Chronopolis

Indeed. The masses often don't know the first thing about what is actually best for everyone. Lets never poll on serious topics

Well, that's kinda hard to do as G&C has been dissolved : P. 
 
We spent a lot of time looking at the kinds of discussion people were having, polling about what people did/didn't like, and investigating ways to help people get to know each other. There were fairly logical demarcations between the personal/meaningful recreation posts and the wild-and-fun chatter-y posts. A lot of users were frustrated at their mixing (as chatter-y posts often buried more nuanced posts), and parsing them out like this makes everybody happy. 
 
tldr: G&C can't supersede the lounge since it's no longer there, there's a wide variety of preferences in how to build friendships and parsing out lounge vs chatter will do more good than harm, and no content is lost this way -- in fact, much more is legitimized this way.
 
 
  That's probably true (we did have a lot of threads to go through). We'll 100% tweak the program as we go to make it as usable as possible. Like always -- we'll learn a lot even if it doesn't end up being the final solution.

Don’t Get Lost: Tay’s Simple Guide to Recent Changes   Hail, citizen. Welcome back to the Fuwanovel Forums. If you haven’t logged in lately (read: in the last 12 hours), you’re probably surprised to see that the forums’ organization has changed. Fear not – this guide shall help you navigate these new waters. We’ll walk through them step-by-step and hopefully it’ll make sense. I’ll do my best not to waste your time. If you're in a hurry, at least read about changes 1, 3 and 4.     Change #1 – The FuwaChat The forums’ shoutbox has gone live! Click on the “FuwaChat” tab in the left-hand toolbar to be taken to it (direct link). The shoutbox is an experiment, and it can be a little rough around the edges, but it’s pretty fun and I hope you give it a try. The rules can be found here.    Change #2 – Two boards were moved The Technical FAQ board was moved up into the VN section and the video game board, which used to be a sub-board inside General Discussion, was renamed “Gaming Talk” and is now a root board on the index page (in the Other Discussion category).    Change #3 – The General Discussion and Games & Chatter boards were overhauled Over the course of ~20 man-hours (but all within a ~2 hour period), a small team sorted through and reorganized the GD and G&C boards (praise and glory unto Flutterz, nohman, nosebleed, and myself). Many other mods are helping QA the work we did (there were bound to be mistakes). This QA process may continue for a little while, but most of the heavy lifting is done. All the GD and G&C posts were sorted into three new boards (GD, Lounge, Chatter), which you can read about below.   Change #4 -- The Chatter board (Coliseum) has a metagame From time to time a secret organization called the “Bloody Senators” can choose to test the mettle of one or more threads in the Coliseum of Chatter. People who want the thread to survive will have to accomplish a task set by the Bloody Senators in a certain timeframe, else their beloved topic will be killed (essentially locked and stored away in the Necropolis board). The game isn’t meant to pick on threads or clean out the board, it’s meant to be fun. I encourage people to form guilds and do battle (to the death) in the chatter metagame. More info on this will be posted soon in the Arena of Death board (a sub-board of the Coliseum)       Making Sense of the GD Boards There are now six boards in the “Other Discussion” category. Here’s a handy guide to tell you what kinds of posts go where. I’ve tried to give you a mental sentence for each board to help you intuitively tell where a post should go: Anime/Manga Talk = “This thread is about anime, manga and/or light novels.” General Discussion = “I want to have a legitimate conversation about X, and X doesn’t fit in any other board.” Threads in GD should have a solid topic and lead to discussion. (That is, strong in contrast to threads with a very specific weak topic, such focusing on a very specific single instance or incident, or jokes/games which result in rapid posting with little effort) The Lounge = “This thread is meant to get to know each other, or relax, or have some fun, and it’s not meant to be chatter-y.” Should have a something to talk about (can’t be a random chat thread) and games, jokes, or favorites threads should require some effort (not just rapid posting with minor effort). Contests have the option of going here (contests with prizes can get a little wiggle room in deciding where to be posted) and non-superficial groups/clubs belong here, too. Gaming Talk = “This thread is about a video game, being a gamer, the gaming industry, or something along those lines.” The Coliseum of Chatter (and its sub-boards) = “What is the first word you would say if the avatar above you appeared in your bedroom tonight at 3AM? #RonPaul2012. Toaster! Party like it’s 1999. Rice!” This board is the new home of chattery topics which used to go in G&C. Here’s a list of the sorts of topics that go into the coliseum:
      A huge “Thank You” for everybody’s patience as we’ve struggled to get to this point. Lots of additional upgrades are coming (a revamped leadership system, feedback periods for things like the Board Moderator program, etc.). I’d like to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thank you for making Fuwanovel what it is.   Tay   PS: Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions or tell me if something isn’t clear. PPS: My original post about the GD overhaul has more details about the new boards if you’d like more information

