That's what they changed it to, after the damage was done. They first submitted a build with a child riding the naked horse-man, which is probably what flagged it for good.

On another note, I remember some time ago reading a forum where people were discussing how to explain to their children that scene from My Neighbor Totoro where the father takes a bath with the daughters, and how that scene wasn’t appropriate for children or something like that… culture shock.

> one of the world's best indie studios Never heard of them, nothing of value lost

> Never heard of them, nothing of value lost Me neither but popular doesn't necessarily good or unknown doesn't mean bad but to first come up with a scene of a young girl riding a naked man, then to model this, and in al that time not thinking that this depiction is seriously fucked up (they only changed this scene later because the scene “works much better when delivered by an older character.”

> world's best LOL sure being unknown doesn't mean bad. It _does_ mean not one of the world's best, though.

"yes yes, a young girl asks to and then rides a naked man. I don't understand why anyone would hear that sentence and immediately assume it was something sexual."

I have definitely noticed an uptick in the number of articles attacking Steam. I find all of them to be a little over blown.

Valve hate is very fashionable right now. Get ready to hear endless moaning over the Steam Machine from people who never would have bought it regardless.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ponyplay oops, its literally a sex thing

No, that sounds like moral panic bullshit. If the naked man is not in a sexual at all context because it's straight up treating them as horses the whole game to be surrealist or whatever, and the kid was fully clothed, then I honestly don't see what the big deal is. Perhaps it was worse than described, or maybe... There is something we don't know

I have to disagree to be honest. Not because I think that they should allow a naked guy with a young girl(gross), but because in the time that it took for steam to review the game and give a verdict, they had already changed it on their own to be a different model. For them to refuse re-submission of the game is pretty dumb, considering that the offending content(if that is what it was) had already been fixed in the release build and steam was operating under old information. If they haden't already changed it for the release candidate I would be fully on board, but clearly they saw wrong in it as well which was why they had changed it prior to steams decision. Steam forced an early release build of the game way earlier than they normally asked for, which meant it was exactly that, a pre-release build, meaning it had not gone through the proper channels for vetting or checking to make sure that what they wanted to publish was a final product. Then when requested for a review of the actual final build, steam refused. This combined with the fact that the only storefront that blocked the release was steam, I definitely think steam is the bad guy here.

As innocent as a naked sleepover at Neverland Ranch.

If pony play fetishism is remotely equivalent in your mind then you are unable to have this conversation and should go away

I think I read a different article because there are some key factors here: 1. (not super important but overlooked here) The “horse” is a woman 2. (definitely important) The scene was only an unfinished scene still being worked out 3. Valve has given no recourse or appeals process despite good faith efforts I’m not trying to trash Valve, and FUCK child abuse, but I definitely think Valve should have handled this more fairly. Given the established premise of the game, I don’t think the existence of that scene in an unfinished state was a move consistent with “hey let’s make a pedo game”.

I'm not going to buy it but I think it's awesome

> (not super important but overlooked here) The “horse” is a woman I'm sorry for accidentally misgendering a grown adult who's still naked with a young girl riding on top. I guess that triggers a different fetish then. > (definitely important) The scene was only an unfinished scene still being worked out True but they still thought it was a great idea to depict this scene and then only change their minds not because they realized their mistake but because it works better with an adult doing the riding story-wise. > I definitely think Valve should have handled this more fairly. The reviewer asked for a playable copy after being unsure from screenshots and text alone. I think that's pretty fair.

That's the one of the very frew things in the devs' favor imo, that Valve took too long to let tnem know. It's impossible to say if it took that long review because of csam reasons or normal reasons, or if they just sat with the notice for a while, doing nothing.

Eh, if steam saw some of the content as involving a minor and they are sick of dealing with games trying to toe the line before *and likely after* release I could see them defaulting to a no do overs policy. Especially if the game dev doesn't sell enough games to make the potential legal hassle necessary. It would be far better if they pointed out what they are using for criteria for sure and allow at least one do over in case of a misunderstanding though.

Right. I’m not saying anything like “Steam must allow all content because free speech” - I’m just saying if someone is trying to make a game with complex or even weird themes, Valve should at least participate in a conversation instead of dealing out irrevocable absolute judgments based on content that isn’t even finished.

I hate to say it but I perfectly understand why Valve wouldn't want to carry this particular title. Sucks for the makers honestly but what they're trying to convey may be best served someplace else anyway.