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✧UROBOROSis a 17+ fantasy interactive fiction novel written in Twine. Play as the deity of eternity, powerless and deemed useless among gods, for nothing lasts forever. A struggle between mortals and gods sparks a conflict that may bring an end to the age of the divine rule.
This game will be completely free to play in its entirety; no necessary in-game content will ever be monetized.
You are the deity of All That Lasts Forever, a being born of the Chaotic Universe and moulded in divinity. One that exists among gods of lore, with the power to change seasons, conjure great storms, and raise life from dust.
Steam, Itch.io and the banning of explicit and LGBT+ Content. What can we do?
[All images in this post have alt/id text if you need it or want to copy paste anything]
With no warning, Itch.io, a site where many host their indie games, comics, books and more, has started purging and shadowbanning explicit and LGBT+ works. Creators got no warning. And if they were still owed payouts from these works, Itch.io is saying they won’t give them their money as they ‘broke the rules’. Rules that were only just set in place, with no warning, and therefore no way for creators to try and draw out their money or delete these 'offending’ works before they got banned under the new rules.
ALT
So Itch.io has been the most recent to fall to the demands of a group that’s been contacting Visa and Mastercard and convincing them to threaten sites/businesses with 'stop selling what we consider to be explicit content on your sites of we’ll stop allowing your site to have transactions with Visa and Mastercard’. Steam folded, and now Itchio has too. And a reminder earlier this year Gumroad also stopped allowing explicit content, further back than that Patreon banned some kinks and fetishes even if it’s depicted in fiction not real life, and I don’t have to explain to you guys the great Tumblr explicit content ban of 2018.
And as always remember this doesn’t stop with sexually explicit work as LGBT+ stories and people are often labelled as explicit and already we’re seeing works being taken off Itch.io that are about LGBT+ and especially trans stories. Other non-sexually explicit works I’ve seen already getting shadowbanned, delisted or deleted are SFW games featuring furries/anthros, SFW dress up games (because when you take the clothes the model is nude), and the aforementioned SFW games that include LGBT+ characters and stories.
I’m compiling here information I’ve seen around various social medias, mostly Bluesky, because I haven’t seen all these things shared over here.
I don’t personally have explicit content on itch, but I had been considering one day selling things on there and I do currently have explicit content on my Patreon, my main source of income, and am terrified that Patreon is going to fold next (if anyone knows alterative for hosting audio content behind a paid subscription service please let me know so I can start maybe making a back-up in case the worst happens). Because for me personally if Patreon goes next, it’s not like I can go out and easily get another job. Not only because in general finding and getting a job is difficult enough, but I’m autistic and have chronic pain and have been constantly getting sick or new pains over the last few years and don’t feel safe being trans in the UK right now and all of that combined rules me out of a lot of jobs and makes me feel unsafe to apply to any. I’m so grateful I’ve been able to make a community around my work, but if Patreon caves next and I just leave my SFW posts on Patreon… 10% of my Patreons are signed up to the SFW tier, 90% are signed up to the explicit tier… I know if Patreon caves I will go from someone living comfortably who’s searching to move out of my parents so I can live in a safer environment to someone who can no longer even afford the rent I pay to my parents. I’ll try and get an alterative found and set up in case that happens and I can only hope you guys will follow me to whatever other site I have to set up… but it feels unlikely that people will get a whole new account on a whole new payment provider just to support me on a website they might never have heard of…
But what can we do right now?
A petition you can sign (international but you do have to give your name, email, and postal/zip code):
Don’t know what to say on the phone? Here’s a script written by timidtanuki:
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Creators have had their work removed off Itch.io with no warning and since it’s been removed for 'breaking the rules’ (rules that were suddenly in place with no warning) they aren’t entitled to get their payouts. Just like other sites such as Youtube and Twitch and Etsy, Itch.io hold onto money from their users in a wallet and then give them payouts. So there is money creators have made, are owed, that Itch.io is not giving to them.
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People are recommending that if you still have works on Itch.io to turn down the revenue sharing to 0% so that Itch.io no longer takes a cut or your money if you no longer want to support Itchi.io finically but don’t want to remove your works from their platform. X
Other Bluesky posts and calls to action I’ve seen:
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radiantg.bsky.social is asking for anyone on Itch.io who got their game deindexed, removed , or payouts turned off to reach out to them (espeically if you make explicit and/or LGBT+ games) for a piece of journalism about what is happening.
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sleepyhard.bsky.social is making a threat of all the games that Itch.io has censored/removed from their site search function. Obviously be aware this will include 18+ only games, games with sexual content and other dark or heavy themes.
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thetransfemininereview.com wants you to reach out to them if you’re a trans creator on Itch.io who is being affected by this so they can make an accurate report. they say 'authors’ in their post and I’m unsure if they also want game devs to reach out.
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dropdownbear.bsky.com wants you to reach out if you have purchased things on Itch.io that you can now no longer access because of this ban. they can include them in a report being filed with the Australian Consumer Commission as this may be a violation of Australian Consumer rights. If you are Australian you can no longer access things you purchased of Itch.io you can report directly with this guide.
