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Sony censoring visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 15 Nov 2018 14:55
by SkyPikachu
http://www.siliconera.com/2018/10/28/vi ... ew-policy/
https://gematsu.com/2018/10/visual-nove ... egulations
Edit: Censoring boobies not banning games.
However it leads into a different discussion of why heavy violence is allowed in games without any questions asked but sexual content is always looked at very carefully. I feel like it's a terrible message to be sending that sex is wrong but violence is fine. By no means am I supporting underage sex games or saying we should ban violent games it's just fancinating how society has become so accepting of one and so against the other.
This just seems crazy don't understand how completely screwing over devs and completely alienating a fanbase/genre/culture is a good marketing idea.
Never been a fan of visual novels and especially never been a fan of raunchy games so this doesn't directly effect me.
Very curious to how they classify visual novel. How much gameplay does there need to be? Games like Detroit Become Human are visual novels in my eyes but I assume they won't classify that as a visual novel. Persona 5 has a visual novel style too it but has the rpg part to back it up but how much gameplay do these games need to be considered an rpg over a visual novel.
Very very interested to see the backlash if any from this. Nintendo must be insanely happy by this outcome though as its the only viable console in Japan for visual novels.
Re: Sony banning visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 15 Nov 2018 15:29
by Kiwi the Tortoise
Your source there is a bit wonky (considering it's the garbage pail of the internet) and as usual melodramatic.
Sony revamped their policies towards sexual content in games and in particular Japanese devs of visual novels andtitty RPGs struggle adapting to it, as it now goes beyond placing sausages, flower pots or other obvious fig-leaf placeholders over the naughty bits.
Not really something dramatic. Guess they may just have witnessed the consequence of Steam opening up further to sexual content without adding more curation.
You can barely run a search on the Steam store without getting anime tits shoved in your face.
This ain't about Visual Novels, it's about tits.
Re: Sony banning visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 15 Nov 2018 15:51
by SkyPikachu
Kiwi the Tortoise wrote: ↑15 Nov 2018 15:29
Your source there is a bit wonky (considering it's the garbage pail of the internet) and as usual melodramatic.
Sony revamped their policies towards sexual content in games and in particular Japanese devs of visual novels andtitty RPGs struggle adapting to it, as it now goes beyond placing sausages, flower pots or other obvious fig-leaf placeholders over the naughty bits.
Not really something dramatic. Guess they may just have witnessed the consequence of Steam opening up further to sexual content without adding more curation.
You can barely run a search on the Steam store without getting anime tits shoved in your face.
This ain't about Visual Novels, it's about tits.
Do you have a better source?
Re: Sony banning visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 15 Nov 2018 15:56
by Kiwi the Tortoise
Re: Sony banning visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 15 Nov 2018 16:08
by SkyPikachu
Wow so reddit took this and twisted it hard.
"It seems like Sony is currently going towards a direction that won’t allow us to port anything rated 18 and up anywhere in the world."
Re: Sony censoring visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 15 Nov 2018 16:15
by SkyPikachu
However this leads into a different discussion of why heavy violence is allowed in games without any questions asked but sexual content is always looked at very carefully. I feel like it's a terrible message to be sending that sex is wrong but violence is fine. By no means am I supporting underage sex games or saying we should ban violent games it's just fancinating how society has become so accepting of one and so against the other.
Re: Sony banning visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 15 Nov 2018 21:09
by Kong Wen
Slurmee wrote: ↑15 Nov 2018 16:08
Wow so reddit took this and twisted it hard.
"It seems like Sony is currently going towards a direction that won’t allow us to port anything rated 18 and up anywhere in the world."
Not just Reddit—the discredited remnants of the violent internet hate group formerly known as gamergate have holed themselves up in the subreddit you linked to lick their wounds. I'm removing the link because, as a policy, our community doesn't give them any more credit or attention than they deserve (which is none). They have a vested interest in twisting stories into a certain disingenuous kind of pseudo free speech agenda item (emphasis on pseudo).
None of this is to say that Sony, like any big corporation, isn't hampered by bureaucratic policies and red tape, or that the issue of translation and localization isn't a fraught one.
The old, old issue of representation of sex vs. violence in video games (and any entertainment medium) comes down to the specifics of cultural moralization which are often inherited from religiosity. Control and shame are central levers of religion in general, so controlling and shaming sexuality has been their thing for centuries. Violence, by contrast, is more often glorified since many/most religions are inherently violent, and the modern religions like nationalism that have spun off from them are also inherently violent. War and military and tentpoles of most national mythologies.
Re: Sony banning visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 15 Nov 2018 23:29
by SkyPikachu
Kong Wen wrote: ↑15 Nov 2018 21:09
Slurmee wrote: ↑15 Nov 2018 16:08
Wow so reddit took this and twisted it hard.
"It seems like Sony is currently going towards a direction that won’t allow us to port anything rated 18 and up anywhere in the world."
Not just Reddit—the discredited remnants of the violent internet hate group formerly known as gamergate have holed themselves up in the subreddit you linked to lick their wounds. I'm removing the link because, as a policy, our community doesn't give them any more credit or attention than they deserve (which is none). They have a vested interest in twisting stories into a certain disingenuous kind of pseudo free speech agenda item (emphasis on pseudo).
None of this is to say that Sony, like any big corporation, isn't hampered by bureaucratic policies and red tape, or that the issue of translation and localization isn't a fraught one.
The old, old issue of representation of sex vs. violence in video games (and any entertainment medium) comes down to the specifics of cultural moralization which are often inherited from religiosity. Control and shame are central levers of religion in general, so controlling and shaming sexuality has been their thing for centuries. Violence, by contrast, is more often glorified since many/most religions are inherently violent, and the modern religions like nationalism that have spun off from them are also inherently violent. War and military and tentpoles of most national mythologies.
Are shit sorry my bad. Had no idea of the sub.
Interesting that it's a religious thing. It actually scares me how the AAA game industry is so violence heavy.
Fun thing to do is trying to name a goty that doesn't have violence.
Even games without guns and sword like Mario involve killing creatures. The only genres I can think of off the top of my head are sports, puzzle games and some visual novels that can include no violence. It really shows a lot about our culture/race (humans) .
Re: Sony banning visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 16 Nov 2018 01:26
by Kong Wen
Slurmee wrote: ↑15 Nov 2018 23:29
Interesting that it's a religious thing. It actually scares me how the AAA game industry is so violence heavy.
To clarify, I don't necessarily mean it's directly because of religion. But it's a cultural norms thing, which in west is heavily influenced by Abrahamic religions.
The main risk of sexual content in media is that it can be exploitative and can cause representational harm. I agree with your hesitation about violence in games. It's nice, at least, that there are some indies who actively work to design games that eschew violence in some ways. When you think about it, though, conflict is at the heart of most human stories, and conflict often boils down to violence, or the threat/potential of violence.
Re: Sony censoring visual novels on all Sony console.
Posted: 16 Nov 2018 02:06
by Pluvius
Yeah Slurmee, those stupid Goobergapes (who are apparently lying to people about Sony banning visual novels as a whole, even though I've never seen that claim made once in the three weeks that this has been an issue) are just being uppity. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a Japanese developer being forced to negotiate with a licenser's American branch during American business hours in English before being allowed to release their games in Japan.
Rob