Steam brings out new game - encourages sexual violence againt women

[Cherie]

I Mean :umm2:



The computer game "No Mercy" centres around a male protagonist who is encouraged to "become every woman's worst nightmare", and "never take no for an answer."

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, who is responsible for overseeing the government's online safety strategy, described the game as "deeply worrying" and demanded the tech giant take it down.

The game launched on Steam last month and is described by its own developers as containing violence, incest, blackmail, and what they describe as "unavoidable non-consensual sex."


We used to call that RAPE, but lets dress it up with some nice soothing words

https://www.lbc.co.uk/tech/steam-violent-misogyny-video-game-no-mercy/

[Crimson Dynamo]

https://shared.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/3299570/5c4cfa41cc73621891b2141f8a3390e69ca184a7/capsule_616x353.jpg?t=1744041508

[Zizu]

I Mean :umm2:



The computer game "No Mercy" centres around a male protagonist who is encouraged to "become every woman's worst nightmare", and "never take no for an answer."

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, who is responsible for overseeing the government's online safety strategy, described the game as "deeply worrying" and demanded the tech giant take it down.

The game launched on Steam last month and is described by its own developers as containing violence, incest, blackmail, and what they describe as "unavoidable non-consensual sex."


We used to call that RAPE, but lets dress it up with some nice soothing words

https://www.lbc.co.uk/tech/steam-violent-misogyny-video-game-no-mercy/


How did it even get clearance from the governing body.. surely they have a duty of care ?

[bots]

i said this in another thread recently, but the world is actually ****ed

[Livia]

I agree with bots. The world actually is ****ed.

[Cherie]

The player gets to choose what game play they want to use ....one off them being incest, as the go through they meet various women and they can decide how they would like to assault them


Who and what allowed this game to get past the ideas table....:skull:

[Niamh.]

Gross

[Swan]

Just checked to see if twitch had updated their banned list for this yet (which they 100% will do so). These type of games have been around before sadly, it's not a new thing. I only know them from the twitch banned list, but i expect there's others around too.

https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/list-of-prohibited-games?language=en_US

[user104658]

Not to get too pedantic but I think an important distinction - Steam doesn't release games... it's just a storefront/platform and has nothing to do with developing or releasing games.

That said of course - they shouldn't be listing it/selling it, and it shouldn't be legal for it to exist. Unfortunately though, while this seems to be hitting mainstream, this is not the first game of this sort, the most famous being "RapeLay" way back in 2006. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapeLay

[Swan]

Not to get too pedantic but I think an important distinction - Steam doesn't release games... it's just a storefront/platform and has nothing to do with developing or releasing games.

That said of course - they shouldn't be listing it/selling it, and it shouldn't be legal for it to exist. Unfortunately though, while this seems to be hitting mainstream, this is not the first game of this sort, the most famous being "RapeLay" way back in 2006. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapeLay

With all that being true Steam can 100% refuse to allow the game to be downloaded from their platform though.

[user104658]

With all that being true Steam can 100% refuse to allow the game to be downloaded from their platform though.

They can but (much like TiBB I suppose) they don't have a human team pre-moderate - they wait until people report dodgy stuff and then get around to reviewing it and removing. It all used to be much more curated, it's a mix of real games and absolute trash now.

[bots]

They can but (much like TiBB I suppose) they don't have a human team pre-moderate - they wait until people report dodgy stuff and then get around to reviewing it and removing. It all used to be much more curated, it's a mix of real games and absolute trash now.

there are also sites that provide codes that allow you to purchase games for a fraction of the price shown on steam, it's just a very dodgy business model

[Cherie]

I am not changing my title they are fully responsible and paid for the games they host on their platform

[Ammi]

…I don’t know anything about this site but according to this article, the game was only available for 24 hours and was removed from Steam…

https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/when-platforms-fail-what-parents-caregivers-need-to-know-about-the-no-mercy-game-controversy-on-steam/

…but a presume that young people will have Steam accounts so they have to be accountable for why it was put out there in the first place to become available…

[user104658]

I am not changing my title they are fully responsible and paid for the games they host on their platform

I agree and not in any way suggesting they don't share responsibility - just that saying Steam brought the game out (they neither released nor published it) actually bypasses IMO the "worst people" in the whole thing (i.e. the company that actually made and released this "game"). Again I don't disagree that they should take responsibility for what they allow to be sold on the platform and like I said above, they did used to, they at some point got either lazy or cheap and changed the model, it used to be that games went through an approval process before being listed at all - now they seem to list anything and review it later if they get reports/complaints.