It’s a scary time for adult creators and sex workers. It’s a scary time to be trans. Support creators. And if anyone knows of any alternate payment providers that allow explicit work, and/or alternate websites to Itch (and in case things get worse, also give me Patreon alternates please) where people can host, sell and/or offer paid subscriptions to writing, images, videos, audios, games and more please leave them in the replies. And please help share this post, the posts I’m linking too, and any other resources you can find.
Minors DNI. Ageless blogs DNI. I want resources and help but I don’t reply to this post or follow this blog if you’re under 18, this is an explicit blog and not for anyone under 18.
Hi Anon, thank you for checking on me! I am well ♥️
It’s been a bit difficult to write as there are things about the lore and worldbuilding that I want to sort out before proceeding further.
At first, I made tremendous “progress” writing hundreds to thousands of words a day through writing sprints. However, without a proper goal in mind, I ended up scrapping a lot of it.
It did help me reflect on what direction I wanted to take the story and what aspects of the plot I didn’t like so far. I’ve also had thoughts on what themes to work around to keep the story’s message consistent and clear. A lot of is still uncertain.
Writing stories is not simply about the words on the page. It’s written with intent and thought as for why a word is chosen, why a sentence is the length that it is, why the comma is here and not there.
Thank you so much again Anon for the wellness check, and I hope you can forgive me that I used your ask to reflect on some writing progress!
Hello guys!! So sorry for my absence! I’ve made JS code free for anyone to use in their Twine game, which allows you to have multiple pronouns for your main character – for example, she/they, she/he, she/he/they, whatever combination!
Some features include:
Completely customizable, and therefore neopronouns-friendly!
No limitations as to how many sets of pronouns you can add—you can add even just one.
Can determine singular and plural pronouns, even if you use pronouns that are different
Automatically switches between pronouns – and you only need to write ?mcthey, ?mcthem, etc.
If you want to stick to one pronoun temporarily (e.g. so a character refers to MC as she/her and not switch to they/them mid-sentence), it is possible, too!
Currently, there is no native way built into the widget to remove the pronouns. You can certainly do it, as I have in Uroboros. Let me get back to you with this :)
Hello Anon!
I just updated the code. Looking back on it, there are some improvements I want to make, but this should do nicely for now.
You will need to re-copy and paste the code (from all the variables in your StoryInit, to the code in your Story JavaScript), but this will not implode your current code, I promise.
Other than just the ability to remove pronouns, you should also be able to use -es and -ies verb suffixes (for example, watch -> watches, or study -> studies) that I did not add before.
Please read the documentation or the itch.io page for extensive instructions on how to remove pronouns, but if you have any problems, please let me know! I’ll send out an announcement with these changes. :)
hi misty! i was wondering with the MC Multipronouns widget, would it be possible for there to be a way to remove pronouns as well?
Hi Anon!
Currently, there is no native way built into the widget to remove the pronouns. You can certainly do it, as I have in Uroboros. Let me get back to you with this :)
This is not even a question. I just wanted to say that I found out about your game yesterday and spent all day obsessed with it. I think I´ve red all I could about it and the characters, and it still doesn´t feel like enough.
I used to write a lot and I just... stopped. I always have hundreds of ideas that I just push away because I say to myself that I don´t have the time, but you made me want to write again, and I can´t thank you enough for that
Hello Anon,
You have no idea how much your words mean to me, receiving words from another writer. :)
There are many nights I lie in bed reading back on my work, and I find myself repulsed by the decisions I made – and you cannot imagine that, by the power of your own words, I have begun to look upon my own with more kindness. To think that my work can be adored makes it harder for me to be harsh against it.
There is no greater praise than to hear I’ve motivated you to pick up writing again, and you have also inspired me to write as well. We are both working hard! Thank you again for your kindness, Anon ♥️♥️
Do you need a proofreader? I'm totally not finding for more Uroboros content, hehe... Just a normal guy. Good at grammar, mind you!
But seriously, how's the writing process going?
Hello Anon!
A lot of my time is definitely taken up proofreading and testing between myself and one other. The point of publicly sharing a WIP is to get public feedback, but I’d still like it to be readable and a smooth experience when it’s shared!
So I am very grateful for your offer! In fact, when Chapter 2 comes out, I’ll likely be putting out a form to get feedback about the Prologue & Chapter 1 that will provide early access to the Chapter 2; then I'l be able to get some initial reactions and feedback before fully releasing it. We’ll see!!
I will say that the writing process has been much, much more enjoyable after taking a break from Uroboros, giving me a renewed perspective. There might be some changes to the lore, characters, etc. as time goes on, and I’m excited to share how it evolves. I am already thinking of changing scenes in Chapter 1; for example, I am not satisfied with the absence of cyclical symbolism, so I’ll be incorporating that more.
Progress has been slow because of major projects happening in my life, but I’m slowly shifting back into working on Uroboros. ♥️
Thank you so much for the offer and asking, Anon!! ♥️♥️
I’m trying to resist rewriting any part of the Prologue and Chapter 1, but I might edit a bit to improve flow and cut down on some (many) unnecessary adjectives and phrases. 😱
In other news: I’ve been extremely excited to work on Chapter 2, which is taking a peek into MC’s past and introducing more of the pantheon into the story! Of course, it’ll be advancing the plot in the present as well.
That minor rewrite might come before Chapter 2 lands, but it will be nothing to replay over and a very small announcement.
