Market concept - bishoujo games vs. other entertainment

Yep, I considered those factors and that is why I bought Adam the double factor , instead of buying Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha and Frank McCourt’s sequel of Angela’s Ashes, Tis’…Nevertheless, if one wants better writing and new vistas in real life…Books are still a good source of entertainment…

quote:
Originally posted by Kumiko Kamiyama:
Yes, they certainly are... it's just extremely odd for people to complain about that aspect of bishoujo visual novels, and that is one of the very common statements by people who then turn around and buy an anime or manga or film or book that offers them less entertainment value for the $$$. It's really... weird! [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

True, but then again... I think that people are more used to spending their money on things they are familiar with... they aren't really "used to" spend their money on bishoujogames, because they don't see how or why a bishoujo game would give them more entertainment for their money than most films, animes or books would (I myself thinks that I prefer a bishoujo game compared to a book or film... mainly because it's I who chose what path the story will take, not some author or stoywritter... and you can always try another path, if you didn't like the where the storypath you chose the first time took you or if you simply wanted to see another possible end of the story). And then, there's also some other reasons to why people maybe would hesitate to buy a bishoujo game, but I'm sure that you're alreday aware of those reasons [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Actually i don’t find it strange. The reason why “I” think people think like that is simply how the brain categorises traditional items and prices. For example, The average DVD is priced at 30USD. (I rounding off and basing on retail so bare with me) Now if you buy say Saber Marionette J DVD they cost more, because it has two discs and about 8 or 9 shows. However since one is used to 30USD for DVD, they don’t consider say the dollar per minute value.

Now lets take that example and apply it to categories such as Games. Most people tend to think games are interactive. (True ALL games are interactive.) However most people are “trained” to think that the user has complete control and should be able to decide the outcome of a game. So if a game doesn’t have the ability to decide the outcome of a game, people tend to say it is too “linear”.

To take this even further, people tend to categorise the genres. RPGs are the worse in this case. Any RPG that doesn’t allow the player to roam the entire world or take control of the story or decide when to do that “quest”, it will seem “linear”. (Most Japanese RPG are like this. I say “most”)

However, the “adventure” type games don’t get this criticism. I always wonder why. And when you get one that has a “few” different endding is considered amazing.

I think in general is how our brains categorise how things the world should be. Unfortunately you can;t do much about this. Myself included, sometimes is intentional sometimes is not. Most of the time is not. I think Peter from Jlist once said that Japanese has a word on “How things should be.” I think this applies to everyone of us maybe not be intentional. However, sometimes we do stop and think, Why? Those that do usually open a whole new world of wonder.

quote:
Originally posted by Kumiko Kamiyama:
Well, what Kumiko was saying is that there is no such thing as the player controlling the game. There is no game where the player controls which direction to go or what quest to take, for example - all RPGs are strictly linear in nature because you are operating in a very fixed environment that had to be programmed in advance. It's the same with Western adventures - you are forced to go in a certain direction or do certain things to "unlock" the next part of the game. Same with shooters, fighting games, simulations, or FPSes - they all push the player one direction to go from beginning to end of game.

I hate to write this, but it seems that Kumiko-san is extremely biased against other games. There is nothing wrong with them, you will eventually get the ending, not much different from bishoujo games. Sure, they are linear, doing the same things over and over (kicking somebody else's ass, shoot everything that moves, etc. etc. etc.), but you are also removing the other aspects of the game: longevity. Once you finish the game, you can play in network, tagging with other players, or against each other. Besides, people (lately) don't want commitment with the game. If you don't want to play the single player part, fine, you can jump to the multiplayer and have some fun. Doesn't sound fun to you? Well, at least that's what they call fun... (and I used to call it fun, too.)

Kumiko hasn’t played Jedi Knight. While going in a certain direction toward the conclusion the player has a choice of being a Jedi or a Sith. At the critical juncture in the game, The game diverges into two different end games. The end levels are the same but the foes you face are different.Your Jedi powers are also different depending on which path you take. So your strategies change for each path in the Endgame.

quote:
Originally posted by Kumiko Kamiyama:

So, the point was that the arguments often stated against bishoujo games are simply invalid. There are certain arguments one can make, but not the ones that you hear most often. There are also arguments against typical mainstream releases - for example, it is certainly easy to state that most mainstream releases tend to be too violent, or that they don't offer a deep story, or that they don't offer anything new in terms of gameplay or content. There are people who don't mind that, and that's okay... but the bishoujo games deserve just as much recognition and coverage, and you deserve to be able to walk into a store and say "I feel like buying a bishoujo game today rather than the latest FPS"... or whatever. Or, you deserve to walk into a store and say "I feel like playing a sports sim today rather than a bishoujo game." Either way - you should have the choice, but you don't because the mass market perception is that bishoujo games are not "worthy", when in fact it is the typical mainstream games that really would be considered not "worthy" in the majority of instances.

[This message has been edited by Kumiko Kamiyama (edited 10-04-2001).]


Hmm. I like that thought, to be able to just walk into a store and buy a bishoujo game, rather than having to walk through wather and fire to get one, so to speak [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

As it is now, we don't have such a freedom when it comes to bishoujo games, mainly because bishoujo games are unknown to people... For example, before I ordered a game from PeaPri, i tried to order it from a local store in my hometown... they do have some erotic games, so i thought it would be no sweat for them to bring me the game... Imagne then my surprise (or rather, my non-surprise) when they told me that they couldn't get it from any of their contacts, nor did they know anything about PeaPri...

I's kind of sad, you know, because, you can get any computer game in the whole world anywhere in the world BUT bishoujogames, it seems [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/frown.gif[/img]

And this happens just because that an ignorant market don't see that there IS people who really would like to buy your games if they knew that they existed or how to get them.... [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/frown.gif[/img]

Miss Kumiko, here’s another potential opportunity to flog PeaPri’s product…they’re targeting the right demographic, although I’ll believe it when I see it…

http://www.animeondvd.com/dcforum/DCForumID1/3033.html

quote:
Originally posted by Kumiko Kamiyama:
This is really the whole intent and purpose - without it, there's really no market.

Please feel free to put the dealer you know in touch with either us, directly, or with a distributor such as Right Stuf or even JAST USA - both of them help distribute our products. We have extremely reasonable terms. He might want to go through Right Stuf and get a broader range than only the games, or her might want to go through JAST USA and get not just our titles but some other companys' titles, as well.


Hmm, I'll see what I can do, but I can't gurantee that they'll be interested (but they should be... After all, I'm a customer, and if they don't listen, they may lose a customer [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

Speaking about bishojo and cosplay, by the way... the sister of a friend of mine will cosplay as Kity from MaW(Men at Work)... It will be VERY interesting to see, since Kity is such a cutie [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

fanfiction and lemon websites
thats where you should advertise

i read lots of lemons, how about everyone else here? perhaps if bishoujo gamers like lemons, then the converse might be true?

yes, im sure it must be true, the two concepts are very similar, sweet stories its just that one has pretty pictures to go along

maybe fanfic.net?

[This message has been edited by exoarchaeologist (edited 10-11-2001).]