https://osu.ppy.sh/ss/2365269
1984pp --> 2004 pp!!!!

Completed Ikusa Megami ZERO. (IMZ)
Really good game imo. My only real complaint was the H-stuff. Otherwise I had a fun all the way through the vn. I ended up liking the rpg elements surprisingly much, I only needed to grind once very early in the game. Otherwise I could play on auto against easy units. Bosses were usually tense and fun. You had to think somewhat and apply tactics to kill them.
 
The story was quite different from I am usually used to. I don't think I've actually ever played a game quite like this. It's more like one of these epic quest kind of games. But with actually interesting 
dialog and universe. The characters are at times too arch typical for me. But it didn't really bother me because how the story was setup and progressed.
I ended up liking many of the characters, and even if I don't like all of them I got into them. Even characters with little dialog I could easily place in the world and personality traits. I felt I understood them fast.
 
Also something that surprised me was the ratio of rpg gameplay and text dialog. Usually as you play you get starved for either. I never really experienced I had too much talking, or too much gameplay. There was a a few times I wish the dungeons were shorter, but I didn't really mind. I feel the vn was really nicely structured, or it just fit me very well.
 
Honestly I am very glad I ended up playing this vn. It's one of those vn most people should have a try with. Other than the h-stuff, It's great. I gave it a score of 9/10 on vndb. I might give it higher, but I don't really want to fiddle too much with 0.x score here. Bottom line I enjoyed it a lot.
 
 
As for what to play next.. I started to read Irotoridori again. I might read tokyo babel, but I have had enough action for a while. I  can't really get into irotoridori as I did IMZ.
Setting up playing Shin megami tensei and some other jrpgs. But problematic getting it work perfectly on the emulator, might just buy a hardcopy. I really lazy when things get annoying like this...

I think I get the reasoning for and agree with the TL -> Editor -> TLC structure.
 
Reasonably competent TL'er --> raw TL
raw TL --> Editor -->script which looks like it was written from the perspective of English
natified English script--> TLC who scans through the Japanese and English, easily recognizing segments which go "wait a minute, that doesn't mean that", or "this gives a different impression" and correcting them. Since they are working with a piece of meant-to-be-in-English writing, they can also improve the flow by editing on a larger scale than line by line.
 
All these things that a TLC does absolutely require high skill level (and better editing skills than editor if they are doing flow changes), but are not as nearly as taxing per line as raw tl'ing. This way, the TLC might be able to cover the entire VN by themself and make both the accuracy and editing very good, relatively speaking.

Haha, you suck . But I really enjoyed your post. Merry Christmas.
 
Come to think of it, Fuwanovel is really tolerant of different people. What would get you called out or called on other communities just ends with a closed thread, deleted post, and/or a "moving right along~".