Horrible porn games aside (and there are far more than just this one) it also means that 90% of the stuff on there is cheaply made tat that's a waste of time/money and so the small indie developers making actual good and interesting content are drowned out by waves of trash not worth £2.

[Livia]

Grand Theft Auto allowed you to drive a prostitute out to the desert and beat her to death with a baseball bat as I recall and it's on sequel 6 isn't it? I guess entertainment by abusing women is not new. I find it hard to square this with Mickey Rourke saying a hurty word to a lesbian and being warned while people can buy and play these games with impunity. Like bots said earlier, the world is ****ed.

[bots]

Grand Theft Auto allowed you to drive a prostitute out to the desert and beat her to death with a baseball bat as I recall and it's on sequel 6 isn't it? I guess entertainment by abusing women is not new. I find it hard to square this with Mickey Rourke saying a hurty word to a lesbian and being warned while people can buy and play these games with impunity. Like bots said earlier, the world is ****ed.

i feel that phrase is going to be used in every thread soon

[Livia]

i feel that phrase is going to be used in every thread soon

Well, you are the voice of our times, bots.

[user104658]

Grand Theft Auto allowed you to drive a prostitute out to the desert and beat her to death with a baseball bat as I recall and it's on sequel 6 isn't it? I guess entertainment by abusing women is not new. I find it hard to square this with Mickey Rourke saying a hurty word to a lesbian and being warned while people can buy and play these games with impunity. Like bots said earlier, the world is ****ed.

I'd argue that there's a difference between what people "can do" in an open world game using their own twisted mindset, and the actual narrative / purpose of the game being something like this.

You can drown people in swimming pools / deliberately get them to set themselves on fire / lock them in a little room until they starve to death in The Sims... but it'd be a stretch to say that The Sims is a "torture simulator".

This isn't just something that you "can do in the game"... this is what the game is about.

[Cherie]

…I don’t know anything about this site but according to this article, the game was only available for 24 hours and was removed from Steam…

https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/when-platforms-fail-what-parents-caregivers-need-to-know-about-the-no-mercy-game-controversy-on-steam/

…but a presume that young people will have Steam accounts so they have to be accountable for why it was put out there in the first place to become available…

Howmany will have downloaded it in that time frame though, I find it odd that there are no systems in place to pick up unsuitable material, we can send our CVs off and they will be checked by a Bot and if you dont use the right trigger words your CV is binned, but they cant put a similar system in place on this platform, the whole site could be flooded with unsuitable material

[Cherie]

Farah Nez, Zara Allenas aunt has called for a tightening of laws and for the buck passing to stop as nobody appears to want to take responsibility for this, Steam has declined to comment so far

[Beso]

All violent video games should be banned, not just this one.

[Swan]

All violent video games should be banned, not just this one.

Tbh, there is a MASSIVE difference with these weird perverted sex/abuse/rape games (which aren't popular in the mainstream in any way shape or form) than there is in hugely popular games like GTA V etc.

All im saying is, as a gamer, its ridiculous to put this new f'd up rape game in the same category as a GTA game, or any violent game mainstream game like CS for example for that matter.

[Cherie]

There are 138 games based around incest currently on Steam :skull:

[Jessica.]

Games like this are disgusting, I hate that they exist, it's just another thing promoting violence in boys and men, glad it was taken down.

[Swan]

There are 138 games based around incest currently on Steam :skull:

That's 138 too many, but they're not in any way popular. And as sick as they are only actually account for less than 0.1% of games on steam.

They shouldn't exist, they're all sick, all of those sex/abuse/incest/rape games should be banned. But i do hate how the media will lump in mainstream games that are violent with sexually depraved games for sickos!

Not comparable.

