Seems like an April Fool's Day joke. Decades ago, we would say "games deserves the same speech protection as books." Games won speech protection in the US, but if they can ban books... Texas judge stops removal of banned books in Llano libraries (dallasnews.com)

The Hyperventilating Headline: "Teen Psychosis Risk May Be Linked to Computer and Video Game Use" The Buried Facts: "The researchers found that the association between video games and psychotic experiences could be explained by these OTHER FACTORS." newsweek.com/teenagers-vide…

Pew Study: 56% of teens say video games have boosted their problem-solving skills 47% say they've helped them build friendships 41% say they've made it easier to work with others 32% say they're good for their mental health. axios.com/2024/05/09/vid…

Games have been falsely blamed for moral decline and addiction throughout history. theconversation.com/games-blamed-f…

Happy 13th Anniversary to video game developers having the same rights as other creatives! Just a few days ago, devs notched another win in court: the bogus "video game addiction" claim got booted out of court. reuters.com/legal/litigati…

So Steam's content is now controlled by... Mastercard? tech.yahoo.com/gaming/article…

The pressure is on! Visa and Mastercard are getting overwhelmed by censorship gamer fury | Polygon

Pressuring censors.

Mastercard issues statement backing away from their mess. "Mastercard released a statement on Friday denying any responsibility for a new wave of censorship" But "...Mastercard doesn’t say it hasn’t been involved at all" Pushback works. kotaku.com/mastercard-den…

Itch.io Is Returning Free NSFW Games To Its Store They are “re-indexing” adult games. So far "only affecting free games, and the site is still in discussions with payment providers over how it can return paid-for NSFW games without facing penalization."

200,000! And counting! Anti-Steam Censorship Petition Hits a Massive Milestone gamerant.com/anti-steam-cen…

...gamers and creators are suspicious of Collective Shout's politics... “The right wing already routinely bans us and chases us off all the other websites! So [this] really does feel personal and anti-LGBTQ,” independent.co.uk/news/world/ame…

UK Steam users must register a credit card to unlock game titles with adult content — UK’s Online Safety Act requires blocking minors from accessing mature content The Online Safety Act forces Valve to age-gate adult content. tomshardware.com/video-games/pc…

Oh, here we go again. gamespot.com/articles/rfk-c…

Studies trying to blame violence on video games were flawed "Our findings suggest that researcher biases might have influenced previous studies on this topic, and have distorted our understanding of the effects of video games" Co-author Dr Netta Weinstein from Cardiff University

This study shows a serious game reshaped how unvaccinated youths perceive their role in protecting self and community from COVID-19. Feasible, acceptable, and effective! Read more: doi.org/10.1089/g4h.20…

Game Developer free speech under direct threat youtube.com/watch?v=ECpWyM…

Won't anyone think of the children? The UK's Online Safety Act is already degrading games by making devs cut features and functionality for ALL regions, not just geoblocking in the UK. This is ALREADY harming chat and community in games. #gamecensorship youtube.com/watch?v=iekO_2…

Here we go again. More game bans for vague, undefined reasons that give developers no rules and no way around the ban by removing content. avclub.com/horses-game-ba…

Clear as mud: [What you shouldn’t publish on Steam:] "content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers."