the things you said?
	▲	thunderfork a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[dead]

▲ t0lo 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Hot take but adults have the inviolable right to get adult content, whether it appeals to you or not

	▲	spicyusername 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		No disagreement