Tay

Yep, soon it will be a year since I registered on the forums - in 9 hours from now I will already have had my first post a year ago - this wall of text introduction post. Now that I read it again... nothing really changed with me xD, I still have my hentai-bed and I still love Mare and lolis.
 
But what I didn't know back then is how well I will be received on the forums and how quickly I will make it my new home. And by home I literally mean home, some of you who know me better will know that I don't really have "real life", I even said that in the intro post but it is quite true, my life is on the internet - and there I always had a home. Whether it was private server forum in the days of early wow, guild forum in the days of burning crusade on blizzard server, guild forum for the best TERA online guild Elin Dance Squad or pso-world team forum. But this was all after I quit wow, it was after our EDS TERA guild split to US/EU thanks to bad decision from the publisher, after I quit pso2 after a decision to merge with another team (only to return later to start my very own best team in pso2 ロリコンでも恋がしたい )...
 
So I literally didn't have a place to be, to express myself with my tldr posts. So I was thinking, what I like the most now - the answer was VNs, after I fell in love with Mare, I didn't think about anything else, looking up translations I am looking forward to, checking VN aer blog and all that.
And that was when I decided to try to find people with similar tastes to that. I knew about various forums, hongfire, vndb, etc - but those just didn't look like I would fit it or more like I didn't feel I wanted to fit in. Instead I went with what I knew well, Aaeru and her blog (it took me like 3 months on the forums to actually figure out that Aaeru is female xD so maybe I didn't know her that well xD) were the biggest source of information about VNs I was following at the time and I agreed with Aaeru on so many topics, copyright protests, prepatched games, not caring about what others think too much. So I tried it, registered and tried to talk about some lolis and VNs...
 
And here I am today, still taking about lolis and VNs, posting tldrs and just having so much fun with the great people we have here. Fuwanovel literally became my new home on the internet, the first website I check after I launch Firefox.
So homely that I was able to express even my initiative, trying to direct translation for my most wanted game Eternal Heart so the world of non-Japanese speakers can finally receive what it deserves - UNLIMITED MARE.
I was eventually able to get some fuwa people on my TS3 server (where if you want to come you should definitely use Mare Theme now version 1.1!!!). Even the almighty Archmage Tay shows in there once in a while (although I was never able to get Aaeru there xD).
I was even received so well here that I got offered a moderator role with words "continue doing what you're doing" - so I started posting even MORE LOLIS as I accepted to be the Loli Moderator.
And again, here I am today, after a great year with great people, thinking back if there is something I should have done differently, not finding anything. This was one of the best decisions I made, registering here, and I shall never regret it~
 
And so before I post my final loli for this post, I would like to express my gratitude so some people.
Biggest thanks would go to Tay who has been the greatest admin fuwanovel could ask for and an awesome friend who always took time to care.
To Ryoji who even through his health problems was irreplaceable help to the whole community and a good friend who wants everyone to be happy, thus sharing same vision I do.
To Batman, the hardest to teach student of loli ways (it might take years but one day... one day...) and also my biggest adversary here, who would never give me anything without a fair fight.
And of course to Aaeru who created this great website so we together can create this great community and who helped me in many ways as well.
And to all others who has been a great people to talk to about all kinds of stuff, from copyright issues to game development, through starcraft and VN hacking, lolis, moe and all that. You know very well who you are (I originally started listing people but then when writing the next part I remembered someone else who belonged here and as I didn't want to risk missing someone else, I just deleted the list and rewritten to this part xD).
And also thanks to all the people I didn't have much talks or dealings with yet but are great help to the community and website like Nayleen and Naomi, I am sure that in the following year we will talk to each other much more~
And final thanks to everyone who read this whole thing, although I have a feeling they already belong to one of the categories above - but if not and you are some new member trying to know more about me - well now you should know enough so start posting more so I can get to know YOU.
 
