"Racy"? App store content limitation questions.
Everwild
Member Posts: 48
Some of the game ideas I have are a little bit on the not-so-family-friendly/politically correct end of things. I know that Apple can be kind of hit or miss for submitting things that might be of a questionable nature, but then again you can also go search the deep dark recesses of the app store and be rather surprised at the things you might find there that were approved. And I've noticed that different platforms have different standards.
(The following ideas are purely hypothetical, so if you see this and want to make any of this insipid, vile, utter nonsense... please send me the link when you are done so I can play it.)
Say I wanted to make something really ridiculously bad, like a game where you play as a Nazi trying to sell crack to as many preschoolers as possible to fund a rocket to blow up the moon. Where would the line be there? The Nazis? Crack? The preschoolers? Lunar terrorism? Or would that be fair game?
Then how much would the name matter? I imagine that Nazi Preschool Extravaganza Extreme 2015 HD: Lunar Crackpocalypse would probably get flagged just on principle. But what if it was the same game called something less threatening, like Tiny Mustache Man.
What if I made one in which a well known politician was dancing on a pole, and you had to throw campaign dollars at them and they'd take off their clothes, but instead of their body parts being revealed, it's another politician's face there instead. Would that be enough to trigger Apple's "if it's just plain creepy" rule? I'm creeped out enough just for having imagined it, but there's nothing technically awry there, I think...?
So far I've only really messed around with Apple publishing. Are other platforms more lenient?
Comments
Pure guess, but I think the line would likely be the selling of crack to preschoolers since they are minors and underage. Make them something stupid like crack head zombies and you might get away with it.
For the politician question, I don't know as an app store would stop you, but if the likeness were too accurate the politician might.
Just guesses of course. I really think you'd have to test it to see, sadly that is probably the only way to find out what will pass and what won't.
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I think politicians are probably safer than the rest of it, since satire and political commentary are accepted. I was more wondering about the implied nudity/stripping.
But that suggests the line is the representation of illegal activities ? If that's the case then something like Grand-Theft-Auto would also cross the line and not be allowed
P.S . . . in the sale of crack, being 'underage' is a kind of relevance fallacy in that there is no age limit on the sale of crack in countries where its sale/use is illegal - in the same way (going back to the Grand-Theft-Auto comparison) that there is no age limit on shooting someone and stealing their car !
It's equally illegal for all ages.
Agreed, I think you just have to go on instinct, personal judgement, as the vetting process is done by human beings who most probably judge - at least partially - using their own moral compass.
@Everwild Google Play may want you to fill out one of these IARC questionnaires.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/188189?hl=en
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@Socks. You mean crack is not legal for those of us over 18?! I've been lied too!
LOL, Yeah. You're right. I was just thinking back to the days of Carmageddon using green blooded zombies instead of red blooded humans.
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I only buy crack from middle-schoolers. Leave out the nazi in the name, make it a little confusing to understand for the first few minutes.
I played a game for years on apple appstore that centered around producing and selling- Herbs, Dust, Pills, Shrooms, etc.
Speaking of nazis and the moon, have you ever watched Iron Sky?
here are the apple guidelines:
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
i think you might run afoul of these ones:
if it was just a crazy guy trying to sell drugs to blow up the moon, you might be ok, but the kids / nazi combination, or even by themselves would probably run you risk.
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Its my guess that it would get flagged for "nazi propaganda". Also the selling drugs to preschoolers won't fly either. As for the politician idea you have, it may work, but it depends on who you are mocking. If its a US conservative/republican, then its fine. Apple is as liberal as it gets, make a game of a older blonde female in a pantsuit becoming president and you will probably end up getting featured.
Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una
Nazis and crack for minors you know how to stir things up.
Apple will reject them and they should.
Not sure the App Store is a tool made to challenge social norms.
Crack is only for politicians . . .
Damn ! Carmageddon ! I'd completely forgotten about Carmageddon, used to play it (on a Mac) for hours
If that's the case then how do you explain this:
https://appsto.re/gb/WP9CA.i
?
@socks You "found" that a bit too quick...
You will be hearing from my lawyers
@Socks, yeah. I killed a lot of lunch hours playing networked races at the office. So much fun!
http://jamie-cross.net/posts/ ✮ Udemy: Introduction to Mobile Games Development ✮ Learn Mobile Game Development in One Day Using Gamesalad ✮ My Patreon Page
I wouldn't really consider that a challenge to social norms... this hypothetical situation was a game, not an educational app.
I'm not exactly in the business of dealing delicately with anyone's feelings, or social norms or expectations. I'm in the business of making literal fun of most things. Obviously these aren't games I'm actually making or planning on making, otherwise I wouldn't have put them up here. Just getting a feel on what can be gotten away with as far as offensive material goes.
Though Rob Ford's Crazy Canadian Crack Caper is a wee bit tempting...
I'm not someone who resides comfortably within boundaries. I like to push on them. Doing my own art means that if something just plain won't work for a particular target audience, I can remake it fairly easily if necessary.
there are no perfect barriers
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@Socks Rob Ford ?....would that be the older blond in the pant suit?
Doesn't matter that it's not a educational app. TV, books, movies, art, music and even games can challenge social norms for what is acceptable.
The real issue here is minors use the App Store thus apple needs to have some standard for apps.
As a Canadian, the more rob ford games the better.
He may fit the bill of older blonde in a pantsuit, just not the female part.
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@gattoman
True, that's why I was wondering about the naming conventions when it comes down to things like that.
As far as general standards, there are games like GTA on there, in which it's not at all uncommon to hire certain people for certain illegal services, then once those services are rendered, to kill that person and take your money back. Obviously they wouldn't be able to get away with a name that would describe half of what they really do in that game, yet there it is (even though the name is still the name of a crime that you are being encouraged to commit a lot in this game).
Obviously this is not a game for kids, and many a parent would be rightfully horrified to see that their kid is having so much fun shooting police officers and running down innocent people on the sidewalk, laughing maniacally.
It does also say you need to be a certain age to download it though. Because it has:
"Frequent/Intense Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity
Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes
Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence
Frequent/Intense Profanity or Crude Humor
Frequent/Intense Simulated Gambling
Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence"
So for my hypothetical, if instead of anything relating to Nazism, preschoolers, or anything like that, and was just called "Bad Man Doing Bad Things", but was still the same game inside, would it ever be able to pass muster, as long as the ratings were in place?
Has anyone ever tried publishing something that wasn't for all audiences?
Once again, if you delay the bad stuff you will probably get away with it, at least for awhile.
Why not simply search how apps are approved and craft a game that way? It is what others do and have detailed things for others.
BTW, there will probably never be a nazi on apple app store, due to nazi images being illegal in Germany, which is a big player in apple app store
I hadn't really actually planned on using nazis for anything, again, was a hypothetical idea based on what I know tends to be the most offensive thing possible while still being forum friendly
. But that's interesting to know about Germany.
I ended up on some sites recently where developers were talking about this type of thing. There was content they wanted in but knew apple would reject. They started running experiments and found that most reviewers for the app store are in an app for 1-2 minutes tops. They all found if they delayed the 'bad' stuff they got approval, due to reviewers simply not being in the app long enough.
Another tip I got was if you submit an app with a list of games to download; before submitting, change the settings to show only your other apps. After approval, go turn on the rest of the list.