A developer is banned from its game's own Steam forum for flaming other users

A developer has been banned from its game's own Steam forum after repeatedly violating the platform's discussion rules and guidelines.

Developer Dolphin Barn Incorporated - which caught our eye when it slipped anti-mask rhetoric into its patch notes earlier this year - shared a screenshot of his ban on Twitter, which said: "This is the second time that one of your posts violates our discussion rules and guidelines, specifically insulting or flaming another user.

"We're also noticing a trend with abusive messages sent when banning players from your hub. When posting any content in the Community or communicating with your players, please make sure it adheres to the guidelines."

That's not all, either. As PC Gamer notes, the developer is also in hot water for the way it responds to negative reviews on Steam, many of which reference their extreme views on transgender people and toxic masculinity.

"We also want to make it clear that you should not reverse Steam moderator decisions or enable rule violations on your hub," it added. "Future disregard for our rules and guidelines could jeopardise our business relationship."

The developer can, reportedly, still post patch notes, although DBI recently stated: "At this point, it is doubtful that [its Gladiator game] will receive future updates on Steam".

Earlier this year, its indie Gladiator game clocked up hundreds of "overwhelmingly negative" reviews on Steam back in March after the developer added anti-mask messaging into the game's patch notes.

It wasn't even the first time developer Dolphin Barn Incorporated dropped a strange addition into its patch details. Back in May last year, an asterisk added to a note about combat said that "weak men lack character" and that "strong moral fibre [...] it's earned through hard work and sacrifice and it cannot be had via onlyfans or pornhub". Their accounts have since been permanently banned from Twitter and Bandcamp.