I understand. Out of all possible people, you probably weren't expecting me to make one of these. 
First of all, don't delude yourself. I'm not writing this next to a fireplace with snow coming down outside with hot chocolate on my secretary and the dog sleeping at my feet. I'm in my cold room with the dog barking at the door, probably heard some kind of noise outside, with no drinks or sustainment of any kind and rain is pouring down outside.
At any rate, here you go, my very own Christmas Message to ya'll.
 
 
Merry Christmas.

-Mr. Poltroon

That ended up somewhat short, didn't it? Let's make up some more stuff on the spot. Like... like... oh yeah. My experience on Fuwanovel and stuff!
 
I found out about Fuwanovel, and Visual Novels, right around the start of this year. What introduced me to visual novels was a very enjoyable game for me, by the name of "To the Moon", I highly recommend you play it, never know when my hitmen might knock on your door.  Right around the same time, and purely by coincidence, I also found out about the Phoenix Wright series, another excellent group of games I suggest you play, for your own good health and whatnot.
To the Moon showed me good storytelling that could come from this media, while Phoenix Wright showed me the comedy that would later become the reason why I play Visual Novels (I know, terrible reason, though perfect match for a terrible person).
 
While searching for more, because people always want moar, moar, moar, I found out about this website. 
The first Visual Novel (at least in a truer sense) I played was Ever17.
I was very scared, since I am a victim of the altogether too common irrational fear of the unknown, you see? Anime didn't have all that much of a good image in my mind at the time. I later found out my image was spot on, at least relating to nukige. 
Having thoroughly enjoyed the first game, I proceeded to play the sequel and prequel, and this is where I first used Fuwanovel. I used a walkthrough for Never7, and the first I found was the Fuwanovel one.
 
Moving on, Fuwanovel became my place for walkthroughs. No, I had no idea I could download them here. Wonderful.
The first VN I downloaded from Fuwanovel was Little Busters, and for a while, the only one. I fear the unbeknownst to me, I'll remind you once again.
Keeping with that logic, I stuck with All Ages titles for a good 5 or 6 titles, it took me nearly a year to get through these. Of course, All Ages eventually ran out (at least those I was interested in), forcing me to try my first "eroge" so to speak, G-Senjou no Maou.
Quite a challenge, considering it was my first contact (of my own volition) with pornography of any kind  . You may choose to believe this or not, but I'm simply not very interested in matters of copulation.
What a terrible topic, moving on. 
 
I eventually reached Grisaia no Kajitsu in my quest for mighty loot. I adored it. Like, really, to the point where it made me make my first post on the forums.
I always make an account even for one time searches. Simply a pet peeve of mine, disregard it.
You can check my first topic here, where you'll notice I was trying to keep any and all warped personalities under wraps.
https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/4111-greetings-equally-addicted-human-beings/
 
 
But that's enough about Fuwanovel, it's not like any of you care about that old thing anyways, right?
Let's address myself now, I'm sure you're all itching to learn about my own life, asking questions like, "How much further can he boost his ego?"
I'll show you:
I'm a 28 year old man with a job at a local sports club (management side, don't ask me to do exercise, pls) which is rather well connected to my family. Great 'friends' with the chief, actually.
 
Two sisters. Two parents. Exempting the older sister (that hater ), we all live together.
My family is a fairly happy one, but I've come to think, just how different is it from other, perhaps more normal, families?
It's pretty much a free-for-all around here. If an argument starts, younger sister uses up all opportunities to take a jab at the parents, the parents argue with each other and I attack everyone. If we all sit together to eat, making fun of everyone and everything is the norm, usually at someone's expense. And the main thing? The heavy, heavy use of sarcasm. 
 
Don't think I'm a wrinkled old grumpy man, this is how I was born and raised, and to be honest, it's plenty fun.   I don't know what kind of image that gave you, probably a despicable one, but we're all happy people. I'm a natural pessimist, which when coupled with my usual personality does not produce good results, but what can one do?
 