[arista]

Tbh, there is a MASSIVE difference with these weird perverted sex/abuse/rape games (which aren't popular in the mainstream in any way shape or form) than there is in hugely popular games like GTA V etc.

All im saying is, as a gamer, its ridiculous to put this new f'd up rape game in the same category as a GTA game, or any violent game mainstream game like CS for example for that matter.


Yes GTA5
is a fantastic Adult Game.

On a PS5 you have a new weapon,
An Axe.


Utter Bliss

[Beso]

Yes GTA5
is a fantastic Adult Game.

On a PS5 you have a new weapon,
An Axe.


Utter Bliss



Can you strike a lady over the head with it multiple times?

[Cherie]

That's 138 too many, but they're not in any way popular. And as sick as they are only actually account for less than 0.1% of games on steam.

They shouldn't exist, they're all sick, all of those sex/abuse/incest/rape games should be banned. But i do hate how the media will lump in mainstream games that are violent with sexually depraved games for sickos!

Not comparable.

I agree with all that

[Swan]

Can you strike a lady over the head with it multiple times?

Yes, and a man. However, nothing in the game encourages you to do so. It's 0000000000.1% of what you can do, if you CHOOSE to in a game literally full of actual objectives.

You can't compare GTA to this new rape game, this new game is centres around rape and degrading women, GTA doesn't centre around that in any way.

[Glenn.]

Yes, and a man. However, nothing in the game encourages you to do so. It's 0000000000.1% of what you can do, if you CHOOSE to in a game literally full of actual objectives.

You can't compare GTA to this new rape game, this new game is centres around rape and degrading women, GTA doesn't centre around that in any way.

100% this.

[Beso]

Pretty sure killing and kidnap are involved in the games mission settings.

[Swan]

I agree with all that

:wavey:

Basically, i will always defend mainstream gaming, and i always this example -

There are those really sick underground films out there, right?! Like some actual snuff films, and some of those acted but extremely weird torture films. No one in their right mind would watch or get enjoyment from them, only sickos. Luckily those films are avoidable, you wont come across them scrolling through Netflix, or googling "scary movie recommendations". Same as you wont find these f'd up games unless you know about them and actively seek them out. 99.9% of people wouldn't want to play them, and wont play them anyway.

However, we ALL watch mainstream films that don't necessarily encourage violence, but have tons of murder, shootings, violence in them. We enjoy them, take it all with a pinch of salt, it's entertaining. Most good stories contain some form of violence and conflict. Yet, after watching say John Wick, we're not all gonna go out with guns and start shooting everyone.

Same with a decent game, yes, they're violent, we play them, we get invested in them, we enjoy them, it's entertainment. Doesn't mean we're gonna go outside, start stealing random cars left right and centre and run people over because they get in our way whilst we drive at break neck speeds trying to complete a bank heist with $$$$ in the boot. :laugh:

[Swan]

Pretty sure killing and kidnap are involved in the games mission settings.

I like you Parm, but put the Daily Mail down mate.

[Beso]

I like you Parm, but put the Daily Mail down mate.



Daily mail, you're a slag.

[Swan]

Daily mail, you're a slag.

:joker:

Ironically, you can do all kinda of despicable stuff in Red Dead Redemption 2, but despite of that i reckon you'd love the look and story of that game. Look it up, most beautiful game and story ever made.

The Last Of Us 1 and 2 would also be a game with a story i think you'd appreciate. Beautiful game

[Cherie]

…I don’t know anything about this site but according to this article, the game was only available for 24 hours and was removed from Steam…

https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/when-platforms-fail-what-parents-caregivers-need-to-know-about-the-no-mercy-game-controversy-on-steam/

…but a presume that young people will have Steam accounts so they have to be accountable for why it was put out there in the first place to become available…

I don't know how reliable this site is, LBC were investigating this and brought it to the attention of Steam at the end of last week, Steam have not communicated but the game was taken down at 10.30 last night. It appears it was pulled by Australia and Canada after 24 hours so maybe that is what the link is referring to but is misleading as has been available in the UK for weeks and the link does not load for me at any rate


The computer game "No Mercy" centres around a male protagonist who is encouraged to "become every woman's worst nightmare", and "never take no for an answer."

