Lisa-Maria Schmidt

"What do you do when your favorite piece of media just gets scraped off the internet?!” Elzy asks, the protagonist of the fantasy desktop game Nowhere Sucks Forever Whisper.

The game tells a personal, narrative-driven story while critically reflecting on how online platforms govern the visibility of sexual content. The situation of Elzy’s favorite NSFW indie game being suddenly banned from the gaming platform she browses daily is mirroring the real-life experiences of developers whose NSFW indie games were rendered invisible by a moderation policy shift on the platform itch.io this year.

Played through a fictional desktop interface, players click and peek through folders, chats, and hidden files to uncover community conversations and find out what the hell is going on. The storyline shows how obscure content moderation decisions can pose risks, further stigmatize, and finally erase sexual games.

Through Elzy’s eyes, players try to offer support and take part in a collective attempt to keep a much-loved NSFW game (yes, the sexy one with the tentacles) from disappearing.