 
And with that... the winter is coming (it actually did snow a bit few days ago already but its gone again) so I have one very special Einhart for you - I was actually saving this picture to be posted in Fuwanovel 2013 x-mas thread and I was going to post some picture of Mare in this thread, but there hasn't been a new originally drawn picture of Mare in months (basically since her birthday- and I check every day) so I don't have anything that I didn't post already.
So there you go!

 
 
 
If you think about it a little, this picture represents the future of Fuwanovel - winter will come, we might need protection from the cold as sometimes days are already getting bellow 0 temperature here, we might find ourselves confused and unable to solve the situation... but with the power of love and friendship we can always solve every problem to the point where other communities will view it as magic of some sorts... And also there will always be a loli waiting for us...
 
So I hope my second year here will be at least as good as the first one, and thus I plea to all of you who came after me - try to be kind to each other, respectful, have fun and be happy - maybe even you can then look back after your first year here and have no regrets and just good memories. Because that's how it should be~

So we should change the rules so that if the recipe-giver, or the accept-or go AWOL for >4 days, somebody else can step in. Sorry guys!
 
Recipe attempt #2:
Many of us here on the site are poor students.  This is a very cheap recipe with lots of nutritional value!
 
Tuna Tomato Pasta
3 Cloves of garlic (crushed/cut up)
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 28-oz (796 mL) can tomatoes
1 6.5 oz (186g) can tuna, drained
0.5 tsp dried oregano
0.5 tsp dried basil
0.5 tsp red pepper flakes
0.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp capers (optional but yummy!) (<-- I almost never have these on hand, though)
 
In a large skillet saute the garlic in the olive oil for a couple of minutes until softened.  Dump in the tomatoes, juice and all, and mash them up with a fork or potato masher.  Add the tuna, seasonings, and capers and stir.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for ~15 minutes.
 
Toss with hot cooked pasta and sprinkle with lots of grated parmesan cheese.
 
Makes 4 servings.

Absolutely and without question the funniest thing I've seen today.  Thank you!
 
 
I feel like there's so much to learn from this guy...

Thank you, Nosebleed, for all the good help! Closing this thread, PM a mod if you need it opened.

I'm pleased to announce that this Sunday (11/24/2013), for the first time ever, I will be conducting a State of the Union Skype-esque conference call to discuss many topics relating to the Fuwaverse. Chief among them are the following:
A new, exciting and ambitious new project that will truly further our goal to popularize Visual Novels in the West; A detailed explanation of Fuwanovel's priorities and projects going forward in the next few months; Clarification of the roles of staff members and rules; Some changes to the site, including the addition of two new staff members; And more!  
Following the speech, I will open up the floor for discussion and questions.  This is as close to an AMA as I've ever given, and I will be as forward as possible about any issue.
 
 
 
Date: Sunday 24 November 2013
Time: 9:30PM EST  - Click here for local time
 
 
 
 
Time of the Call and an Important Note:
So long as there is interest in a Skype call, I'm all for it.  I think it'll be a smart way to announce everything all at once and allow for questions and discussion in real-time (since asynchronous communication (read: the forums) has its limitations).    NOTE: I'll post a text-version of all the hullabaloo on the forums, as usual.  If you can't make the call, you'll be able to find it here.  But, again, if people are interested in having this be a Skype conference, then I'm game.
 
If you're interested in participating in the Skype call, please RSVP (in this thread) and include times of availability for Sunday using the USA Eastern Standard Time time zone.  Here's a time zone calculator if you need it (here's a time zone converter).  I have a mostly-flexible schedule, and will do my best to choose the time that's most convenient for the most people.**
 
Skype allows up to 25 participants on the voice (no video, sorry) conference call.  You'll need a (free) Skype account to listen in/participate.  You don't have to talk in the actual Q&A if you're shy -- you can type your thoughts into the Skype conference call chat.
 
 
 
** If it appears that many can't make a Sunday call, I can reschedule it to certain times on Monday (11/25) or Tuesday (11/26).
 