 
This makes me what I consider to be a horrible person. Makes fun of everyone, but doesn't get involved himself. Takes a jab at everything, even what he agrees with. Avoids any kind of responsibility, using "I think" and "Perhaps" to escape certainties. A craven to no end. This is who I am, and I'm well aware of it. My family is well-known as a funny one, myself included. That one guy who's fun at parties, but you might not be interested in getting too attached, might you come to understand what's beneath the funny surface.   
 
But this is who I am, and I know it well. Self-improvement seems fake and hollow to me. Being yourself seems the best way of life, so that's how I do it.
 
 
Now... Let's tie this all up with Fuwanovel and finish up. I'm sure at this point only a couple of you have read this far, but worry not, I wasn't expecting anyone to really read this anyway.
 
Fuwanovel is the only forum where I've stayed this long (not even a year yet, huh?). The reason for this is how I haven't been reprimanded much about my manners. I strongly feel that if I can't be myself, I've no place here. And, to be honest, I'm totally fine with not having a place anywhere, I know I'm not a person who's easy to get along (especially on a bad day, lovely). Strangely, though, Fuwanovel hasn't shunned me away like I thought it would, so it's certainly a happy surprise. 
 
In the end, thank you everyone, for making me happy (so self-centered ) and letting me feel at ease here.   
There's a courtesy kind of thanks, and then there's this kind of thanks. They're different, and especially when coming from me, one of them is pretty rare.
 
I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a fantastic New Year, because I do care about the seasons, for believe it or not, I too am human.  :xmas:
 
EDIT: Because I really have nothing better to do (lies, it's all lies), I have made this for your laughing at me pleasure: https://soundcloud.com/tiago-varela-3/sets/christmas-message/s-4tn1T

A lot of people ask me: 'How can you list a VN with a protagonist who is fundamentally amoral, psychologically-challenged, and generally just out of sync with humanity so much?' 
 
There are a number of reasons.  One is the very reasons listed above.  Shigure Sora is probably the most inhuman protagonist I've ever encountered in a VN.  I say inhuman because his psychology only occasionally resembles that of a human being, for better or worse.   He's the type that can honestly look at average humans wistfully without being a hypocrite, because he really doesn't have anything in common with them, for the most part. 
 
One of the things I can't help but like him is that he is fundamentally honest.  Does that sound weird, when talking about a protagonist who is so obviously amoral?  However, it is true.  He knows himself for what he is, and he never tries to fool people by pretending to be what he isn't (except a normal human).  When others protest, he honestly can't understand why they think him stating fact is putting himself down.  He doesn't understand love, and he states frankly that that is the case.  The closest he gets is obsession and possessiveness, and that is what the heroines tend to misunderstand as being love.  He states that clearly, but it is the people around him who misinterpret his words and actions.  It is actually fairly hilarious sometimes how completely people fail to comprehend him.
 
The other aspect that makes me love this VN is the setting.  To be blunt, the demon hunters in this VN are so different from what you see in most similar settings that there might as well be no resemblance at all.  They aren't 'just normal people' who rose up against the demons or people who have sworn to protect humanity.  If anything, they are just as dangerous to humanity as what they are hunting.  The Hunters basically kill demons because they hate them instinctively.  Demons kill Hunters for the same reason.  Both sides are essentially the same, with the only real difference being in individual capabilities and closeness to humanity.  Hunters are just as likely to kill humans as Demons, and the only reason they pretend otherwise is because it is sometimes convenient for extorting funding out of human organizations and governments.  In other words, there is nothing even vaguely resembling 'a good guy' in this mess.  There are two sides intent on obliterating each other, and humans are only occasionally caught in the middle.
 
Last of all, it is just fun to read how the writers philosophize through the characters.  I thought I was reading a Japanese Chaucer at times, given the way characters suddenly start speculating on aspects of human nature, relationships, and morality. 

So I had a ton of extra time tonight, and decided to get my entry in sooner rather than later.
 

