Too Steamy? Valve says no to virtual reality sex experience Holodexxx

midian182

midian182

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In brief: Steam is once again under the spotlight over its often-confusing policy regarding adult-only games. This time, the developer of Holodexxx, a virtual reality experience that lets users interact with adult film stars through 3D scans and chatbot technology, has expressed disappointment after being rejected from the marketplace three times.

In a post explaining the situation, the dev writes that Steam's 2018 decision to allow adult material onto the service and take a less hands-on approach to moderation was a boost.

The company began its tentative attempt to get Holodexxx onto Steam by submitting a PG-13 experience that involved Riley Reid, star of Night at the Erotic Museum and Grease XXX, performing a "sensual dance" in VR. Despite a lack of nudity, it was rejected with "a boiler-plate explanation that video pornography was not allowed on Steam."

Holodexxx then submitted Meet Marley, which allowed the player to inspect a 3D naked model of adult actress Marley Brinx; this was also rejected for the same reason. The dev asked Valve to clarify why it said no, again. Instead of receiving a detailed explanation, the company said it would "judge our next app when they receive it."

Finally, Holodexxx Home was submitted in the hope that adding context to the adult content through story and character would appease Valve. This experience involved talking to Lady Euphoria (based on Brinx) using the chatbot tech. It also included some of the game's "truly adult" content. Unsurprisingly, this was also rejected.

Back in March, Steam refused to sell "pickup artist" FMV game Super Seducer 3. While there are plenty of games with sexual content available on the platform, Valve seems to draw the line at anything involving real people or their virtual representations.

Valve does specify in its Rules and Guidelines that sexually explicit images of real people won't be published on Steam, though sex game House Party appears to have dodged that rule. If you want to try Holodexxx, it's available on itch.io.

h/t: PC Gamer

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/89604-steamy-valve-no-virtual-reality-sex-experience-holodexxx.html

 
Ok, well then, re-release the game but change their names and slightly modify their likeness so they are no longer based on real people. See if Valve will then accept. If they do, give it a couple of months for it all blow over and then update the game with the original models and names.
 
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Burty117 said:
Ok, well then, re-release the game but change their names and slightly modify their likeness so they are no longer based on real people. See if Valve will then accept. If they do, give it a couple of months for it all blow over and then update the game with the original models and names.
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It has nothing to do with names and everything to do with this (and that "pick up" game the other week that was banned) using '3d scanned'/near photo realistic models in game.

It's not cartoon-y enough to not be considered straight up porn, according to whatever Valves apparently not well defined standards are for Adult content.
 
I know steam used to be too Strict but do you remember when 90% of the releases on steam in a week where not really bad Semi Porn games.

I don't think I even use the most recently released anymore because its just full of crap and most of it is Hentai. I dont quite get why this stuff is band but the current steam marketplace is fine.
 
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So release it independently? You have access to the internet, just sell it as a standalone product. Indies do it all the time without issues. You dont NEED steam, this is the PC after all.
 
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Theinsanegamer said:
So release it independently? You have access to the internet, just sell it as a standalone product. Indies do it all the time without issues. You dont NEED steam, this is the PC after all.
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Did you not read the entire article?

"If you want to try Holodexxx, it's available on itch.io." very last sentance.
 
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Yup, Valve's American alright. No Continental European distributor would care. Maybe they should try to get on uPlay since Ubisoft is from France.
 
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cliffordcooley said:
Thank You Valve/Steam. You should be more family friendly than you are. But its nice to know you do have a line drawn.
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I mean, you can't even find these games on Steam unless you go to the effort of turning off the adult filter malarkey. Not really sure what you're insinuating here? That Valve should just ban everything that's not Dora the Explorer?
 
cliffordcooley said:
Please tell me you know the difference between Steam and Pornhub! Which should remain the same difference between local supermarkets and adult stores.
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I bet he's spot on though. You're absolutely fine with games full of guns, death and mindless violence but a little bit of sex? Na, can't cope with that XD
 
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Burty117 said:
I bet he's spot on though. You're absolutely fine with games full of guns, death and mindless violence but a little bit of sex? Na, can't cope with that XD
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Its just the same as Tumblr??? this used to be a big platform for many adult type cartoons, media, etc.... and no, it wasn't 'sex' but just naked people, whether they were totally different from 'humans' or not... now its a lot more boring, without the nakedness and ***lots** of users who went elsewhere...

 
Burty117 said:
You're absolutely fine with games full of guns, death and mindless violence but a little bit of sex?
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If I'm absolutely fine with it. Then why do I not play FPS games. I don't agree with it which is why I choose games with other elements of game play. I choose games that I wouldn't mind sharing with any age group.
 
Bobbydpue said:
Did you not read the entire article?

"If you want to try Holodexxx, it's available on itch.io." very last sentance.
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Well they keep trying to get onto steam for some reason, you'd think after the second no they'd figure out their game is not wanted, yet they keep trying.
 
PEnnn said:
Typically American twisted puritan logic: Sex is bad. Violence and mayhem?? Hell yeah!!

I bet the rightwing Porn Belt is crying as they log into their Pornhub accounts.
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Not sure if it‘s still the case, but many years back if you wanted to get the least cut version of a movie, the UK release was the best bet. Some countries had publishers cut sex scenes, others violent parts but the UK release had both intact. Speaking of mainstream movies btw, not some niche stuff.
 
Avro Arrow said:
Yup, Valve's American alright. No Continental European distributor would care. Maybe they should try to get on uPlay since Ubisoft is from France.
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See now I can't stop thinking of calling that division uPlay w/ yourself, but at the same time I somewhat doubt they'll take on a game of this nature.
 
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Adhmuz said:
See now I can't stop thinking of calling that division uPlay w/ yourself, but at the same time I somewhat doubt they'll take on a game of this nature.
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It's possible but if I were a betting man, I would definitely put my money on the French distributor over the American one.
 
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