Let's Talk about NSFW, Itch and Project Red

Well this isn't the July devlog I was expecting to make.

First off let's get this out of the way.  If you haven't already seen, yesterday Itch made sweeping changes to NSFW games.  Read more about it here -----> https://itch.io/updates/update-on-nsfw-content

For the tldr version, a group named Collective Shout has essentially bullied payment processors (namely Visa and Master Card) into threatening to revoke their services to stores that sell content that doesn't meet certain "standards."  AKA using their monopoly to enforce censorship of content that they deem morally wrong.  For now this means that NSFW content on Itch is shadow banned and removed from being findable unless you already have the link, effectively killing these sorts of games.

For the future?  There's a lot that could turn into.  This is a big win for Collective Shout, and lets be clear, they aren't just interested in blocking games that feature rape or incest or even just sexual content as a whole.  They made a big stink about GTA 5 for allowing players to murder women (as if men weren't also targetable) as well as Detroit Become Human for featuring a child in distress.  It is complete and utter insanity and we would be foolish to think yesterdays win is where they will stop.  Their tactics have proven effective.  And even if they did stop here, now any group with any similar agenda knows exactly how to get what they want.

What does this mean for Project Red going forward?

Project Red is a game inspired by the original fable of Little Red Riding Hood.  A fable that infamously ends with the Wolf killing her grandma, before coercing Red to approach him as he lies in bed, the girl commenting on how "big" his attributes are before he "eats" her.  The end.  No woodsman comes to save the day. There is no happy ending.  And it should be easy enough to see how this story is often seen as an allegory for rape and sexual assault.

These are the themes that are at the top of the current list of things being targeted.  And even if I were to remove the adult content from my game, it still features the stories of characters who are survivors of sexual assault.  It's also a game that features 2 girls having consensual romantic encounters.  It ALSO includes some amount of Fury content what with the werewolf and what not.  And shock of all shocks those things are ALSO being heavily targeted.  So the truth is, I don't know that Project Red will survive here.  And I don't know that any  edited version would either.  

I really wish I could sit here and say "No problem, I'll just do X and have a patch hosted elsewhere to put Y back in." But even that has no guarantee to work in this case.  My game really does seem to tick every box here.  For the meantime, I have placed the demo on my Patreon, completely for free.  Should the worst happen and my game get booted off Itch I'll also leave my currently active accounts linked bellow.  I'd recommend you follow at least one of them for future updates should the worst case scenario come to pass.
Patreon
Twitter
Bluesky

What I CAN say.  Is that I have no intention of stopping here.  I will be completing development as planned.  This is my first ever game.  I've spent over two years working on this.  And I'll be damned if I let something like this get in the way of me sharing this work of art with you.  Because make no mistake, games are art.  And while you're entitled to your opinion, and to not like whatever you don't like.  Policing the world is unacceptable.

What can you do?

I'll leave some links here for things you can do to help get this situation resolved.  After all if an ignorant and insignificant group from Australia can be loud enough to spark change, surely the rest of us can be even louder.

• Contact Master Card/Visa.  You can find contact info here.
• US residents can sign this petition to protect sex workers and adult content. 
• And while I don't think change.org has ever been very useful you can also sign a petition here as well.  Why the hell not.

That's all I really have to say for now.  I'm hopeful that this situation can be resolved quickly and that people stop trying to interfere with art.

To those of you that have supported me, especially now, I thank you.