I see lots of news reports saying that X% of people in country Y don't use cash anymore because of cashless options.

X% of people are fuckwits.

But not just because of this apparent policy. Cash payment (or surrogate) is the only last barrier before effective indirect state control over currency.

Indeed.
But I'm more worried about private rather than state control, as this situation also shows.

Nah, the state is getting increased taxes every year, yet not nearly as much gains compared to the "private sector" which is where most of the high inequality is taking place. It may at some point lead to serious social issues but as long as sufficient war going on, the distraction will get ride of the unrest, as "living in hell" will more likely become accepted this way.

Related to the topic, indeed, the big "payment companies" are way more uniform and united than any innocent being may be able to imagine. They simply found out, it seems, that they may make more cash if they are about to reduce or even remove the "porn content" on the most popular gaming sites. They are above Steam or GOG in power as they basically control 90% or something of the whole accepted payment-infrastructure. So they are able to dictate conditions toward what they enjoy and those decisions are usually, actually always, economically motivated. It does not matter if a minority is now using another site, because ultimately they still pay using paypal or credit cards in almost any case. What really matters is that the big gaming sites are not keeping away "the big mass" by policies with a low social acceptance... else the loss could be bigger than the gain, at least according to those maths, i assume.

Ultimately... it is simply paid elsewhere and the ones at the most upper stage are simply dictating "how it economically works" for anyone below their food chain.

I don't agree. The Kagura game I enjoyed most is False Myth and it has pixel graphics (even for the erotic content).

Honestly Honestly Honestly.

This all feels rather too vague for me .... and yes I have read many of the posts, interesting ones, illumi..nating ones and otherwise.

GOG are not very forthcoming when it comes to trans..parency and specifics, so I take many things claimed about them with a pinch of salt ... and screenshots really aren't evidence of much.

One thing for sure, GOG wouldn't be in the habit of turning away profits if they thought they didn't need to. That's the logical assumption anyway.

That said, GOG do come across as react..ionary at times.

Me, I'm just gonna wait and see where all this goes.

I was brought up on Chr...istian values, and still retain most of them, but I stopped bel..ieving in G.O.D and J.e.s.u.s and R.e.l.i.g.i.o.n many years ago ... too much obvious input from the limited minds of mankind for controlling others.

So I am definitely not a fan of any religious group trying to exert influence or control on society, and honestly, I feel their days are numbered ... certainly in first world countries, where educated thinking holds greater and greater sway.

But things tend to get worse before they get better.

P.S. All that said, nothing porn related holds great value with me ... I can take it or leave it. Its absence isn't gonna topple or cripple society. Absence of good broad thinking education though, would be another matter.

It's likely groups like Collective Shout behind this one and not the usual vocal forum suspects, but I get how you feel. Buy what games you want while you can, before the payment processors strongarm yet more stoefronts.

So they should stop listening to one vocal minority and listen to another instead. Gotcha. The money they lost probably isn't a drop in the bucket to the money they would lose if VISA or MasterCard pulled the plug on GOG transactions. But you go ahead and be you and try to flex all over GOG for your smut. Go buy it somewhere. I couldn't care less if it is no longer here. What I DO care about is shithead groups thinking they can influence the free market like this regardless of what they're pulling. I'd be happy if GOG decided not to sell porn. But God Damn I hate that someone else may have decided for them.

I've stopped buying Kagura titles on Gog too. It's especially apparent that DLCs that were supposed to come here never will. That one I blame on Gog. Don't want to do business with the company anymore, fine. Don't refuse to complete the games you already host.

I've been getting them elsewhere (fortunately they're DRM-free). It's been striking just how much payment processors hate these games. Kagura says they are working on getting Visa and MasterCard payment systems but it's obviously never going to happen. If Paypal acts up then Kagura can't accept any payment whatsoever. It's just frightening how much power these companies have.

Agreed.

Valve ought to use their billions to create their own payment system. Elon has the money to create his own credit card company, that could be a worthwhile endeavor. Or everyone start accepting Bitcoin or something like that.

(Of course people can disagree with me but I'm not interested in having some debate or reading some angry post about the above.)

I think that's how the so-called "free market" is supposed to work. What do you think it was "free" for? Us the proles, or those with all the money and power.

You might remember that this whole thread and what I posted was NOT about the actual Visa/Mastercard situation. It was just about GOG deciding to sever ties with Kagura and me telling GOG that they lost my future purchases for their games which I will now do directly on their platform. I am still pretty sure that them not adding Kagura titles anymore is not directly related to the actual crisis. This was only to inform GOG that they lost money which is everything that this thread was supposed to be about and the fact that adding the long wanted adult filter imo would have been the better option. No idea when exactly I did "flex" about anything - it was a simple information everything else is interpretation from your side,

The discussion in the actual screenshot is about a month ago. Long before this cirisis happened. It might still be releated but I doubt it.

Or, hear me out: We don't rely on people who threw out their scruples and ethics and instead find ways to mitigate this horror called Capitalism, preferably by killing it.

Trusting those who are mad would get us nowhere fast.

As to the problems of digital currency, you'd be surprised how easy it is to set on fire. There's no central authority, no investigative power, just poof! Up like a light! And frankly, I'd go out of my way to impede/destroy cryptocurrency if the tools didn't already exist.

It's reallyt easy to get mad that no one is standing up to injustice when it involves spending someone else's money. I see a lot of people saying "Someone should do something" Do something if you want someone to do something. Don't get mad that someone else won't pony up their own money to do something.
Ah yes, it's captialism that is the enemy. The only difference between what we're seeing in capitalism and any other system is who it's decided has the power. Hint, it's never you. The same assholes always rise to the top because they're willing to cut each others' throats to get there.

Only if we replace it with nationalist socialism. Or are we One People, One Planet Without Borders? Hmmm...