No offense - cause you’re one of my favorite posters on the forum (I’m serious) - but if you don’t see the irony in what you posted, and then this statement that follows…
In any case: JAST is pirated out the ying-yang according to a torrent tracker I just looked up (tens of thousands). Their best titles get torrent the most… their worst titles, not so much. Torrent activity does not increase because of crap content or hatred: they get torrent because it’s good. Better the product, more it gets torrent.
Command and Conquer 4 has a lower torrent rate than Command and Conquer 3. Why? Because C&C4 is garbage. However C&C3 is better. People rather steal something good, than something worthless. People usually don’t steal software, just to steal or spite: that takes bandwidth, and they could be using that to get something better.
Here’s another irony: I’ve seen JAST ads on sites hosting torrents for their games. I’m sure Peter knows and gets a kick out of it.
None taken. Someone has to have a firm, balls-to-the-wall attitude with hyper-political consipiracy theorists anyways. I myself might not have been clear with this, but it’s not like I don’t worry about anything at all. However, I only happen to worry about what is more likely to happen in the market than what is not. I don’t look for the absolute worst-case scenario, I look for the most likely scenario.
Probability over possibility.
You really think the chances of the government/media cracking down on companies like JAST USA are greater than the possibility of JAST losing sales (and its business) due to piracy? Even if piracy is based more on popularity than hatred or contempt, why give them any reason for them not to regret pirating a title? Haven’t you heard of various guys over in SanCom, /jp/ and other messageboards saying they were planning on buying KK but were going to pirate it as a result of the censorship? That sounds a lot more likely to occur and potentially hurt the company than some “crackdown” if you ask me.
You really think the chances of the “government” issuing court orders for JAST to censor their titles are greater than the chances of JAST censoring themselves?
I have a hard time taking anything people say on SanCom or /jp/ seriously, of course that could be due to the fact that most of them can’t express their opinions without butchering the language all to hell and back worse than MangaGamer’s early titles. On top of that I never put ANY stock in people who claim they were going to buy something but got upset over how it was handled and thus decided to pirate it. I never gamble but I’d put money down that 90% of the people who say that were never going to buy it in the first place, claiming they’re upset over it’s handling is simply them justifying piracy.
In regards to Jast censoring themselves…they’ve already done it and they haven’t said they won’t do it again. Peter simply said they will try to inform people ahead of time if/when it comes up again. The odds of the Government stepping in is indeed exceedingly slim, I would never argue that fact, however even if it’s an old story it can incite a public outcry. If they just go to the American government they’re not likely to accomplish anything. On the other hand it could result in another barrage against the Japanese side of things, which in turn could make them even MORE hesitant to make deals with the likes of Jast or MG. This doesn’t mean I think it will happen again, it just means that I am taking the possibility of it happening into account. Hence why I am satisfied to see more support for the medium in general than we saw the last time the story “broke”.
Wow, what poor reporting. I mean, “These games are called ‘Hentai games’ in Japan.” Way to get a basic fact wrong. It would take five seconds on Google to see that the Japanese word is ‘eroge’.
What makes you so certain their statments are somehow more invalid or less likely than that of messageboards like these? Granted, they have trolls, but the fact that they actually keep up with what JAST or even bother to discuss their activities is indicative that at least some people actually have legitimate want to support the industry.
But you’re also failing to take into account that if you as fans are blowing these sorts of issues out of proportion, you’ll only serve to increase the chances of them becoming hesitant with their content. Neither JAST nor MG are rich companies–They are small businesses, and they probably can’t afford to hire expensive legal firms to get an expert opinion on the legality of a particular subject matter. That’s why it’s very likely they read the news, and most likely pay attention fan-reactions with regards to these issues. If everyone is freaking out and if everyone is acting like the end is near, then that overt fear will become as much of a factor in their decisions as the issue itself. You guys aren’t just “taking these issues into account”, you guys are forcasting that these issues are going to rear their ugly heads. You guys have stated that these things are not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ far too many times for me to believe that you’re merely taking these issues into account.
On the bright side, most of the people grumbling about rapelay that I’m seeing so far are less kneejerk panicky than they were last time, partially because now it’s something they’ve heard of before, instead of the complete shock that someone, somewhere would make such a thing. I’m seeing several more people talking thoughtfully about rape v murder, the different ways society reacts to them in games, and the problems with censorship.
I’m not saying their comments are less valuable, I’m just saying I can’t take them seriously when they don’t know how to express it without making themselves look completely ignorant of their own language. I’ll also stand by my comment on people talking about piracy. Just because you don’t like how something was handled doesn’t justify pirating the material. Most people will just not buy something if they are that offended by it, but a pirate will complain about it then download it anyway.
First off I’m not blowing anything out of proportion. My first comment was that I was pleased by the amount of positive feedback in the article’s comment section. Indeed, if anyone is blowing anything out of proportion it’s you doing so with the reactions posted here. Not a single person is spreading doom and gloom about this resurrected subject. From the reactions here most of us are rolling our eyes or being pleasantly surprised by the supportive reaction. Also, no one has said “it’s not a matter of if but when”. I stated that there is little to no chance of anything coming from this, with the only possibility coming from another bombardment of the Japanese side. That’s IF they do launch another campaign and IF it has any effect at all should it happen. Personally I doubt either will happen but I can acknowledge it as an extremely remote possibility. I’m also only one person, so unless I’ve suddenly become the entire board’s spokesperson using “you guys” all the time is a bit inappropriate.
Note: If you want to see the issue being blown out of proportion go to SanCom now and compare the number of posts there to here.
SankakuComplex is covered with obnoxious advertising and sports terrible articles pretty much designed to get people to complain about them so they get more pageviews and thus more advertising revenue. I would rather people did not link it at all considering their ‘news’ is typically available elsewhere, and as an added bonus without the sensationalist commentary.
