We could get into the discussion of the irony of Western culture which accepts ridiculous levels of violence but not an ounce of sex in games, but discussing it won’t change the reality of the situation immediately. In any case, since Coming Out On Top has explicit sexual scenes it would simply receive the boot even if it had 100% positive votes and comments. Valve is the final gatekeeper – not community members.
That’s likely why games such as Sakura Spirit are allowed despite many people viewing them as inappropriate and/or offensive. Valve maintains the right to a degree of wiggle room in the interpretation of these rules. Sure, blanket terms like “inappropriate” and “offensive” are pretty vague, but likely purposefully so. “ You agree not to post any items to Greenlight that contains… porn, inappropriate, or offensive content.” The important line as far as our discussion is concerned is as follows:
They make sure to tell you before spending $100 whether or not you’ll actually have a shot at getting a game Greenlit. You can find these rules (and more) on the Steam Greenlight Submission Fee page. In any case, if they’ve proven one thing it’s that games with content that could be judged as pornographic are not allowed. Of course, those rules seem pretty lax when games with stolen assets or are completely broken get added to the marketplace without Valve batting an eye. Sure, Greenlight is all about letting players dictate the marketplace but all games selected must still fit within Steam’s overall content rules. During the first week of launch adult-themed game Seduce Me saw tons of positive votes before being quickly removed. But any game which would escape such confines is simply not allowed on the digital storefront.Īt the start of Steam Greenlight these rules weren’t explicit enough just yet. Most of us know what “sex” currently looks like in the M-rated atmosphere and it’s generally a very tame (and often awkward), obscured depiction. What does that really mean? Well, basically, that a game would not receive an M for Mature rating from the ESRB but an Adult’s Only rating of AO. The reason is incredibly simple: Valve doesn’t allow for games containing 18+ degrees of sexual content in them on the service. While both of these aspects may or may not hold nuggets of truth, neither is why Coming Out Of Top is not heading toward Steam. Others believe that Valve themselves are gating off content of an LGBT nature. Some believe that many homophobic, or at the very least incredibly ignorant, gamers will downvote the game heavily. If X, Y, and Z games can go through Valve’s Greenlight service on Steam then why can’t Coming Out On Top? This is the question so many have taken to asking and immediately jump to some unfortunate, but grounded assumptions. Others have brought recent, highly controversial, games which are allowed on Greenlight into the discussion as well. Because of this, many folks have lamented the fact that it currently isn’t on Steam Greenlight. Recently the game has also made the rounds between many popular gaming websites – introducing it to an even larger audience who didn’t Kickstart the project.
The successfully Kickstarter-funded Coming Out On Top finally arrived and has already proven a hit with players! Even many who were not previously interested in visual novels and dating sims have suddenly found themselves as genre fans thanks to Obscurasoft’s standout title. Why Coming Out On Top Isn’t Allowed on Steam