 
Because I didn't feel like baking for my entire family, I just made a giant snickerdoodle. It wasn't the best cookie I've ever eaten, but it got the job done. I picked this recipe because for me, the holiday season is all about cinnamon. Seriously, I put it in my drinks, on my cookies, and pretty much anywhere else it'll fit. So why not bake a cookie that has cinnamon in it? 

This is probably more disheartening to SP than to us, tbh. Can't imagine how hard that hit them. Anyway, even if it's not the complete package, I will still back it.
 
I was reading reddit thread about this and I found this comment to share perfectly how I see things. Both of them were made by LeafCascade, so credits to him for writing this.
 
At first I was about to get really mad at you guys for going "MUH PORN", but I can see the problem. It's bothering me too now. I personally don't give two shits about losing the h-content, but if they're going to cut out other dialogue/scenes, I can't help but to feel that we will be missing out on things, especially in Meikyuu and Rakuen.
But then again:
As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, I have no doubts about that there'll be patches to restore the cut out content. Someone will find a way. And even if they don't, well... regardless, the 18+ versions will be released anyway, it just won't be through the Kickstarter (is how I've understood it), but only if the Kickstarter is successful.
While this will have an impact on the magnitude of the Kickstarter's success, this is after all Grisaia. I really don't see 160k being difficult to achieve, especially not with how the Clannad KS is going.
All in all: if you want the sequels in English, you're going to have to contribute. If you feel the censorship will ruin the VNs for you, to the point where you'd rather have nothing at all - go ahead, don't contribute, but make sure you know what you're doing by taking this stance; I imagine the sequels won't be translated for many years, if ever, even, if this KS does not succeed.
As western VN fans I don't feel like we can get caught up on things like this, we don't have the luxury to. We either move forward or we won't be getting anywhere.
 
A couple of months ago, I had given up on playing the sequels completely, and I simply feel very lucky to be given the chance to get them translated. It seems people are forgetting what we'd be stuck with if it weren't for SP.
As far as I can tell, pornographic material isn't even allowed to be Kickstarted per their policies, so it really isn't that huge of a surprise - I did expect the 18+ version to be downloadable off-site or something, though. I think part of the problem lies here. As for Japanese companies thinking "we" only want all-ages content, who knows. But it seems we'll have to change the method of funding if we want to change direction.
Anyway, this is just how I feel right now, and I'm sure as soon as new information comes to light I'll change my opinion accordingly.
EDIT: I don't have any solutions to this, or any understanding of what SP can do regarding negotiations etc. I just don't want to ruin this chance we've been given by making a nuisance of ourselves to Frontwing over 18+ material. Damaging relationships is the last thing we'll want to do.

In the US at least, we've created 2 conceptual "bins" for entertainment: porn, and "not porn".  Into the porn bin, we throw everything with sexually explicit content, regardless of the content of the work as a whole.  Porn by cultural tradition does not have literary or artistic value; its main objective is serving the prurient interest.  Porn even has a special legal status as speech not protected by the 1st amendment, and therefore subject to state-sponsored censorship.  We live in a society that treats porn as taboo: you don't talk about it, you don't admit to having it or liking it.
 
Enter eroge, entertainment that doesn't fit easily into one of these two bins.  But since it has sexually explicit content, we throw it into the "porn" bin--regardless of the content of the work as a whole.  This excludes it from press coverage, distribution by normal routes, and even critical review.  Since it breaks the societal taboo against porn, the eroge genre is mercilessly suppressed.  That's factor #1.
 
Factor #2 is the type of crowd this genre tends to draw: young Internet-savvy males.  Many comes across eroge while searching for porn or pirated content.  They're used to getting porn for free, and have no qualms getting eroge for free either.  Those that are inclined to pay for porn are more likely to gravitate towards nukige, which give them more bang for their buck.
 
