Mastercard NSFW Game Bans: Valve’s Explanation
## Mastercard’s Hypocrisy: From “No Adult Content” to “Bang the Bear” in Baldur’s Gate 3
Mastercard is facing serious scrutiny over its recent crackdown on adult-themed games, a move that’s left indie developers and marketplaces like itch.io reeling. The company claims it’s simply enforcing existing rules against “obscene” content,but a closer look reveals a breathtaking level of hypocrisy and a disturbing trend of moral gatekeeping. It’s a situation that begs the question: what gives a credit card company the right to dictate what content people can access, and why are thay suddenly so concerned with it now?
### The Shifting Sands of Mastercard’s Morality
Mastercard’s stated policy prohibits transactions involving goods, services, or images that are “lewd, obscene, or otherwise objectionable.” On the surface, this seems reasonable enough. After all, nobody wants thier credit card funding illegal or harmful content. But the request of this policy has been… inconsistent, to say the least.
Consider this: Mastercard argues that depictions of sexual acts violate their terms. Yet, combat – arguably a simulated act of violence against non-consenting ”NPCs” - is commonplace in countless games readily purchased with a Mastercard. The disconnect is glaring. You can virtually slay dragons and conquer kingdoms, but a consensual encounter in a video game is apparently a bridge too far.
### Baldur’s Gate 3 Exposes the Absurdity
The hypocrisy reaches peak absurdity when you consider titles like *Baldur’s Gate 3*. I purchased the game legitimately with my Mastercard through Steam. And, as many players have discovered, *BG3* features a scene that, while debated, flirts with the boundaries of Mastercard’s stated prohibitions. The scene involving Halsin, a druid who can transform into a bear, has been playfully dubbed “Bang the Bear” by some corners of the internet.Now, to be clear, the developers have been careful to frame Halsin as a character who *chooses* to transform, and the scene isn’t explicitly bestiality. But the fact remains: a game purchased with a Mastercard contains content that *could* be interpreted as falling under the very restrictions Mastercard is now aggressively enforcing elsewhere. This isn’t about whether *BG3* should be censored; it’s about the blatant inconsistency of Mastercard’s standards.
### The “Non-Denial” Denial and the Power of Payment Processors
Mastercard’s attempt to distance itself from the adult games purge is particularly disingenuous. The company claims it didn’t directly instruct game marketplaces to remove content. This is a technicality, and a weak one at that. Mastercard isn’t directly enforcing the rules; it’s leveraging its network of partner processing companies to do its dirty work.
This allows Mastercard to maintain plausible deniability while together wielding immense power. If a game marketplace runs afoul of these rules – rules enforced *by* Mastercard through its processor network – they risk losing their ability to accept Mastercard payments. The outcome is the same regardless of the technicalities. Mastercard’s network *is* acting at Mastercard’s behest. It’s a complete non-denial, and a cynical attempt to avoid accountability.
### Who Are They Protecting? And At What Cost?
The driving force behind this crackdown appears to be pressure from a small group of Australian puritans. Are we really allowing a handful of zealots to dictate the content available to millions of people worldwide?
Mastercard is a multi-billion dollar corporation. It has the resources to stand up to unreasonable demands and protect the rights of its customers and partners. The question is: why aren’t they? What’s the point of accumulating vast wealth if you can’t defend creative expression and resist the imposition of narrow-minded morality?
this isn’t just about adult games. It’s about control, gatekeeping, and the hazardous precedent of allowing payment processors to become arbiters of morality. It’s a chilling reminder of the power these companies wield, and the importance of challenging their overreach.
Filed Under: control,gatekeepers,