Josh C. Simmons, the developer of the browser-based free game Sqword, had a rather unorthodox response to websites embedding and monetizing the game.
404 reports that Sqword, a free word game that challenges players to make as many words as they can in a five-by-five grid, was being embedded in other sites with ads using a tool called iFrame, without the permission of its developer. In response, Simmons called upon an infamously shocking image to fight against the sites that stole and monetized the game.
"The mature and responsible thing to do would have been to add a content security policy to the page", Simmons wrote on his website. "I am not mature, so instead, what I decided to do was render the early 2000s internet shock image Goatse with a nice message superimposed over it in place of the app if Sqword detects that it is in an iFrame."
"It has been one of my greatest achievements as a dev: to live-deploy a massive goatse image to at least 8 domains that aren't mine," he added, concluding that websites that brazenly use iFrame should be wary that "you have no control over that content - it can change at any time. One day, instead of looking into an iFrame, you might be looking at an entirely different kind of portal."
If you're somehow unaware of Goatse and its infamy (first of all, good), it's a pretty notorious early 2000s image that was frequently shared across forums and image boards back in the day. I won't describe it here, for my own sanity as much as yours, but let's just say it involves a man doing some rather unspeakable things with his rear end.
For infinitely more pleasant experiences than that, consider browsing our list of the best Steam games, as well as the best free-to-play Steam games for titles that won't cost you a penny.
