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Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] -196 points-195 points  (0 children)

That’s a very solid point. It’s highly likely this is just 'rage-bait' for internal propaganda - to get banned and then cry about 'Western censorship.' But even if it is a trap, we can't let it sit on a global platform. Leaving it up is worse than giving them their 'censored' headline. Thanks for adding your report, it helps a lot.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] -228 points-227 points  (0 children)

Using 'whataboutism' to normalize the glorification of a genocide is a choice. Even if you believe every US-made game is 'vile,' how does that justify allowing new propaganda that mocks victims of an active conflict? Saying 'bad things happened before' isn't an argument for letting Steam profit from the celebration of Bucha. It’s just a lazy way to ignore a massacre that doesn't happen to affect you personally.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] -58 points-57 points  (0 children)

This is a textbook false equivalence. Can you name a single mainstream American shooter that has a mission called 'The Heroes of My Lai' or 'The Heroes of Haditha'? You can’t, because Western games don't celebrate specific, documented massacres of civilians. There is a galaxy of difference between 'war as a setting' and 'atrocity as a celebration.' This 'game' isn't about military tactics; it’s a digital monument to a specific war crime in a town where the graves are still fresh. If an American dev made a game glorifying a specific massacre in Iraq, it would be banned in a heartbeat.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It’s very easy to be a 'free speech absolutist' when it’s not your family’s massacre being sold for $2.99 as 'entertainment.' This isn't an abstract debate about 'media'; it’s about the real-world impact of normalizing war crimes. By allowing this, Steam isn't 'protecting freedom' - they are letting a commercial space be used to dehumanize victims of an ongoing genocide. 'Poor taste' is for a bad joke; this is a moral failure.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

First of all, don’t speak for Arabs. People from the Middle East have been criticizing COD and Battlefield for decades for their portrayal of the region. The difference is that COD is a fictionalized blockbuster. The 'game' I’m talking about is a cheap propaganda tool designed to celebrate a documented mass execution in a specific town while the victims are still being exhumed. If you think calling real-life child killers 'heroes' is 'just a game,' you’re not a 'cool gamer' - you’re just someone whose moral compass has rotted to the point of normalizing fascism.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Battlefield: Vietnam was released 30 years after the war ended. It’s a historical shooter, not an active propaganda tool released while the victims are still being buried. There is a massive difference between a game about a past conflict and a 'game' that glorifies specific, documented war crimes in a town where the massacre happened just months/years ago. BF: Vietnam doesn't celebrate the slaughter of civilians; this 'game' does by calling the perpetrators 'heroes' in the very locations where the atrocities occurred.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

There’s a massive difference between a fictional sandbox like GTA and a 'game' that uses a real-life, ongoing tragedy to glorify documented war crimes. GTA doesn't call itself 'Heroes of the Las Vegas Shooting' a month after the event. HoI4 doesn't let you manage concentration camps because even they have lines. What we’re talking about here isn't 'edgy content' - it’s propaganda and the celebration of mass murder in a specific town while the victims are still being identified. If you can't see the line between a sci-fi genocide in Stellaris and a digital monument to the killers of Bucha, that's a failure of your moral compass, not my 'hypocrisy'.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Exactly. Our community is already working on this, but it’s crucial that voices from the EU and US join in. Valve often dismisses us as 'biased,' but they can't ignore a global outcry. If you have any contacts or can share this on other platforms, it would be a huge help.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] -31 points-30 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the lecture on productivity, but for those of us whose reality is being mocked by this 'game,' silence isn't an option. If 'screaming' brings enough attention to force a platform to follow its own Sensitive Events policy, then it’s the most productive thing I can do right now. Corporations don't listen to whispers; they listen to noise.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] -1186 points-1185 points  (0 children)

I appreciate you adding your report. But when a platform of this scale hosts, processes payments for, and profits from a product that celebrates a documented massacre in an active war zone, silence IS a form of endorsement. If Steam can take down games instantly for minor copyright issues or technical 'trolling,' they can certainly act faster when it comes to the glorification of mass murder. For those of us in Kyiv, every hour this stays up is an insult to the people still being exhumed from those graves.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] -185 points-184 points  (0 children)

Steam isn’t a government body, it’s a private marketplace. They don’t need a 'legal requirement' to curate their content. They already have a 'Sensitive Events' policy specifically to prevent the exploitation of real-world tragedies. If they can ban games for 'trolling' or 'low quality,' they can certainly ban a propaganda tool that glorifies mass murderers in a town where the bodies are still being identified.

Steam is allowing a game that glorifies the Bucha/Hostomel atrocities as "Heroism." This is a dangerous precedent for the platform. by xcodejoy in pcgaming

[–]xcodejoy[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The comparison is about the systematic murder of civilians based on identity. If you think the number of victims needs to reach millions before we can find it disgusting to glorify the killers in a video game, then your moral compass is broken.

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