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Liminary-Dev27 days ago(+4)

My argument isn't realistic at all, what about people in third world countries who make good games but CAN'T afford that $100? 

I can say the same thing for steam, however it comes down to how the platform is constructed and it's aim for users. Steam is a professional platform for quality games and thus from early on required users to pay to post a game, when it makes money, you get that money back. 

However, itch has always been a open gate community that accepts everyone (if we ignore the nsfw ban and payment processor issue not long ago) so to suddenly gate keep itch with such force will push people away from a platform that was free. Because Steam is a platform users know that a huge chunk of games are paid titles, whereas, people come to itch because of the amount of free to play games and easy methods to support small devs via buying their demo or donating.. and if you suddenly add a payment to post a game.. you can say goodbye to most if not all the free to play game.. as paying to post your own game free or not will completely flip itch's devs and users on their heads. 

Paying $100 to post your game on a platform originally designed and pointed for new devs with required $0 upfront cost is pretty extreme. 

A far better direction would be for itch to hire more staff or use their current staff to tighten up rules and regulations on the platform that DOESN'T require a complete restructure that makes their users and creators suffer entirely. Such as implementing better and improved upload rules for games, holding games for review if enough people report the game and, ensuring people follow. 

I do agree that itch has become a place full off ranged levels of effort in terms of game quality, however itch has been built on "open for all" and "fair chance for all" and as such, in order to somewhat keep that going and be fair on everyone, they need to tighten the rules on the quality of game you can upload and add a few new rules. 

 What you are suggesting is "Welcome to my restaurant that anyone can enter, but you must pay us $100 to eat here" But the restaurant in question is McDonalds, not some fancy club restaurant.

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Simpl_pseudocode27 days ago

The argument has become entirely ideological rather than practical, relying on emotional rhetoric instead of workable solutions.

  • Regional adjustments exist across the industry. Bringing up third world economies as a permanent roadblock ignores standard platform mechanics like regionalized deposit scaling, exactly as storefronts already do with regional pricing. There is zero reason why a security deposit or verification hurdle could not be adjusted relative to local purchasing power.
  • Expecting an independent store to hire a human army is unrealistic. Suggesting that Itch simply employ an army of paid moderators to manually review hundreds of thousands of zero cost, unmoderated submissions is financially absurd. No platform on the internet operates manual review at scale without technical barriers at entry.
  • Demanding quality while rejecting mechanisms is a contradiction. You acknowledge that Itch needs tighter upload rules and quality standards, yet you reject every actual mechanism required to enforce them. Rules do not apply themselves through goodwill. Without submission caps, page standards, verification queues, or security deposits, guidelines remain meaningless text while noise continues to flood the feed.
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Liminary-Dev27 days ago(+3)

"You acknowledge that Itch needs tighter upload rules and quality standards, yet you reject every actual mechanism required to enforce them."

I gave you that reply "Such as implementing better and improved upload rules for games, holding games for review if enough people report the game and, ensuring people follow." stop pointing out bullshit. I'm not going to dive into every refined detail, otherwise the post will be 5000 pages.

Itch was built on free for all. To then make a paywall WILL push users away onto other platforms and itch will die. Itch caters towards new devs and indie devs. Most of itch has free to download content and free to play games, the moment you add a fee, BOOM all that stuff will be either behind a paywall or gone. So no your idea of a fee WILL NOT WORK and it will never work because of how itch's foundation was built. 

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Simpl_pseudocode27 days ago

Relying entirely on user reports after content is already live is a reactive approach, not moderation. Expecting players and creators to sift through unmoderated spam and act as unpaid reviewers is precisely why storefront search feeds degrade in the first place. Prevention at entry is standard infrastructure for a reason.

Repeating that a fee will destroy free content completely ignores what has been explained multiple times. A security deposit unlocked through free download milestones does not put games behind a paywall, nor does it remove free content. Furthermore, zero cost mechanics like daily submission limits, account cooldowns, identity checks, and page completion standards require no money at all.

Clinging to the belief that any entry control will kill the platform while ignoring zero cost alternatives is an emotional response. Furthermore, you are resorting to rude and aggressive behavior, which only highlights a lack of concrete arguments by turning to ad hominem attacks. I have no intention of continuing to engage with you if you maintain this tone, as I have neither insulted anyone nor used inappropriate language toward you. Keep a cool head, please.

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Liminary-Dev27 days ago(+2)

I never said relying on user reports is the key, no site has enough people behind the works to moderate everything, so just like many sites, they also use user reports to help. 

"Repeating that a fee will destroy free content"
I will repeat it because that's what I believe. No different from how you keep repeating it will not, it's how arguments work..

"Clinging to the belief that any entry control will kill the platform while ignoring zero cost alternatives is an emotional response."
I never said "any entry control" will kill the platform, if you've been paying attention, I said I don't believe paying a $100 fee will work and will kill the platform and as you should know a "fee" is only 1 method of control. 

Also, no I'm not "resorting to rude and aggressive behavior" Please reevaluate how you read my replies, and try again. 

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Simpl_pseudocode27 days ago

User reporting still requires manual review by support staff, which is already stretched thin with biblically long response times. Relying on reactive moderation to contain high volume noise is an operational impossibility. A platform requires preventive barriers at entry, not just reactive cleanup after the damage is already done.

Regarding free content, no actual mechanism has been presented to explain how and why exactly a properly designed entry barrier would destroy free games. A security deposit or verification hurdle designed with clear parameters exists precisely to filter mass automated shovelware while preserving legitimate free projects.

A security deposit remains, in my view, the most solid and effective option, but it is not the only one. Multiple control methods can work in tandem. The question is very simple: do we want to put a check on slop, or do we accept the status quo? Stripping away the drama and emotional assumptions, that is the only choice to ponder.

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Liminary-Dev27 days ago(+1)

Due to a lack of man power to moderate the platform, it's likely no extra restrictions will be put into place. 

Status quo seems to be fine for now. Unless a ton of more people put up a stink about slop then maybe it's time to do something, although I'm somewhat new to itch, I've not seen a lot of users like you who've questioned the quality of games on here. 

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Simpl_pseudocode27 days ago

Acknowledging a lack of manpower is precisely the argument for preventive entry barriers rather than manual review. A proactive system that regulates publication flow without requiring human staff is exactly what is needed to handle scale.

Honestly, I cannot say for sure why the apparent consensus leans toward maintaining the status quo, although I have my own thoughts on that matter. Still, I fail to understand how anyone can support it after investing time, energy, and resources into a project, only to see their work buried under unmoderated noise.

And even though we are clearly not on the same wavelength, I took a look at your game and I think it has a certain potential. With a system in place to filter out slop and shovelware, your project likely would have received more visibility and attention. I certainly would have been happy to invest the infamous $100 deposit on it, knowing that under the model discussed, those funds would have easily been recovered. To each their own, I guess.

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