quote:
Originally posted by bishounen_blue:
Supporting bishoujo games is good in general, even if it's the Japanese market. And Benoit is right about patches. Patches are even "more okay" than fansubs because you already bought the game. It's like fan translations of manga. NOT fanscans, but just translations of the text. If you really like the artwork of a certain manga, you might buy it. Then if you find a website that has text translations, are you not supposed to read it? But if you knew Japanese then it would be okay to read it? That's just crazy talk.
I really don't know if it is crazy talk, we know the Japanese market for these games is in no real danger of falling apart, but each time something happens that hinders the profitablity of an translation, Enlgish, French, German, Russian, whatever translation there is a patch for, that market which is struggling is put in danger.
If every manga that has come over translated had first appeared on some website with a "patch" fan-translation, how many of those would not be on the market which is what is helping the manga, and perhaps in part the anime market, to grow as it is growing? Fewer then are there now I think because once again why would you spend even 10 dollars on a manga if you had it viritually for free in translation form irregradless of having first purchased it in Japanese?
The fact that you spend more on it in the original langague only helps that market not this one, anything, and in my opinion that means anything be it patches, be it groups out to tell us what our moral values should be, be it people out to discredit games they have never played, or be it what might be the worst but is not the only great threat, pirating, that hinders this "other" market, the market for translated games, is a danger to the industry and should be frowned upon.
Once this side of the industry is as established, that is the translation market, as it is in the original Japanese market then if patches for games first bought in Japanese, that for whatever reason will not come over in translated form perhaps because of age start to come out that is fine, but that is once the market is out of danger which it is still in as we are all fully aware.
So yes buying the game is a positive but it supports the Japanese market not the translation market which is currently what needs the support and needs to have no obstructions, nothing that anyone can point to as to why it might not be profitable to bring these games out in great variety and numbers instead of keeping the market as it is now with just a few games out that are coming out. If they think it is not profitable to release a greater number of games in part because of these patches then they never will risk expansion of the market. Also keep in mind that if things stay as they are without expansion it might eventually be deemed a market which shows no hope for the future and thus is not profitable enough to keep open even to the extent that it is open.
That is why I do not think it is crazy way to think and in fact these patches might be another danger to the eventual expansion of this market since those will spend 50 dollars on a game they already bought and have in translation are probably very limited. Through such actions they are supporting a market but not the one that needs the support the most at present.
Paranoid thinking? Perhaps, but where people and money are involved it is better to be overly paranoid in my experience then just cautious against the "major threats".
[This message has been edited by SCDawg (edited 06-13-2004).]