 
 
 
 
Please let me know:
If you're interested in this idea (otherwise I'll cancel it) If you'd like to participate in the skype conference call (please include your times of availability in EST and your skype username (or add me: ArchmageTay)) If you do want to be a part of the Skype call, please let me know if you plan on asking questions in the AMA section Or if you have any questions!   Some big stuff coming, I hope 

I hadn’t planned on responding to this thread (more on this later), but I’ve since decided that I need to do so. I spent a lot of time thinking about my response, and I hope that the community will take a moment to listen to what I have to say. This is Batman’s thread, but in order to address what he’s offered us here, I need to start with a few words about me.



I officially joined the forums just after the original site was hacked/trashed, and was able to participate in the rebuilding effort. That was well over a year ago, and I’ve seen the community go through several unique periods since then. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go, and the site has constantly grown, stretched and dreamed of bigger things. It’s been inspiring, sometimes stressful and heartbreaking, and at other times, it’s been all those things simultaneously. During the recent site outage (read: Fuwapocalypse), I realized that Fuwanovel means a lot to me, and has had a great influence in my life. I decided to start a project: “Tay’s History of Fuwanovel” – a chronicling of my time here in this community. Each chapter of the book is divided up into the names of community members. One of the chapters is named “Solidbatman”.

Batman is one of my closest friends on Fuwanovel: someone who's opinion weighs as heavily as Ryoji’s – which is really saying something – and somebody I deeply respect. He’s my friend, and I hope that I’m his. I’ll be the first one to admit that Batman joined the staff – and became an admin – during some of the site’s most difficult chapters. Despite seeing the very ugliest that Fuwanovel has to offer, he’s been a constant force for cooperation, compromise, and respect. The word “character” comes to mind, here. “Integrity” is another good one.

I am glad that Batman took the time to write this post. We do need to be friendlier to each other, and more patient and understanding when miscommunications and conflicts arise. Like Batman, I’ve seen the ugly corners of Fuwanovel’s history. They’re there. The staff forums chronicle some of them. Many others have happened off the forums. I’ve been there for most of them. I’ve tried to learn from them.

The point I’d like to get across is pretty simple. We are each responsible for what Fuwanovel becomes. The way we act, re-act, react all determine what the community stands for.




I hadn’t originally planned on responding to this post. Batman and I already know where we stand in relation to each other. However, the responses of many new members prompted me to respond to them. To new members, and to their concerns.

Fuwanovel is changing, but it’s always been in the process of changing. Better than anyone, I can attest that the site and community have never stood still. As new people come into the community – especially from other VN sites which are known to have toxic rhetoric – we will be faced with a constant identity crisis. We will be constantly faced with the decision to be welcoming, friendly and respectful, or the opposite. As we go forward, we will have to make the conscious choice – every day – to be different.

I am deeply grateful for Batman, and the dozens of other members, who face this choice with a determination to do the right thing. Let’s get along. Let’s play visual novels. Let’s have fun together.

I hadn’t planned on responding to this thread (more on this later), but I’ve since decided that I need to do so. I spent a lot of time thinking about my response, and I hope that the community will take a moment to listen to what I have to say. This is Batman’s thread, but in order to address what he’s offered us here, I need to start with a few words about me.



I officially joined the forums just after the original site was hacked/trashed, and was able to participate in the rebuilding effort. That was well over a year ago, and I’ve seen the community go through several unique periods since then. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go, and the site has constantly grown, stretched and dreamed of bigger things. It’s been inspiring, sometimes stressful and heartbreaking, and at other times, it’s been all those things simultaneously. During the recent site outage (read: Fuwapocalypse), I realized that Fuwanovel means a lot to me, and has had a great influence in my life. I decided to start a project: “Tay’s History of Fuwanovel” – a chronicling of my time here in this community. Each chapter of the book is divided up into the names of community members. One of the chapters is named “Solidbatman”.

Batman is one of my closest friends on Fuwanovel: someone who's opinion weighs as heavily as Ryoji’s – which is really saying something – and somebody I deeply respect. He’s my friend, and I hope that I’m his. I’ll be the first one to admit that Batman joined the staff – and became an admin – during some of the site’s most difficult chapters. Despite seeing the very ugliest that Fuwanovel has to offer, he’s been a constant force for cooperation, compromise, and respect. The word “character” comes to mind, here. “Integrity” is another good one.

