I imagine we all have some strong feelings about this (I certainly do!), but this might be a good time to pause and wait for some kind of statement from the organizers. I expect there will be one coming within the next twelve hours or so.
The impression I got is that ārealisticā depictions are the main concern of the act. So you can probably write a game where you dismember as many zombies as you like, but if youāre talking about any kind of violence in a more realistic way, even if far more mild by comparison, then things become more iffy under the act. (Edit- but Iām no lawyer )
Edit: I might not be entirely correct on that count actually. It also says you canāt realistically depict serious violence against a fictional creature. So no slaying of evil dragons or other monsters everyone.
On another note, I wonder how we should talk about these geo-blocked games in reviews. If I were creating a review thread as I usually do, Iād probably bring up how this game is geo-blocked. It seems like an important context for current and future players.
I was watching a BBC crime drama last night which depicted things Iām not allowed to write about here or in the IF comp, am I understanding that correctly?
Sounds like a very badly written law, and one that ought to be challenged
They would likely need to ban cinderella and the lion king from being shown under this act if it actually applied to them. I believe both cartoons are rated universal in the UK at the moment? But Cinderella depicts bullying, and Lion King has the whole stampede scene and fights between lions- so it depicts serious violence.
Yes please.
Today was the first confirmation I had that IFComp was going to be reacting to the OSA, although Iāve been fearing it would. Hard to be excited about IFComp 2025 as a UK resident.
OMG, no, I donāt think for a moment that any of this nonsense reflects on the authors.
I would propose that the IFComp be postponed until this fiasco can be resolved. The idea of comp admins making eleventh hour judgements on the details of the extent of unknown content in the entries without prior communication to the authors seems quite rash and extreme. A last minute ban seems quite unfair, since there was absolutely no warning or indication admins would be taken such dire action on a UK rule aimed a protecting minors for a community of 99% adults.
I donāt think the main IFComp organizer hangs around this forum much, so people with questions or suggestions might have better luck getting answers if they reach out directly to the IFComp team.
I think the issue is that a lot of us not from the UK werenāt even aware this act existed or could have an impact on the decision of what to choose to write as game entry, then follow up worry about what a block would mean, (my gut response was āoh no, people are going to think Iām writing terrible, illegal things given the spirit of the act, and I donāt want that reputationā, (it is nice to see that is seems people are aware this might not be the case), and finally disappointment that our UK members wonāt be able to see some of the games even if they wanted to. That this was likely to be enforced would be nice to have known in advance. But I am also aware this comp is run by volunteers and this is not their full time jobs, and the act isnāt as clear as it really should be to make these calls. Apparently there will be a post comp feedback form as well where we can express any opinions. (I am unsure if this is just authors or anyone who participates?)
On a related note, does anyone know if this will affect Ectocomp which is coming up very soon? Iām a bit confused about how far reaching this act will be given I saw today that people from the UK have already been blocked from IFArchive back in July.
Itās usually open to everyone to express opinions. The form if I remember correctly is a Google Docs form, and the link is publicly promoted. So anyone can enter it.
Ectocomp is run on Itch.io, which has its own OSA policy. They seem to be interpreting it pretty narrowly:
We use the tags youāve added to your project page automatically apply a restriction in the UK. This is based on a combination of the āHas sensitive contentā setting and the use of specific tags: āporn,ā āadult,ā āhentai,ā āerotic,ā and āsexā. Please note that a staff member may apply an override if we find your page is covered by the OSA but your tags do not reflect this.
Ok thanks for that. None of my existing games have been put into the adult category by itch. It seems to have a much tighter assessment of what needs to be behind an age block than the general act. In saying that, Iām still pretty vague about what would be blockable by OSA. A number of past ectocomp games potentially would be, even if (rightfully) not adult tagged.
I actually donāt want an adult tag on any of my itch games so would be unlikely to deliberately make one, as it prevents me from being able to block explicit games if I want to from searches which is super annoying. (Found that out when somehow I accidentally tagged a game with adult (probably a misclick) until I figured out the issue and removed it!) Anyway thatās food for thought for me if I decide to enter there this year. Iām not going to derail this thread any longer as itās for IFComp specifically. Thanks again
Iāll put aside for a moment the conservative prudes (after all, late queen Victoria, is, well, late..) because is an appeasement to these bloody colonials, and I put the core point, often overlooked:
UK, notwithstanding its insular mindset, is part of Europe, and share with the continent the other side of the vile metal coin of censorship, namely the violence & blood (hence the core issue of censorship: a global appeasement involves removing both Venus and Mars, and this is objectively detrimental to authorship)
now, Iām happy in coding in Italian (mainly under Twine) having only to care our Italian good sense, based on good tastes (as usual, I daresayā¦) for my personal enjoyment, only occasionally delivering something in english.
Yawwnnnā¦ letās return back into fooling around Twine, Hugo and Inform 6ā¦
(and, cāmon, I understand that everyone is killing time until the release of the 'Comp games, but, excuse me, playing IFs or experimenting/learning with different IF languages isnāt a better killing time than chagrining on a law of an anglosaxon country ?)
Frustrating of them to use the phrase āage-appropriateā in an explanation thatās supposed to be defining what is & isnāt appropriate for children.
Has it already been? The website says it opens Sept 7. I took this week off to clear my head by playing IFComp, I suppose I automatically assumed it ran from the first to the fifteenth of the next month. Oh well, nothing in life happens as youāre assured it must, and I have just bought a mostly complete set of Rumiās Masnaviā¦
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