Meanwhile, the cost of developing and translating a story-focused eroge is several-fold higher than nukige.  This leaves eroge in a deadzone of high-cost low-demand entertainment.  They're arduous and costly to localize, difficult to market and distribute, and widely pirated by a callous and unsupportive "fan"base.
 
A host of companies have sprung up to try and stake a claim in the industry: Megatech Software, Himeya Soft, JAST USA, Otaku Publishing, Milky House / RCY America, Hobibox Europe, G-Collections, Kitty Media, Mangagamer, MoeNovel, Sekai Project.  Of the 9 publishers that are at least 2 years old, only 2 are still actively releasing titles: JAST USA and Mangagamer.  The rest are all inactive, defunct, or have been absorbed into JAST USA to avoid collapse.  Outsiders speculate that JAST USA only remains because it was propped up by J-List in times of need.  Mangagamer has admitted that it has come close to collapse as well, and is largely supported by its nukige sales.  JAST USA's financial situation is largely unknown.
 
Arguing that 6/8 English publishers that have entered into eroge localization in the past 20 years have failed solely due to gross ineptness is...a weak argument at best.  Clearly the problem lies in the market itself.

This, total immersion is not required...I never did it. What's needed is hundreds of hours of practice, and the easiest way to do that for most people is making it a close to everyday thing.
 
Though...without exposure to RL conversation japanese (J-drama's are a lot closer than anime/VN's) and much speaking practice, I ended up both lacking knowledge of conversational phrases and skill generating sentences, replying, and holding a conversation, despite having strong grammar sense and a decent vocabulary from reading. After you hit intermediate level, it starts to depends what material you have exposure to and what you spend time practicing (reading, writing, speaking, listening).
This. That in itself is not a big problem, but it's a symptom of a more serious one (see below).
To be more clear:
Parsing japanese in logical units of meaning and then trying to figure out the meaning from there is OK.
Turning the japanese into english before deciphering the meaning is what Clephas is talking about, and you should avoid that from day one. For example, when you think of 元気（genki), you should recall the places you've heard it used (元気ですか？　はい、元気です。　；　とても元気な子。） and tie the word's meaning to that, rather than turn it into english and then interpret that english.
 
The following is a bit more for early intermediate learners who have begun to read native material:
Attaching 脆い to english definitions like "brittle" are ok, though one thing about building connotations for the word: associate the word with the contexts you see it in, not the connotations of the english keywords you are using (ie. "brittle" or "fragile").

This, total immersion is not required...I never did it. What's needed is hundreds of hours of practice, and the easiest way to do that for most people is making it a close to everyday thing.
 
Though...without exposure to RL conversation japanese (J-drama's are a lot closer than anime/VN's) and much speaking practice, I ended up both lacking knowledge of conversational phrases and skill generating sentences, replying, and holding a conversation, despite having strong grammar sense and a decent vocabulary from reading. After you hit intermediate level, it starts to depends what material you have exposure to and what you spend time practicing (reading, writing, speaking, listening).
This. That in itself is not a big problem, but it's a symptom of a more serious one (see below).
To be more clear:
Parsing japanese in logical units of meaning and then trying to figure out the meaning from there is OK.
Turning the japanese into english before deciphering the meaning is what Clephas is talking about, and you should avoid that from day one. For example, when you think of 元気（genki), you should recall the places you've heard it used (元気ですか？　はい、元気です。　；　とても元気な子。） and tie the word's meaning to that, rather than turn it into english and then interpret that english.
 
The following is a bit more for early intermediate learners who have begun to read native material:
Attaching 脆い to english definitions like "brittle" are ok, though one thing about building connotations for the word: associate the word with the contexts you see it in, not the connotations of the english keywords you are using (ie. "brittle" or "fragile").

I liked Ga-rei Zero and Sola (the OST for that anime is really good) enough to watch the OP multiple times, but my favourite out of the ones here has to be Spice and Wolf. Most of it comes from the song, though 0:33 is an AWESOME touch.
 