The game launched on Steam last month and is described by its own developers as containing violence, incest, blackmail, and what they describe as "unavoidable non-consensual sex."

After LBC revealed it was still available on Steam in the UK, it emerged that Australian and Canadian officials had swiftly made it unavailable for download.

Earlier - the technology secretary Peter Kyle told LBC he was "deeply worried" about it and that Steam, which has millions of users, must take it down.

The aunt of Zara Aleena - who was murdered in east London in 2022 - said the "government must act" to remove the game.

Officials in Australia pulled it for being ‘unclassified’.

A spokesman for Australia’s department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts said: “The computer game, No Mercy, is unclassified and has now been removed from sale from the Steam platform in Australia.

”After a public backlash the game was also removed from Steam in Canada after less than 24 hours.

Read more: Fury over rape and incest game that tells players to be 'women's worst nightmare', as Tech Secretary slams PC giant

Read more: Australia and Canada pull rape and incest game that tells players to be 'women's worst nightmare'

Pepe Di'Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School of College Leaders told LBC: “Just copy Australia. Australia seems to have got a grip on this, they seem to have acted swiftly.

"They realise they have to protect young people who are at the heart of this… I think that we’ve got a game of tennis taking place between Ofcom and tech companies, what we’re seeing is people blaming one another.

"Let’s get the legislation doing what it should do and let’s make sure we can protect the young people who are most at threat from this right now.”

https://www.lbc.co.uk/tech/video-game-banned-steam-women-uk-no-mercy/

[arista]

Can you strike a lady over the head with it multiple times?


Of Course
GTA5 is an Adult Game.

Then the Police track you down

[Beso]

:joker:

Ironically, you can do all kinda of despicable stuff in Red Dead Redemption 2, but despite of that i reckon you'd love the look and story of that game. Look it up, most beautiful game and story ever made.

The Last Of Us 1 and 2 would also be a game with a story i think you'd appreciate. Beautiful game

Give me fable any day over any of that. You can't beat farting in a woman's face.:blush:

[Swan]

Give me fable any day over any of that. You can't beat farting in a woman's face.:blush:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/26e04ed868b9ba048861f23b3adf0338/tumblr_pjjkegQJlb1srg527o1_400.gif

[Livia]

I've lost count of the poor, innocent zombies I've slaughtered in cold blood over the years.

[Mystic Mock]

https://shared.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/3299570/5c4cfa41cc73621891b2141f8a3390e69ca184a7/capsule_616x353.jpg?t=1744041508

Is that the promotion for the Game?:shocked:

I think that the developers need to be put on a watchlist tbh, because you can't even avoid the rape scenarios apparently.:umm2:

That tells me that it's a fantasy for at least one of the developers working on the Game.

[Mystic Mock]

Not to get too pedantic but I think an important distinction - Steam doesn't release games... it's just a storefront/platform and has nothing to do with developing or releasing games.

That said of course - they shouldn't be listing it/selling it, and it shouldn't be legal for it to exist. Unfortunately though, while this seems to be hitting mainstream, this is not the first game of this sort, the most famous being "RapeLay" way back in 2006. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapeLay

I've read up on RapeLay in the past.

That is some ****ed up stuff.

[Mystic Mock]

Grand Theft Auto allowed you to drive a prostitute out to the desert and beat her to death with a baseball bat as I recall and it's on sequel 6 isn't it? I guess entertainment by abusing women is not new. I find it hard to square this with Mickey Rourke saying a hurty word to a lesbian and being warned while people can buy and play these games with impunity. Like bots said earlier, the world is ****ed.

The difference with GTA is that you don't have to beat up Prostitutes if you don't want to.

Where as this No Mercy Game is making you play as the rapist with no choices to opt out.

[Mystic Mock]

All violent video games should be banned, not just this one.

So we'd only have Paw Patrol Games in your world.

With all due respect.

[Livia]

The difference with GTA is that you don't have to beat up Prostitutes if you don't want to.

Where as this No Mercy Game is making you play as the rapist with no choices to opt out.

Still quite a disturbing option.

[Maru]

It's reflective of modern society. The de-stigmatization and de-moralization of so many aspects of life, the obsession over going beyond the erosion of norms and also how culture is often expected to be shaped economically (through consumer lifestyle choices).

