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Valve must address swastikas and other hate on Steam, writes US senator in a letter to Gabe Newell (www.rockpapershotgun.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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In the letter, Democrat senator Mark Warner argues that Valve's content moderation doesn't meet industry standards, and says he wants Valve to "crack down on the rampant proliferation of hate-based content".

The exact hateful stuff he's talking about was highlighted in that report by the Anti-Defamation League last week. Its many findings include swastikas in profile pictures, antisemitic images such as the "happy merchant", and instances of Pepe the frog, a meme appropriated by the far right that - let's be honest - has never washed the stink off. Steam is "inundated with hate" as a result of these findings, say the anti-discrimination group.

While the simmering bubbles of fascism won't be news to the average Steam user (or average internet user, to be frank) that doesn't mean we ought to get complacent about them. It's proof, says senator Warner, that Valve is lacking good moderation.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Steam has had, for a long time already, a massive far-right community. Browse its communities and you'll see the most deranged racist, transphobic, homophobic posters. The entire SweetBaby harassment campaign started - and as far as I know, is still going - thanks to a huge Steam curator, and there are even more "Anti-Woke" groups explicitly dedicated to harassing minorities. Last year, Hogwarts Legacy had a intense campaign and won the Best Game on Steam Deck award due to the brigading of these "anti-woke" fans - and you most likely can still look into its community to witness their efforts - and there are still those on the Tabletop Simulator communities that are outspoken about the devs "bending the knee" by removing global chat from their game in an effort to reduce harassment against queer people.

Basically, its a cesspool of the worst gaming has to offer, but none of this affects Valve's bottom line, who continues their usual business practice: Don't interfere and do the minimum amount of work. Is it illegal? Perhaps not. But their inaction makes it clear that this is a safe spot for hateful conduct.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Also have noticed the "anti-woke" "curator".

It's simply amazing. Imagine not buying a game because the protagonist is a woman. If you don't want to play Control, you're missing out.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

just a cesspool of rizzless dudes trying to impress other rizzless dudes with how edgy they can be by shrinking their worldview.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I made the mistake of looking at the Spider-Man discussion board. The entire first page, minus like three posts, was all idiots complaining about pride flags.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sadly it's like that for pretty much any game.

On the bright side, a lot of them are bots just trying to influence real people. Unfortunately, it is people who made these bots who probably do have that hatred. And of course, not all of them are bots...

Remember to check the discussion board posts themselves (each comment), if there is a mouse icon, it means they own/play the game. If there is no mouse icon, they do not.

With this in mind, you'll notice the bot propaganda posts 90% of the time have not played nor own the game. At least on Steam, they may have pirated the game to play it, then decided to post on discussion boards about how empathy and recognizing of othe- sorry, "wokeness" is killing gaming.

It's so stupid how hatred stifles discussion. Ironically hating the things just makes them focus on it more.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

My favorite is when people ask "Is this game dead?" and it's a five year old single player game. What are you thinking?