近來產生了很多有關『我們允許哪樣的遊戲上 Steam』的話題。時而頻繁，那些討論令我們花點時間檢視我們的作為、我們為何那麼做、以及我們如何做得更好。有關此範圍的決定是尤其困難的，也是我們感到相當掙扎的。且與許多猜臆之詞相反，我們從未把這種事情交由電腦去自動化處理 — 事實上 Valve 的員工會相當地涉入此事，與多組人馬審視我們收到的每款有爭議遊戲的內容。承上句，許多人也錯誤地臆測這些決定有大大的受到潛在因素影響、如支付服務提供者、外部的利益集團等等。不，你把這個問題攤開後只會看到我們正和一個難題纏鬥。
Recently there's been a bunch of community discussion around what kind of games we're allowing onto the Steam Store. As is often the case, the discussion caused us to spend some time examining what we're doing, why we're doing it, and how we could be doing it better. Decision making in this space is particularly challenging, and one that we've really struggled with. Contrary to many assumptions, this isn't a space we've automated - humans at Valve are very involved, with groups of people looking at the contents of every controversial title submitted to us. Similarly, people have falsely assumed these decisions are heavily affected by our payment processors, or outside interest groups. Nope, it's just us grappling with a really hard problem.
但很不幸的是，我們的掙扎已在我們的客戶、開發者夥伴、甚至於我們自己的員工身上留下一團混亂。因此我們花了一些時間仔細思考我們的立場為何，我們想趁這次好好談談。但我們認為我們首先應該解釋我們身處這個立場的原因，以讓大家能夠了解我們進行的得失權衡。
Unfortunately, our struggling has resulted in a bunch of confusion among our customers, developer partners, and even our own employees. So we've spent some time thinking about where we want to be on this, and we'd like to talk about it now. But we also think it's critical to talk about how we've arrived at our position, so you can understand the trade-offs we're making.
我們所面臨的課題並非僅是『Steam 商店該不該含有成人或暴力內容』，而是『Steam 商店該不該包容一整個系列有爭議之題材、如政治、性向、種族主義、性別、暴力、身分認同等以此類推』。另外，我們還得面對電子遊戲特有的問題，像是構成「遊戲」的定義、怎麼樣才算遊戲、或者 Steam 商店架上的商品應有何等品質。
The challenge is that this problem is not simply about whether or not the Steam Store should contain games with adult or violent content. Instead, it's about whether the Store contains games within an entire range of controversial topics - politics, sexuality, racism, gender, violence, identity, and so on. In addition, there are controversial topics that are particular to games - like what even constitutes a "game", or what level of quality is appropriate before something can be released.
而當嘗試做些決策對此範圍沒有幫助的時候，我們也時常問自己一些問題：玩家們希望我們怎麼做？我們該怎麼做他們才會最滿意？世上不同地方所認定之可接受的討論/行為/意象是有極大差異的，且不管從社會觀點來看還是法律觀點來看都是。即便我們挑選一個國家或政府做為支點，有關這些議題的法律定義可能會顯得太過廣義或模糊，以不致於可讓我們避免做出主觀或解釋性的決定。我們在此範圍看到的無情事實，同時也深根固蒂於我們的困境的，是世上不存在一個能讓我們不會惹惱任何人的解法。
Common questions we ask ourselves when trying to make decisions didn't help in this space. What do players wish we would do? What would make them most happy? What's considered acceptable discussion / behavior / imagery varies significantly around the world, socially and legally. Even when we pick a single country or state, the legal definitions around these topics can be too broad or vague to allow us to avoid making subjective and interpretive decisions. The harsh reality of this space, that lies at the root of our dilemma, is that there is absolutely no way we can navigate it without making some of our players really mad.
同時，Valve 並不是一間小公司，我們也不是一個同質群體，這些議題在網路上引發的辯論也同樣在 Valve 內部發生。我們不全然同意哪款遊戲可或不可在 Steam 上。就這句來看，我們的意思是：我們就此進行的決定沒辦法讓所有人感到滿意，這含括 Valve 自己的職員、他們的親友、和他們參予的社群在內。
In addition, Valve is not a small company - we're not a homogeneous group. The online debates around these topics play out inside Valve as well. We don't all agree on what deserves to be on the Store. So when we say there's no way to avoid making a bunch of people mad when making decisions in this space, we're including our own employees, their families and their communities in that.
於是，這個議題的探討結果是回到我們創立 Steam 時的首要準則之一（近期來看其成果為發展出 Steam Direct 以讓 Steam 平台能向更多開發者敞開）：Valve 不應該在決定這種事情。如果你是一位玩家，那麼我們不該為你決定哪款遊戲能不能買。如果你是一位開發者，那麼我們便不該干涉你可不可以開發哪些內容。這些決定應該發自於你。我們在此扮演的角色應是提供平台和工具以支撐你的付出來自行決定，還有助你用自己能感到自在的方式進行。
So we ended up going back to one of the principles in the forefront of our minds when we started Steam, and more recently as we worked on Steam Direct to open up the Store to many more developers: Valve shouldn't be the ones deciding this. If you're a player, we shouldn't be choosing for you what content you can or can't buy. If you're a developer, we shouldn't be choosing what content you're allowed to create. Those choices should be yours to make. Our role should be to provide systems and tools to support your efforts to make these choices for yourself, and to help you do it in a way that makes you feel comfortable.
