aaryn
patreon
Straight!? will no longer be associated with F95zone.com effective immediately
🕑 Added 2020-10-14 02:34:22 +0000 UTCHey all,
So some drama has broken out over the past 24 hours and I would like to publicly provide game supporters with information on why this project will no longer be associated with the website www.f95zone.com beginning now. This is a fairly lengthy story but I'm going to try and summarize it briefly just to get to the point.
Background
F95zone was primarily a straight website where adult indie developers showcased their work but it was also heavily pirated. I originally started a thread about the website's openness to gay content and was pleased to see a welcomed response so I nervously published my first demo copy of Straight!? in October, 2017, long before I actually started the Patreon site. F95 is where it all started, guys so I've been a big part of that community over there since 2017.
Since then, f95 has been one of the official connections I've had along with Patreon, itch.io, and twitter (You can follow Blayke's twitter here). When you make a free adult game, your stuff is heavily pirated so I think it's important to publicly state where we are and where we aren't officially.
The Issue
Yesterday morning, I was browsing updates on f95 after checking messages and the Straight!? thread. I noticed a new game with a bi-racial MC and made a simple post to the dev that stated I appreciated the diversity rather than the typical all-White cast you see in most of the games on the website.
A few hours later, I received a notification that my post had been deleted for a violation of general rule 1: "Avoid discussing controversial topics, eg religion and politics". Knowing that my post didn't discuss anything controversial, I opened up a ticket and reported the deleted post and requested the post be reinstated because it was appropriate. On a forum that allows content like rape, incest, and beastiality; having a favorable comment towards biracial MC didn't seen very controversial.
I waited until the following morning to get my first response from a mod named Wep, who stated that: "This is clearly and ideological statement that could create flame and it is more than a simple comment about the game." On the website, people regularly discuss physical features of the game models including age, relationship, physical attributes, etc; simply acknowledging that you appreciated the biracial diversity they used, didn't really seem controversial--especially when they were next to the comments wanting more incest in the game, lol. However, I was accused of gaslighting.
I left a heads up in the Straight!? thread on the site to warn the players that I was in a dispute over a post and left a lengthy argument back to the mods in private. This time, I got a very reasonable response from a different mode named Thrownaway13. He read my posts in detail and determined there was no negative intent and clearly understood that there wasn't a problem with the comment. However, he explained that they have to take a hard response because of the lack of maturity on the forums--which is obvious when you read most of the threads. I agreed with him and then stated that I wanted to repost my original comment because I think it's important for other game devs to hear positive feedback on the use of less popular models in these games.
While I understand that the intent of the hard stance allows them to keep the peace, it does nothing to remove the assholes that require the rules in the first place. The community is a biproduct of what the mods tolerance in the first place.
However, while I was waiting on his response, I then realized that another mod was simultaneously deleting all the other comments I had made in other threads including the most recent post in my own thread explaining that I may leave the site due to the dispute. At this point, they have clearly made their decision: they clearly have enough time to go through and manually delete any post I made in favor of racial or sexual diversity but do not have time to deal with the negative trolls on the site. Mods cannot complain about the negative culture of a website and then chase good people away. I simply shouldn't have to have a conversation with mods that spans multiple days on why it's not controversial to empower devs with minority content while the website has games where you can literally get fucked by the family dog.
The Present
Effective immediately, neither I nor this game will associate further with f95zone. While, I had respect for my interactions with Thrownaway13; I refuse to have this game or it's ideals associated with a community with mods that take an obvious stand against issues like diversity while simultaneously allowing virtually any other content. There is no reason that games involving simulated rape, incest, or bestiality are openly allowed on the website but comments casually complimenting the use of racial diversity are promptly removed and labeled as "controversial." I don't deal well with censorship anyway, but anytime you allow one thing and not another, you've clearly taken a stance.
This game and it's supporters will continue to support diversity in its entirety to include any minority among us be that ethnic, religious, cultural, sexual, socioeconomic status, etc. You will be welcomed and part of this game and the community. That's one of the themes in the story and if the Straight!? devs don't stand behind these ideals beyond the game, it negates the reason for this project in the first place. This game will continue to uphold the values established in the story and I am more than willing to lose any revenue associated with leaving f95 to stand on those values. That website can sink into the abyss from the simultaneous weight of it's own trolls and lack of leadership.
Originally, I intended to leave my game posted on the f95 website for about 2 weeks with intent to explain to the followers there, why I was leaving but mods have sense deleted those posts despite them just stating that I had a disagreement on the content of a post an would no longer be posting on the site. They even went so far as to delete subsequent comments about my posts in support of my position. Essentially, they sanitized the server and I am unable to honestly and publicly state why I am leaving the website at this point.
So I then requested that Straight!? be removed from the site completely and they stated that this is impossible and part of their policy to not delete threads despite me being the one who started the thread in the first place. Well, that sucks because I don't want my game over there or any link associated with them. So, unfortunately, I can't delete Straight!? from the site.
However, I got really confused in all this while under duress and somehow before I left, all the game download links on f95 for Straight!? are somehow now linked to the dictionary definitions of "diversity" and "whitewash." It's crazy and I can't figure it out! I didn't wanna keep messing with stuff since I'd already broken so many rules. There's other download links that are inappropriately sending users to various LGBTQ charities as well as minority support websites and mental health resources. I really hope a mod over there can figure all that out and it doesn't take too much time to redo all those links and uploads for my game if they're unable to delete that damn post :P
Shhhhh
This game and this community are better than that. So I will no longer be officially using that platform or responding to those messages. Hopefully the newer members over there will find us on the discord, here, or twitter.
<3 Aaryn
Comments
Aaryn
yeah, I actually tend to agree with you. I think the more extreme things become, the less offense involved because it's less believeable. But yeah, you'd think I could remove the game but they won't let me so that's fine, too. They can keep conducting business the way they are and leave a beacon for dysfunction burning brightly. I dont have to be part of that and we've outgrown that platform anyway.
Antonio
Wow! I'm not surprised. That is partially why I don't comment on projects there anymore. I just give a project a thumbs up and keep it pushing lol. It just lets you know where their mindset is.
LukaM
I think the mods mostly respond to the reaction of the general F95's community, where for some reason certain extreme topics (e.g. bestiality) aren't controversial whereas others (e.g. NTR) are the subject of endless and usually nasty discussion. My take is that the former are 'fantasy' which don't affect directly most of the users whereas the latter come way closer to the life experience of people and thus touch a raw nerve. Clearly anything concerning race falls into this category. If you're not comfortable with it, you're perfectly right to remove the game from there (or any willing connection with it).
