This posting is too long to give a detailed reply [hey, I’m no Kumiko!], but I wanted to address a few points where I think the author has missed the mark.
quote:
Originally posted by Y2J:
I understand a lot of people won’t like games like Virgin Roster, I don’t know how bad it is as I haven’t received mine yet, and understand that few would have the courage to actually they like this sort of thing.
I don’t think I’d say it takes
courage.
Insensitivity perhaps, but then it’s all a matter of taste.
quote:
If they’re selling well and making them money and there is a demand for them, they have a right to sell them.
I agree. If the games are selling, even if it’s only because people are buying them for the wrong reasons, they will continue to be made and sold. The question, rather is this the way I want to see the game companies spend their limited resources? My answer to that is no, and I won’t encourage them to continue in that direction.
quote:
If you disallowed all games with all this stuff, we’d never have gotten X Change 1 and 2, 3 sisters story, Tokimeki Check-in!, critical point, and even one of perigee’s favourites Crescendo.
Whoa! Suddenly you made the leap from producing rape-oriented games to those with much more light-hearted, romantic themes. No one is talking about
disallowing rape games. If, as you say, there’s a market for them they will continue to be made and sold. I just don’t see the need to reinforce that trend.
quote:
They’d either be banned or heavily cut so bad it wouldn’t make any sense.
This is a total non sequitur [it does not follow fallacy]. If in fact rape games were not selling, more non-rape games would take their place. Game producers wouldn’t abandon the market just because one kind of title proved to be unpopular.
quote:
If you want to start restricting and censoring it, where would it end.
Who wants to start
restricting and censoring? Certainly not I. There’s a big difference between calling for the support of things you like and trying to censor things you don’t like.
quote:
I don’t like S&M, but I know a lot of people do, so I don’t campaign to have it stopped and restrict other people’s freedom to do so. For you to want to restrict mine or anyone else’s freedom because you don’t like these games is offensive to me.
If you think that’s my position, then you’re totally missing my point. I’m not for restricting any game types, just encouraging the ones I prefer. If the S&Mers want to save the rape game market, I leave it up to them. I’m certainly not going to spend money supporting products
I find offensive[/i]. That is just plain silly.
quote:
You have the right not to like these games and the right not to buy these games, but you do not have the right to tell me that I cannot buy them and definitely cannot say that all consumers do and should only like certain types of Bishoujo games that you like.
Thanks for your permission not to buy games I don’t like. I’m not trying to tell you or anyone else what not to buy. What I am saying is that if someone [not you] has an aversion to a certain genre, it’s not necessary to buy that sort of title. I’ve heard people try to rationalize it by saying “they’re just supporting the industry” and “without sales of these games” the producers would go out of business. That’s nonsense. PP and GC make money by selling
all their games. It doesn’t matter to them whether the profit comes from one title or another. It matters to me as a consumer, which titles are being produced, however. The only way I have to influence that decision is to buy the things I want and not buy the things I don’t want. It’s the law of demand and supply.
quote:
There are likely going to be people who will not buy Kana and those other long drawn out romantic ones you like yet will buy ones like Virgin Roster, and if they only did the kind you like they probably would not be able to afford to make the ones you do like.
That last sentence really puzzles me.
If they only did the kind you like they probably would not be able to afford to make the ones you do like. If they make the kind of games I like, I will continue buying them and they will have more money to continue making more of the games I like. Is that so hard to understand?
quote:
Saying people should instead buy more copies of Crescendo for themselves because you’d rather see more like that is just stupid. If I could I would buy 1000 copies of each game to keep the industry going and the games coming out at a faster rate, but for most people that’s not practical
Hold it right there. Did I ever say people should buy 1000 copies of any game? No, I said they should buy 1 copy of a game they liked because it benefits the seller just as much as buying 1 copy of a game they don’t like. That is, if they believe it is necessary to keep throwing money at a company to ensure they stay in business. I don’t subscribe to that theory myself, but I was offering an alternative strategy to those who have been talked into believing that buying a copy of
Shukketsubo helps achieve some higher goal. It just seems hypocritical to me to support something you dislike when you have an easy alternative. If PP released a game featuring bloody dismemberment of characters and cannibalism, would you then argue that we should all rush to the store to stock up on that particular title [or substitute your own repulsive genre]?
quote:
What they do in some of these games may be morally repugnant, but no more so than the majority of first person shooters where you are killing lots of people extremely graphically.
Guess what? I don’t buy that kind of game either. [This is called a ‘strawman fallacy’.]
quote:
Some of us are able to separate fantasy from reality and are able to enjoy playing these games doing stuff they’d never do in real life and would be disturbed by this in real life. I’d never do most of the stuff in these games in real life, and I doubt anyone who was not already extremely memntally disturbed would either.
Congratulations. If you are able to derive enjoyment from such fantasies, more power to you. I would do nothing to restrict your freedom. Just don’t tell me that I have no right to advocate the games I enjoy and discourage the spread of games I dislike. That’s a basic right, too.
quote:
If you Americans value your freedom as much as you say you do, then do not try to force your will on me.
Where did you get the idea that I was trying to force my will on you? If you enjoy fantasizing about rape, then go buy more copies of
Shukketsubo. The manufacturer can only respond to sales figures. So if you derive enjoyment from that kind of game, then obviously you should buy it and similar titles. If there are enough like-minded individuals as you, then the rape game market will prosper and flourish. Just don’t keep trying to persuade those who hate these games to support your segment of the market.