But X-Change isn’t the only game those pirates play. They play the ones which aren’t about sex too…
Granted. But there are actually two threads going on here, and both center around games that are similar in content to X-Change, in that they are simply focused on sex and/or kinky sex. People who look at or play those games and perceive them to be the paradigm of bishoujo are going to have a skewed opinion of what bishoujo is.
As I said: pirates who are simply downloading because they think it’s their sworn duty to defy the corporate monster aren’t going to change their minds about pirating.
But–tying into the other thread–there is a definite need to educate anyone, whether they be pirating, or simply looking at bishoujo from the outside, that the genre is not being accurately represented by looking at a single game–especially if it only focuses in on the sexual side of things. Unfortunately, the western mindset tends to associate the idea of an “adult game” with material that is pretty much distributed by the porn industry in the west, and is therefore only filled with scene after scene of sex videos.
The two hopes being expressed in this thread–at least that I’ve seen are that a) some pirates who are “in the closet” for fear of being labeled as perverts for their interest in bishoujo would change their ways if educated about bishoujo, and that b) the general public would be more accepting of the genre if educated about it.
quote:
Originally posted by Benoit:
I still don't understand why that would work when people downloading pirated copies don't understand that.
There is the empirical argument, where you totally disregard attempting to explain it, and just say "well, by observing reality, we know that this is true, ergo this follows". Fansubbing worked for anime, in other words, even though in REALITY many people simply use it as "hey, free show!"
But we've brought that up already, and you don't seem to find that convincing. Essentially it's a numbers game. You're oversimplifying. It is NOT true that every pirate is never going to buy any b-games. Many will not; some will. Be it that they were too young to legitimately get them, but were true fans - to they grew out of piracy - to their friend Ted got sued by the recording industry; whatever.
Here's how the industry can be promoted by piracy: if the Japanese-translated b-games are never going to be translated anyway, the domestic market loses nothing. But if 1 in every 100 people who pirates, turns out (eventually) to be a bishoujo market supported ... and a hundred thousand people pirate (say) Kanon ... the market gains 1000 paying customers.
Perverse, isn't it?
Heh… Welcome to the wonderful world of statistics
The market needs more than 1000 new customers, and the ratio of buyers and pirates would still be way too high.
I just made up those numbers. I think probably more than one in every hundred pirates would buy at least some games.
[This message has been edited by Nandemonai (edited 06-18-2004).]
Besides… I think we’re ultimately hoping that there are newcomers to the bishoujo market who aren’t former pirates
(I mean, heck… I came in through legitimate channels… )
I know you did, but what you are saying still doesn’t make sense to me.
Wolfson understands what I’m trying to point out. Benoit, you’re not seeing the important point here. Kanon is being fan translated, okay. Someday, it might be 100% complete and pre-patched. You think that fewer than 1 in 100 pirates will buy the game when it’s released in the US? Guess what, that doesn’t matter because it’s not going to be released in the US! A fan translated game will find it’s way onto fan sites that use morals, like Anime Suki. They remove their torrents when a series is licenced. You won’t be getting pirated US version games there, but you would be able to download Kanon’s fan translation there. It would get more exposure, and it would be excellent. Changing the mindset that people have about these games by doing a few fan translations is FAR FAR more important than the potential sales that that game or those couple of games may have in the US. It’s to get more people to understand this genre so that there will be more fans in the future. Even pure pirates can spread word of mouth that not all of these games are pure sex. And there is no fear of too many games being fan translated because they are very difficult to program, unlike anime where they just put the words over the video. I’m not sure that a fan translation of Kanon would ruin sales potential for Kanon in the US, but even if it did that would be okay. Changing the mindset of the general population is important, and more of the general anime fan community downloads from places like Anime Suki. It’s just a circle of pirates that are taking from the sales of already released games that you have in iRC. Can’t you see the difference, Benoit?
I can see the difference now that you have shown me that the translation would hang around at anime boards convincing people, and not neccesarily warez sites.
Which somewhat carries us back to the moral issue of downloading the patches… If Kanon were 100% fan translated, I’d consider buying the Japanese game and downloading the patch so that I could enjoy the game. I, personally, wouldn’t consider that piracy, since I’d already bought the game, and–as was pointed out–Kanon isn’t going to be published in English (not likely, anyway), so I wouldn’t be detracting from any sales from anyone’s point of view. Anyway… I think that’s how this whole thing started–the idea that patch downloading for a Japanese translation was basically piracy.