I am glad that Batman took the time to write this post. We do need to be friendlier to each other, and more patient and understanding when miscommunications and conflicts arise. Like Batman, I’ve seen the ugly corners of Fuwanovel’s history. They’re there. The staff forums chronicle some of them. Many others have happened off the forums. I’ve been there for most of them. I’ve tried to learn from them.

The point I’d like to get across is pretty simple. We are each responsible for what Fuwanovel becomes. The way we act, re-act, react all determine what the community stands for.




I hadn’t originally planned on responding to this post. Batman and I already know where we stand in relation to each other. However, the responses of many new members prompted me to respond to them. To new members, and to their concerns.

Fuwanovel is changing, but it’s always been in the process of changing. Better than anyone, I can attest that the site and community have never stood still. As new people come into the community – especially from other VN sites which are known to have toxic rhetoric – we will be faced with a constant identity crisis. We will be constantly faced with the decision to be welcoming, friendly and respectful, or the opposite. As we go forward, we will have to make the conscious choice – every day – to be different.

I am deeply grateful for Batman, and the dozens of other members, who face this choice with a determination to do the right thing. Let’s get along. Let’s play visual novels. Let’s have fun together.

I hadn’t planned on responding to this thread (more on this later), but I’ve since decided that I need to do so. I spent a lot of time thinking about my response, and I hope that the community will take a moment to listen to what I have to say. This is Batman’s thread, but in order to address what he’s offered us here, I need to start with a few words about me.



I officially joined the forums just after the original site was hacked/trashed, and was able to participate in the rebuilding effort. That was well over a year ago, and I’ve seen the community go through several unique periods since then. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go, and the site has constantly grown, stretched and dreamed of bigger things. It’s been inspiring, sometimes stressful and heartbreaking, and at other times, it’s been all those things simultaneously. During the recent site outage (read: Fuwapocalypse), I realized that Fuwanovel means a lot to me, and has had a great influence in my life. I decided to start a project: “Tay’s History of Fuwanovel” – a chronicling of my time here in this community. Each chapter of the book is divided up into the names of community members. One of the chapters is named “Solidbatman”.

Batman is one of my closest friends on Fuwanovel: someone who's opinion weighs as heavily as Ryoji’s – which is really saying something – and somebody I deeply respect. He’s my friend, and I hope that I’m his. I’ll be the first one to admit that Batman joined the staff – and became an admin – during some of the site’s most difficult chapters. Despite seeing the very ugliest that Fuwanovel has to offer, he’s been a constant force for cooperation, compromise, and respect. The word “character” comes to mind, here. “Integrity” is another good one.

I am glad that Batman took the time to write this post. We do need to be friendlier to each other, and more patient and understanding when miscommunications and conflicts arise. Like Batman, I’ve seen the ugly corners of Fuwanovel’s history. They’re there. The staff forums chronicle some of them. Many others have happened off the forums. I’ve been there for most of them. I’ve tried to learn from them.

The point I’d like to get across is pretty simple. We are each responsible for what Fuwanovel becomes. The way we act, re-act, react all determine what the community stands for.




I hadn’t originally planned on responding to this post. Batman and I already know where we stand in relation to each other. However, the responses of many new members prompted me to respond to them. To new members, and to their concerns.

Fuwanovel is changing, but it’s always been in the process of changing. Better than anyone, I can attest that the site and community have never stood still. As new people come into the community – especially from other VN sites which are known to have toxic rhetoric – we will be faced with a constant identity crisis. We will be constantly faced with the decision to be welcoming, friendly and respectful, or the opposite. As we go forward, we will have to make the conscious choice – every day – to be different.

I am deeply grateful for Batman, and the dozens of other members, who face this choice with a determination to do the right thing. Let’s get along. Let’s play visual novels. Let’s have fun together.

