keyvin: No one is censoring anything. Calling for a boycott is not censoring. The publisher is free to release it, and people are free to buy it. Its still there. The publisher (and studio) have the choice of addressing the concerns of the boycott, or releasing as is and accepting that some people will not buy it for political reasons. Some boycotts will be stupid, generate a lot of press, but in the end result in no financial pressure. I am sure a lot of other people didn't buy red alert 3 because of their choice of casting. Some parents will refuse to buy their children games based on the cover art or rating. That isn't censorship.
Censorship is where the publisher/artist has no choice. I don't follow this stuff, but I doubt anyone has proposed a law that made using a porn star in your game illegal. For example, at /r/pcmasterrace, there was a petition to ban linking to kotaku because of that steam refunds article. That was an actual attempt at censorship.
Calling for a boycott on the grounds that something is offensive IS an attempt at censorship. You are applying pressure to force action. Clearly an attempt at censorship. It's amazing how many people try to call their own moralizing of others all fine and dandy. They make up excuses why their attempts at censorship are okay, by making up rules which don't exist. But you are also correct that a petition not to link or read a particular magazine on moral grounds is the same thing.
"Censorship, the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are "offensive," happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal political or moral values on others. Censorship can be carried out by the government as well as private pressure groups."
As to that Steam Refund article, I just think its overblown. But if you've been paying attention to issues in gaming and Steam's monopoly and EU laws, you'll have a good idea why its happening. The EU has buyer protection rules which Steam hasn't been following. There had been talks of sanctions over the issue of refunds. This seems to be Steam's response. Steam has to allow refunds by EU law. The 2 hour rule is their idea to prevent abuse, but be fair enough to the consumer. For all we know, that 2 hour rule may have come directly from negotiations with the EU trade commission.
Yeah, its Nathan Grayson, but I also don't see anything really that wrong with the article...besides a little excess outrage over the 2 hour rule, but nothing that out of line.