謹記該準則，我們決定出的正確方法是：允許所有東西登上 Steam，除了那些我們判定為違法、或「真的是來亂（straight up trolling）」的之外。此法使我們更能把注意力放到評估上架申請外，讓我們能專注於幫助人們看到他們想要的內容。我們已對此發展出一些工具，但它們太過隱密且根本不夠詳盡。因此，我們決定要讓大家能夠直接覆寫 Steam 商店的推薦演算法，和隱藏那些你不感興趣的題材，如果你不喜歡動漫類遊戲的話，你將至少有能力可以「眼不見為淨」。如果你想要更多選項去確切地控制孩童能夠瀏覽哪些內容，你也將有能力可以那麼做。需要更好工具的不只有玩家，內容有爭議的創作者們不應單為他們的遊戲存在世上而成為騷擾目標，而我們也將建立工具和選項來幫助他們。
With that principle in mind, we've decided that the right approach is to allow everything onto the Steam Store, except for things that we decide are illegal, or straight up trolling. Taking this approach allows us to focus less on trying to police what should be on Steam, and more on building those tools to give people control over what kinds of content they see. We already have some tools, but they're too hidden and not nearly comprehensive enough. We are going to enable you to override our recommendation algorithms and hide games containing the topics you're not interested in. So if you don't want to see anime games on your Store, you'll be able to make that choice. If you want more options to control exactly what kinds of games your kids see when they browse the Store, you'll be able to do that. And it's not just players that need better tools either - developers who build controversial content shouldn't have to deal with harassment because their game exists, and we'll be building tools and options to support them too.
正如前面提到，因為不同地方奉行著不同法律，我們將採逐案個別處理的手法。就結果看來，我們幾乎可以確定自己會繼續在此範圍的議題中掙扎好一陣子。我們目前的想法是在上架申請階段推促開發者揭露作品中任何有潛在問題的內容，並在他們拒絕誠實地履行這個要求時停止與他們做生意。在此之上，我們會繼續對收到的上架申請進行一些技術性評估，拒絕未通過檢驗之遊戲上架、直到它們的問題有所解決。
As we mentioned earlier, laws vary around the world, so we're going to need to handle this on a case-by-case basis. As a result, we will almost certainly continue to struggle with this one for a while. Our current thinking is that we're going to push developers to further disclose any potentially problematic content in their games during the submission process, and cease doing business with any of them that refuse to do so honestly. We'll still continue to perform technical evaluations of submissions, rejecting games that don't pass until their issues have been resolved.
基本上，以上意味著除非使用者本身沒有任何意見，那麼 Steam 商店將無可避免地含有會令人感到不悅、或讓人認為不應存在的商品，但相對的只要有人相信某一商品應在架上，那該商品就會待在 Steam 商店架上，即便這會進而引起他人怨恨，或者招致要它下架的意見。
So what does this mean? It means that the Steam Store is going to contain something that you hate, and don't think should exist. Unless you don't have any opinions, that's guaranteed to happen. But you're also going to see something on the Store that you believe should be there, and some other people will hate it and want it not to exist.
這也代表在每個人均有權創造和消耗個人所選之內容的同時，Steam 商店架上的東西不會反映也不代表 Valve 的價值。這兩點也一樣適用於 Valve 的全體職員。如果你覺得 Steam 商店架上有個你認為不該存在的東西，那麼 Valve 裡八成也有人抱有相同看法。
It also means that the games we allow onto the Store will not be a reflection of Valve's values, beyond a simple belief that you all have the right to create & consume the content you choose. The two points above apply to all of us at Valve as well. If you see something on Steam that you think should not exist, it's almost certain that someone at Valve is right there with you.
再說得明確一些：若我們允許你的遊戲上 Steam，這不代表我們認可或同意任何你想藉其表達之概念。如果你製作的遊戲會冒犯他人，這不代表我們向你靠攏、與你一同對立那些你所冒犯的人。Steam 社群中會有對你不滿的聲音，也會有人想要你的遊戲得不到任何成功，Valve 之中也會有人如此覺得。但重點是，你的遊戲不該只是冒犯別人，我們相信任何人都應該能夠表達自我，也應該能夠找到想要玩你的作品的人，僅此而已。
To be explicit about that - if we allow your game onto the Store, it does not mean we approve or agree with anything you're trying to say with it. If you're a developer of offensive games, this isn't us siding with you against all the people you're offending. There will be people throughout the Steam community who hate your games, and hope you fail to find an audience, and there will be people here at Valve who feel exactly the same way. However, offending someone shouldn't take away your game's voice. We believe you should be able to express yourself like everyone else, and to find others who want to play your game. But that's it.
在我們希望已在此傳達此範圍的問題有多麼棘手的同時，就短期來看，我們在完成文中提及的工具之前都不會對 Steam 商店做出重大變動。世上的國家和社會將會隨著時間持續修改法律和規範，而我們也將在可見的未來中繼續處理此範圍的問題，包括我們允許 Steam 商店上架何物、我們想施行何方、還有我們想為開發者和玩家提供的工具。
In the short term, we won't be making significant changes to what's arriving on Steam until we've finished some of the tools we've described in this post. As we've hopefully managed to convey, navigating these issues is messy and complicated. Countries and societies change their laws and cultural norms over time. We'll be working on this for the foreseeable future, both in terms of what products we're allowing, what guidelines we communicate, and the tools we're providing to developers and players.
創作內容
誰能上 Steam 商店？
Game (52)