Censored Steam Store

[Hale_Caesar]

Hi there i figured out that the German Steam Store is censored and some games wont even show up also i get a message "this game isnt available in your country" is there any way to get the steam store "uncensored" ? I want that it can showup all games i allready tried everything that is available in the steam options to make it as uncensored as possible

[Your Mom's Oshi]

Well it's illegal for Steam to sell that stuff in some regions so your choices are to import physical copies, work to change the censorship laws, or move.

[Unn4m3d (♥AUT♥)]

No, you cannot "uncensor" your Store. What's there is what is available to you. If you dont like the fact that some games are not allowed to be sold in Germany you will have to ask your Government about it.

[isomorphic_projection]

Originally posted by Hale_Caesar:

Hi there i figured out that the German Steam Store is censored and some games wont even show up also i get a message "this game isnt available in your country" is there any way to get the steam store "uncensored" ? I want that it can showup all games i allready tried everything that is available in the steam options to make it as uncensored as possible

Germany is much worse then the Netherlands or Belgium. I believe you can't even download certain games showing the swastika. Also 18plus. So if a DEV tagged their game as 18plus, then you can't download it. Check this list. Also games with gory violence is forbidden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games

[PinkPony]

Coming from a place of no knowledge, can't you use a VPN and make a second account for the specific titles you want?

[Hale_Caesar]

Originally posted by PinkPony:

Coming from a place of no knowledge, can't you use a VPN and make a second account for the specific titles you want?

Honestly the German Video game laws are a Joke and i also tried a VPN but it didnt work

[Cathulhu]

Using VPN or any other means to circumvent regional restrictions is a severe violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement and can get your account permanently suspended or outright terminated.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Hale_Caesar:

Originally posted by PinkPony:

Coming from a place of no knowledge, can't you use a VPN and make a second account for the specific titles you want?

Honestly the German Video game laws are a Joke and i also tried a VPN but it didnt work

Thats not steams issue, they have to follow the laws, and trying to use a VPN to circumvent your countries restrictions can get your steam account terminated

[HikariLight]

Steam may be based in the US but because they sell on a global scale the local store fronts must follow local laws.

[davidb11]

Germany does not ban Swastikas any more, and haven't since 2018.
And even before then, your game company just had to pay a large amount of money extra to be able to have your game allowed in Germany.

The only thing Germany cares about now is porn.
Which is very ironic.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Let friends gift the games to you
Its just that steam store has no age gate for people who can count to 18.

[Zoopy]

Originally posted by isomorphic_projection:

Originally posted by Hale_Caesar:

Hi there i figured out that the German Steam Store is censored and some games wont even show up also i get a message "this game isnt available in your country" is there any way to get the steam store "uncensored" ? I want that it can showup all games i allready tried everything that is available in the steam options to make it as uncensored as possible

Germany is much worse then the Netherlands or Belgium. I believe you can't even download certain games showing the swastika. Also 18plus. So if a DEV tagged their game as 18plus, then you can't download it. Check this list. Also games with gory violence is forbidden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games

Nothing here is even remotely true.

Germany does not ban games with Swastikas and hasn't for years.

And Germany does not ban 18+ games. You can buy and play 18+ games in Germany. You just cannot see the store pages for sex games on Steam. If you want to know why you can't see adult games on Steam in Germany, ask Valve. The only thing the German government requires from Steam is that they properly age gate adult content so that children cannot access it, instead of just a simple age check dropdown. But Steam won't implement a better system and instead decided all by themselves to simply restrict access to all adult games.

And any adult game that you previously bought or redeemed using a Steam key can be played through Steam. There is nothing blocking the download of adult games in Germany. I own games like House Party and Agony on Steam and have never had issues downloading or playing it.

It is bizarre just how much misinformation you packed into such a short post.

[Zoopy]

Originally posted by Unn4m3d (♥AUT♥):

No, you cannot "uncensor" your Store. What's there is what is available to you. If you dont like the fact that some games are not allowed to be sold in Germany you will have to ask your Government about it.

Wrong too. The German government does not forbid the sale of adult only games, so OP should be asking Valve what's up

[davidb11]

Sigh. Germany wanted Valve to make it extremely hard to even view adult only stuff, which is why Valve retaliated and banned it in Germany.

Germany is to blame here. For all of it.
Saying Valve is somehow doing anything wrong when the request was completely unreasonable on the German Government's end is beyond absurd.
Anyone who thinks the age gate that works in America isn't good enough for Germany should be fired from their job.

[Zoopy]

Originally posted by davidb11:

Sigh. Germany wanted Valve to make it extremely hard to even view adult only stuff, which is why Valve retaliated and banned it in Germany.

Germany is to blame here. For all of it.
Saying Valve is somehow doing anything wrong when the request was completely unreasonable on the German Government's end is beyond absurd.
Anyone who thinks the age gate that works in America isn't good enough for Germany should be fired from their job.

You know that Playstation faces the same requirements from the german government and have had a functional solution for years (at least as far back as 2017, when I bought my PS4), right?

So why's it suddenly unfair and absurd when they're asking Steam to be held to the same standards? The fact that Playstation has managed to easily solve this problem shows that it is neither absurd, nor unreasonable.

This is 100% on Valve.

Originally posted by davidb11:

Anyone who thinks the age gate that works in America isn't good enough for Germany should be fired from their job.

What age gate, lmao. A dropdown isn't an age gate. It's a minor inconvenience.

[isomorphic_projection]

Originally posted by cinedine:

Pretty sure I already posted here ...

Originally posted by Zoopy:

Wrong too. The German government does not forbid the sale of adult only games, so OP should be asking Valve what's up

Apparently the LRA Schleswig-Holstein send an enquiry to Valve about some explicit screenshots on adult games' store pages.

Valve did a Valve and brought out the hammer: unilaterally making all unrated games tagged as adult unavailable in Germany and only allowing 18+. Which is ridiculous because all unrated games *are* 18+ per default.
That happened in late 2019 or 2020 and was not at all communicated to anyone. The stance since then is "we are working on it" and ignoring the issue. There are several threads about it from about that time that ask for a proper age gate (which isn't even needed) and the usual non-Germans who think they can educate us about our laws.

"Video game laws" have no bearing here. Steam is an internet service and thus is regulated by the Telemediengesetz (TMG) and the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (JMStV).

This is Valve's fault and Valve's fault alone.

I know the story same with lootboxes. Dad looses wallet, child buys a skin. Dad gets angry files a complained. And no one can play these games anymore. I had something like, next time keep your eyes on your wallet.