SAO 1's quite nice, though honestly I prefer it with lyrics overlay (it looks more lively)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUSwH8gsx4I
 

I love the horizon backdrops at 1:05, the vocals are to my liking. The ED might be even better though.

Probably the route that surprised me most was Kanata's route 1 in Devils Devel Concept... at the time, I had no idea that a VN could possibly take such a psychotic turn (makes Akiha, Hisui, and Kohaku's paths seem tame). 


 
Edit:  Really, all of Devils Devel Concept's routes surprised me, because they were so... different.  There was no attempt to soften the nature of the characters or to exaggerate them either.  The writer took an 'in their natural setting' approach to the characters in that game that made their extreme actions all the more shocking at times.

...てもらえない implies that the speaker is actively trying (and failing) to get someone to do those things, instead of just being passive. But it doesn't really change much in this case.
 
Otherwise I just don't like using things like "that person". It sounds awkward in English. Japanese don't like to use pronouns, but English use pronouns whenever possible, so in English I feel it flows more smoothly if we use a pronoun.
 
Really at this point it's personal taste.

Ugh... the language used here is a bit heavy. Kind of just said "meh" at points. 
 
That was a bit long, please try to keep things to asking specific questions, rather than translating complete paragraphs with no questions. This isn't a particularly good translation, but should at least give an idea of what's going on. Feels quite heavy/tense reading it, couldn't quite capture that in english. 

Merry Xmas! I like this hat craze, Fiddle helped add one to my pic!

To everyone who is a part of Fuwanovel and its many affiliates,
 
Greetings from Japan, and happy holidays to everyone worldwide! As I sit here in my warm room sipping a glass of hot chocolate while typing this message and listening to soothing Christmas music, I can't help but take the time to write a response to Fuwanovel in regards to the holiday season and what it means to me.
 
As many of you are aware, certain countries around the world recently celebrated Thanksgiving last week, and seeing that I wasn't able to enjoy it with the rest of my family being all the way on the other side of the world, I missed an opportunity to give my thanks to the people and things that mean a lot to me and make a huge impact on my life. Thanksgiving is the time of year for many of us to give thanks and be grateful for the many opportunities that are tossed our way, and whether you are a religious sort or a person who tends to keep to themselves, I feel there is always something in our life we can be thankful for.
 
That being said, I want to do a little something different with this post. Before leaving for Japan, I thanked a lot of you for being supportive and giving me an awesome website with which to be a part of, however this time around I want to thank you in a different way. I want to give thanks this holiday season by sharing in the joy of what makes this website a strong foundation for a very supportive family. Without every single member of this site actively sharing in a passionate genre that many people might think odd in the real world, there wouldn't be a place which we call home. While a lot of us have differing opinions on how this site should be run, what makes a good visual novel a masterpiece, or whether h-scenes are acceptable in a game, our driving passion as a community continues to push us forward. States of limbo, lack of progress, and endless discussion are merely parts of the process for making this website what it is today.
 
And so, I want to stop for a moment and give thanks to the many members here on this site for doing what you do. Thank you to all the fan translators, editors, hackers, and group workers who continue to give this medium life, and who continue to make us happy every single day. To us, translating even 100 lines means the world, and without you, there would be no place to call home. Thank you to every single Japanese enthusiast who understands the language and continues to support the genre and provide us with constant assistance in learning a language that many of us believe makes these stories so much more worth it. Learning a language is never easy for a most people, and your passion and helpful advice continues to motivate us in ways you cannot imagine.
 
Thank you to the staff of Fuwanovel who, through all the shit you get daily from hate messages to reports, continue to trudge through the mess of mud slinging and push this site in the right direction. Being a leader is not easy, and while decisions we or anyone makes are not always worth it or have repercussions later on, your continued strive to do what is right moves us along each and everyday. Thank you to the haters of Fuwanovel who continue to despise this site for what it is. While it isn't in my best interest to address this, without you, this site would not grow from its misdemeanors and strengthen itself with each new mishap. You aren't the most healthy members of Fuwanovel, but you do offer advice that on occasion helps us realize our mistakes and move forward.
 