Don’t have time for a full post, but here’s my main points.
I’m the one who started the whole “scandal-gate” thing in my sig, and in B173 M3’s as well, so if you need someone to pin that on, blame me.
I agree with most of B173 M3’s comments, but also feel we need to keep a cautious eye out for overblown media reactions such as this. They are key in shaping public perception.
Piracy is my main concern. If Jast would actually allow people to discuss homebrew patches and censorship fixes, or release promised typo/game patches, (Amorous Professor Cherry corrupt scene recollection, Cat Girl Alliance corrupt script/save games, etc.) then maybe more people would feel like giving money for a SUPPORTED QUALITY product.
wow… dawn boy, how did you extract from my post that I’m making a big deal out of this? Read the comment from Papillon,
you’ll be very surprised of how stupid the Joe average real is and how short their memory is.
regarding SanCom, it is just a racist/hate site that also feature games/anime news plus few galleries. So I won’t take the posters there too seriously, the posters might have already pirated the title… they were simply giving themselves another excuse for the act. If a title offended you or doesn’t meet your expectations, then you do NOT get the title. Pirating it means that it is within your tolerance, you are simply making excuses for not paying for it.
any way, my brain (which is protected by tinfoil) see the problem differently (or it might be the alcohol). The theory that the problem is with few offended western women might not be true. It is beginning to look like the problem is purely Japanese in nature, but since they couldn’t get a big moment internally, they asked for external help, and that help came from a feminist group. The outcry is so small, that I beginning to believe that the number of people offended and demanding for the ban are fewer then we think there is. (at the very least, the problem is not big enough for someone to want to get off their backsides and protest it, or have they? I don’t watch the news)
Even the recent attempt to incorporate the virtual children into the Tokyo law seem to have had so little thought put into it, that it got shoot down easily. Whoever made it seem to have believed that no one will stand in the way of a law that “thinks of the children”.
this game is 4 years old, everyone with an Internet connection has known about it for years, most don’t care
it was never sold in any legitimate way outside of Japan, only pirated by a dick from the UK and sold through Amazon for profit
no sane company would sell or distribute this game, it is internal to Japan only
the company pulled it ten months ago, it is totally unavailable except in pirated form online, which CNN has caused to increase
the newscaster who got this “scoop” is Korean, nope no bias there
the timing of CNN bringing up this old news, which is not new or fresh at all, just as America is fighting with Japan over the Futenma base in Okinawa, indicates this is part of the larger media game plan to harm Japan in our eyes. This is “manufactured” news, people, and definitely guided just as the “outcry” against Toyota was.
2)It was easy to get it via Import Online Shop (Like Erogeshop for exemple)
3)You’re Selling game like Virgin Roster, Tsuki, Sensei 2 wich are sometime far worse than rapelay (especially Sensei 2)… So you’re not sane :mrgreen:
What i means it’s that a game and only a game… it’s a rape Eroge, game that can be found by dozen … The only difference is that Rapelay is in Realtime 3D with interactive sex scene.
That IS a pretty big difference, actually, in the eyes of people that would claim these are ‘rape simulators’. I don’t think people could convincingly argue that Virgin Roster, Tsuki or Sensei 2 are rape simulators since there is nothing simulator-ish about them. Sounds ridiculous, yes, but this is how many people think.
In the most recent discussion on feminist blogs, it was brought up that most “murder” games (FPS) have some sort of story/justification for the violent spree you’re on. You’re not generally playing a murderer, wandering around murdering people for the fun of it in a wide open sandbox. There’s usually a plot. Whereas the descriptions they were getting of RapeLay - which none of them have played, of course - is that it’s JUST rape. There’s nothing else to the game. No story, no artistic value whatsoever.
Also, that the 3D interactivity of the rape/torture makes it much creepier, rather like with (Was it “Manhunt”?) some particular violent game that had detailed interactive torture sequences, which squicked a lot of people out and did get the game censored before sale. It’s less disturbing to sit back and watch a scene where a rape occurs than it is to be right up there freely choosing what action to take next to make your victim cry.
By these standards, horrific demon tentacle rape is less of a problem, if well seated in a story context, and preferably with the monster losing in the end.
OMG!!! PARENT OUTRAGE!!! BURN THE BOOKS!!! KILL THE WITCHES!!! :lol:
The way they make it sound, RapeLay was a best best seller that sold millions of copies. In reality, I think it pushed a few ten thousand… tops. I wish it sold millions… then we’d have a lot more games like it. :twisted:
The reader comments are fun. Basically it’s divided down two sides: the devout conservatives who are appalled Japan is so immoral and want bans; then the hippie liberals who mention we glorify homicide games, so we’re no better, and should just leave shit alone.
CNN is doing it for the ratings. They even said so in the article.
EDIT
What’s really sad, is how “thousands of viewers” and “millions of visitors” have kept a page about fictional rape on the site front, [url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/31/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html]but a good family man who is about to be executed for witchcraft on Friday[/url] (TODAY!!!), has not. Seriously. You’d think it be obvious which issue is more vital to fix ASAP.
Same here… only reason why I saw the new report, is because I was trying to find out when the “witch” was going to be executed (or if he’s been saved), but the first two damn things that pop up on CNN’s international news page, was RapeLay. :roll:
I had to spend 15 minutes to find a relevant article about the execution time. I’m sure AFTER he’s killed, they’ll make it front page news. Typical.
Well, I didn’t have trouble finding what you’re talking about in the newspaper with the “witch” thing, but I have yet to find anything about the Rapelay BS be it in newspapers or other news stations.
Edit: Also, I have yet to find anything about this in the news sections on google, yahoo, or comcast. Obviousy, no one really cares about the Rapelay thing, which is good news for us