Welcome!  Which VNs have you played? Have a favorite?

(Copied from Announcement)
 
Hey everybody,

The Fuwanovel Improvements Forum debuted earlier this month and—in my opinion—holds a lot of promise. When this section was announced, I explained that I hoped it would allow for greater transparency and discussion as regards site projects, as well as offer site developers a chance to share information about their efforts. We’ve seen the beginnings of both these things, and I’m very grateful to everybody who has contributed.



This announcement serves to let you know that we're making a few more changes to the Improvements forum. Changes include:
We’ve made topics for all site components and will be using them to track work/discussion. These topics are aimed to make things more transparent and allow for feedback. We want everybody to know they’re welcome to volunteer and help out wherever they’d like; all they need to do is vocalize feedback/desire to participate in the appropriate topic. We’ve created a “Feedback Registry”: a list of members who are willing to check out new features/modifications and offer feedback to help site workers I hope that many of you will join the Feedback Registry. This is something any member can voluntarily sign up for. The premise is simple: when changes are made to some part of the site, we want to have a list of people to contact who are willing to check it out, and then offer feedback. That’s all we ask: be willing to check out features and then share your thoughts. If you’re willing to do this, please sign up. 





These changes are being made in part because they align with Fuwanovel’s core values and how Aaeru was always willing to accept help from the community, and in part to deal with her absence. If anybody has any questions, concerns or feedback, please feel free to post them here.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please remember that feedback is key to this forum’s success! Please take some time to read through projects, comment, and give us feedback. Only by doing so will Fuwanovel continue to grow and improve!

There's something about Fuwanovel that makes me want to blog. Often, while browsing the forums or playing Clannad for the first time, I feel like chronicling the games I'm playing and my thoughts about the site and community. This post is something of a personal journal entry, and exists to share some of my thoughts about fuwanovel.





What is Fuwanovel (to me)?
Fuwanovel is a website which celebrates the medium, culture, quirkiness and depth of Visual Novels. The mission of Fuwanovel is to make Visual Novels accessible to everybody, and to ultimately foster their production and distribution. It's also an attempt to create a new community and gathering place for VN fans where enthusiasm and respect replaces the toxic and despotic cultures of some other VN communities.





Why did I choose Fuwanovel?
There are several VN communities whhich I respect and actively follow, but the majority of my VN time is dedicated to Fuwanovel. I chose Fuwanovel for four reasons:

The Fuwanovel forums and community were respectful, friendly, and helpful. People were actually nice to each other on the forums; Aaeru wasn't/isn't doing this for her own ego; Making VN games as accessible as possible is, in my view, the right path to making them popular; Fuwanovel was changing and becoming something new.




In what way has Fuwanovel changed?
For those who have belonged to the VN community for a long time, Fuwanovel was often associated with Aaeru's research on copyright reform (see her Sharing is Liberty blog). Today, those that speak ill of fuwanovel never fail to obsess over that fact. After spending dozens of hours on the forum, working behind the scenes on the site, and spending a lot of time talking with/coming to understand Aaeru a little better, I'm prepared to declare the sum of my experience: Fuwanovel is bigger than any one person now. Fuwanovel is bigger than Aaeru, it's bigger than a single game, and it's bigger than the sum of its forum posts. Fuwanovel is about Visual Novels and their distribution (see my first point). I joined Fuwanovel because I saw the start of this shift, and have now seen it through to near-completion. It's a great thing, and it's allowed a unique and positive community to grow.





My reaction to Fuwanovel's biggest criticism: Distributing Pre-patched Games, And My Ultimate Goal for VNs
(Aaeru has written her own perspective on this topic, and it's found on this FAQ page) If you look through the game torrents on this site, you'll see that several English patches specifically request that they not be bundled with the corresponding Japanese games, or be distributed as a complete unit. Fuwanovel has clearly chosen to disregard these requests. Our games come pre-patched and bundled into handy self-extracting RAR folders. While some will disagree with what follows, I think everybody can agree that pre-patched game distribution makes playing a VN *VERY* easy, and usually requires no installation or installation tutorials.

