Government of Türkiye is pushing a new regulation that would force Steam, Epic, PlayStation etc. to appoint local representatives. If they refuse? The whole platform gets banned.

They also want full access to user data and the power to arbitrarily ban "risky" content. This isn't just a Turkish thing, governments everywhere are trying to pull this crap. They think blocking platforms will control us? All they are doing is driving people straight to VPNs and piracy. If you make it impossible to buy games legally, we'll just sail the high seas for free.

Thanks for the boost, I guess.

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[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 3 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

I don't think thats a unfair ask. One local representative in each country seems perfectly fair for me.

Being said? the user information part? strictly locked to their own content. If the user account is registered in that country they have access. Providers could 100% do that with most operational databases out there. It's a requirement for stores in order to do payment information. Steam and Epic already do this as it is.

Should they be able to access that information in the first place is a different discussion, that needs to be had in that corresponding country, but if the country has already decided it needs access to continue, there's no reason it should have access to all user data. The only thing they really have claim to is their own countries data.

[–] kaptan@hackerz.world 12 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

The issue is not the rep, it's the vague "content oversight." If the goverments can ban anything they deem "risky" that's censorship not regulation. That's exactly why piracy will explode. Let the game begin..

[–] PiraHxCx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Countries do this way more often than you think... they have always done that with movies preventing official releases or releasing edited versions, and as for games tons have localized versions since ever, from censorship of nudity in Japanese games in the USA market to censorship of Nazi flags in games in Germany and even LGBT references in tons of Eastern countries. I'd love if piracy exploded because fuck them billion dollar companies, but they usually just change a few art assets and that's it.

What type of content you fear your government may consider risky? Is someone there in a paranoia of video games causing violence?
Unless they would be banning stuff like GTA, Call of Duty and Battlefield entirely because of violence, I really doubt gamers would go out of their way in enough numbers to cause any ruckus just because they absolutely have to play the version of the game that has an LGBT flag in some building or certain character is transgender.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 3 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Fully agree. if they actually go through with banning it, piracy will thrive. People aren't going to just not play games as a result of not having access to a game. Smaller launchers will rise, people will download from other sources. A method of obtainment will be found.