So I guess now we're at point where enough people can find employment (and enjoyment) in that kind of material to make an actual product (not just a concept) and also that the game can be even considered to be potentially profitable. What does that say?

There is an audience out there with a taste for graphic themes obviously, but we usually see it as the character being the spectator/survivor and often in the reading realm (comics/books/e-novels)... not the gamey one...

Some consider games to be more ethical than the live action/filmed scenes since there are no potential victims, but still more stimulating than the reading/comics where most of the edgiest stuff would go with scant censorship in the past. Since reading & writing are considered the traditional venues for Freedom of Expression, even for the most degenerate...

As others have mentioned, there's games that touch these themes in tehir mechanics and they do allow a degree of freedom to explore aspects of the "being a horrible person" life. For example, you can be an actual bloodthirsty assassin in Elder Scrolls games with full cut scenes and all like it's an actual fetish. The freedom aspect in games for many is just "progressing the art", though ... and our culture repeatedly reanimates itself with the logic of "we've already gone this far.. why not further". Our culture is based around, after all, the expansion of moral logic to accommodate personal freedoms, anything and everything, yada yada. So is it really a surprise there would be a game that goes that far.

[Mystic Mock]

Still quite a disturbing option.

It is tbf.

It's just thankfully not a requirement to beat a GTA Game.

[Benjamin]

Still quite a disturbing option.

Disturbing and unnecessary.

[Nicky91]

i never play games from Steam, this game seems like they hit rock bottom of :umm2: disgustingness




they are deffo not of the same quality like Quantic Dream or Dontnod, Deck Nine and Telltale, and also Bethesda

[Nicky91]

not even Supermassive games goes this sexist in their content

while Until Dawn for example ain't exactly a game for the youngest among us, but they do everything right in terms of the right things for the Horror genre, as well as delivering a proper cast of hollywood actors for the voices and facial likenesses, they did the same in a follow up The Quarry


and now currently with a game similar-ish to Alien, Directive 8020




i also still hate Steam btw for making it a requirement to install Football Manager via them, rather than Offline, haven't played that one since 2010, the last one where offline installation was possible, also am not playing games on the PC at all, mainly use my PS5 now (for both PS4 and PS5 games)

[Nicky91]

from what i was able to see, someone uploaded first 20 minutes of gameplay

looked also quite amateurishly made :laugh: compared to the more slick, smooth looking games of today, especially those for PS5, which look so much like watching a blu ray film, even the animated series of today (on Netflix) look much better made than this :skull:


this more looks like it was made using powerpoint :fan:

[BBXX]

Disturbing and unnecessary.

Really is, and honestly why aren't the makers of such games being investigated?!

[Maru]

i never play games from Steam, this game seems like they hit rock bottom of :umm2: disgustingness




they are deffo not of the same quality like Quantic Dream or Dontnod, Deck Nine and Telltale, and also Bethesda

There are no "games from Steam". Steam is just a digital shop to purchase and download a game. They do make hardware, but not games.

You can get Bethesda games, etc, from Steam, though.

[Mystic Mock]

Really is, and honestly why aren't the makers of such games being investigated?!

Exactly.

[Mystic Mock]

I had a look at the 20 minute gameplay YouTube video.

And tbf there wasn't anything too outrageous in terms of sexual content early on, but my god the Incels that were defending it by comparing it to COD are clearly not able to understand why COD doesn't have feminist groups trying to get it banned but this particular Game does.

And tbh the more I think about it I am conflicted personally.

On one hand if we support No Mercy being banned, it could be a slippery slope into seeing violent Games such as COD, GTA, Doom etc getting banned for violent content.

But on the other hand if we support No Mercy's right to potentially prosper in the Video Game industry, I am worried that even more extreme versions of this Game will be made, plus I am concerned that it might lead to Paedophiles getting a Video Game version of Cuties, but even more extreme.

This Game makes me hate the world even more tbh.

[Nicky91]

There are no "games from Steam". Steam is just a digital shop to purchase and download a game. They do make hardware, but not games.

You can get Bethesda games, etc, from Steam, though.

whoever created No Mercy needs to be jailed asap