Aaeru believes that it is hypocritical for a translator to determine rights of use when they themselves essentially pirated and/or hacked the original games. I also agree with Aaeru in that translators, by distributing patches, put their work out into the vast reaches of the public internet, and no longer have control over its use.

Yet, the true reason I support Fuwanovel's distribution ideology has to do with my understanding of Fuwanovel's core: "The mission of Fuwanovel is to make Visual Novels accessible to everybody, and to ultimately foster their production and distribution." I want Visual Novels to catch on in the West. I want Western VNs to evolve into their own style. I want those future Western VNs to combine and hybridize with Japanese VNs and create new art and new dimensions for the medium. In short, I want this "Visual Novel Thing" to catch on. And because I want it to catch on, I want to make it as easy as possible for people to try out these games.

After all, when you compare the process of finding a Japanese torrent, downloading and following (often-poorly-written) English Patch installation instructions, and then troubleshooting errors based on your system with Fuwanovel's download, unzip, play method... there really isn't a question that Fuwanovel makes VNs easier to try out. And that, friends, is where all of this has to start.

Ageless
Gender-less
Omnipresent

Ageless
Gender-less
Omnipresent

Welcome!  Translators are rare commodities -- it's great that you're here.  Please consider adding your credentials to the skills registry (so interested parties can find you), and surfing the Fan Translation board for projects!
 
EDIT: You already did so!  Didn't think to check!

I have finally found an image worthy to follow up Mevvrynne's masterful post:
 

Hey everybody,
 
I had a crazy idea just now.  One that I think could be pretty fun and cool.   Let's begin with this post by shirayuki75.  In it, he comments on the very-interesting LB analysis by Isaac and comments that it's something one would expect to see in a VN literary journal.
 
... Then I started thinking:  Maybe it would be fun to put one together!  I've been editor on a handful of journals (though most were poetry journals), and I think it's a no-brainer that we have a lot of really interesting material here on the forums.  Would anybody be interested in helping compile (or write anew!) interesting content and/or design the first-ever Fuwanovel Forums Literary Journal, Volume I (title a work-in-progress )?
 
 
If not... No problem.  Just seemed like a fun project we could do.  I think we could have a good time with it.  
 
Let me know in the poll above, or by responding to this thread!

I have finally found an image worthy to follow up Mevvrynne's masterful post:
 

A ship-shipping ship, shipping shipping ships.

I spent ~5 minutes trying to come up with a good title for this post.  It never came.  Instead, I decided to call it exactly what it is:  I had an interesting dream about visual novels and video games which featured two friends from the forum.  
 
Yes, feel free to call it creepy.  But it was also a very interesting conversation.  For those interested in the details, see the spoiler below.  Otherwise, feel free to share your thoughts on the exchange:
 
Completely unimportant dream details:



 
 
Conversation Points:
As we discussed visual novels, Batman made the point, "I treat visual novels like any other video game genre.  I see them less as books, and more like video games."
 
Nayleen inquired about that line of thinking, asking if Batman enjoyed VNs with gameplay elements more than "conventional" (text-only) VNs.  Batman said he'd never played a VN with gameplay, but that he imagined the combination would be "ideal".
 
At this point, I got "deep" and threw out a hypothesis that perhaps video games are meant to be "experiences", whereas visual novels tend to be "stories."  
 
In my head, I was arguing that video games and VNs offered two different types of immersion:  VNs utilize text, music, and visuals; and Video Games layer gameplay and visual/technical technology on top of that. 
 
I don't remember much more than that.
 
 
Back to reality... How about you?
Do you see VNs more like "books", or "video games", or something in the middle?
 
Are the experiences of VNs (text, music, visuals) better/worse/just different from the experiences you've had playing video games?

Welcome!  Glad you joined the forums!  

and then you realized that taco cat is taco cat spelled backwards, and your life was never the same.

By god, this changes everything

GTA 5 Steve Edition