And finally, thank you to every single member of Fuwanovel who make this genre exactly what it should be: a place to not be afraid to share in something we are all very passionate about. Each and every single 1 of you do your best to contribute what you believe will better this website, and while a lot of the things you accomplish may go unnoticed, the things you do are in no way unappreciated. I myself thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this place so much better. We have our social cliques, but in the end as I have always stated, its the family that counts. You are all different, and you all have ways of making this place better for everyone, but in the end every single member focuses on the love of something we all enjoy.
 
So as we come to a close at the end of the year, take a second to stop and think where you stand on this website today. Remember your 1st post, and remember how you as an individual have grown to feel at home in some way or another.
 
With that, I say happy holidays Fuwanovel, and stay safe this season!
 

 
In addition...
 
What is Christmas without a special surprise? As Rose pointed out, what's a Ren thread without a giveaway? Well, I had originally wanted to wait a day to add this to the thread as part of a special Christmas surprise, but what the hell.
 
Introducing:
 
OriginalRen's Very Merry Christmas Giveaway!
 

 
No tricks, no gimmicks, and no special rules for this giveaway. As part of the holiday spirit, all you need to do in order to be included in the random drawing is the following:
Celebrate the holiday season by adding a "Santa hat" to your avatar. If it already contains a hat, no worries! For the remainder of the month, keep that spirit strong by making something unique and awesome Post in this thread with your new avatar and state your interest in being apart of the giveaway  
It's as simple as that! One lucky winner will receive a physical visual novel copy of...
 
Clannad
 



 



 
Video:
 

 
During the cold winter nights, enjoy reading a VN that a lot of you feel has left a good impression on the community.
 
The signups will close next week on Wednesday, December 10th @ 11:59pm JST so make sure you join as soon as possible!
 
Happy holidays once again everyone!

A whole page to wish us merry xmas. Seems legit

Hmm, the actual topic is interesting so I'll just plow on ahead.
 
Why do nukiges exist?
-fappers may prefer the text + voice + sprite/cg interface of visual novels as it is more immersive.
-the long play time gives a chance for the fapper to grow attached the the characters, resulting in a different experience.
-a few people play nukige (mostly?) for entertainment value, but that's beyond the point
 
Why do people (still) play all-ages nakige/charage-VN's?
-they enjoy becoming attached to and spending time with the characters
 
Why developers explicitly include H-scenes in non-nukige games?
-some of the people who enjoy becoming attached to the characters now would like H-scenes with their herione. I mean doujinshi (derivative) porn is practically the same concept.
-for people who bought the story and get bored of it and are still interested in random porn, they are included anyways.
 
What if most VN's didn't have H-scenes?
We'd have a lot more resources to devote to CG's. Imo, that wouldn't improve VN's THAT much, unless artistic directing improved as well. Well, it would certainly allow for scenarios and settings which are more CG-demanding. That's actually pretty important and a shame.
 
In terms of the western market, it would definitely increase the marketability of these games. But many of the people interested in VN's still do so because they enjoy becoming attached the heriones, and as the TL'd hentai/doujinshi industry and manga gamer's finances show, the western fandom is no less horny than our Japanese counterparts.
 
It's hard to speak generally, but if a VN wanted to use an H-scene for development purposes, there would be no need to include them on the other herione routes. Now, since a quota is demanded, I suppose writers will incoporate them as best as they can, to the point where the fact that the two characters have sex isn't as disruptive to the story as the fact that the VN explicitly shows the scene, for the purpose of titillation. Honestly, for this, the skip button. If you are purely talking about immersion and not outrage at the existence of fan-service in this world, 8 seconds of skip isn't bad.
 
Now, for the topic I actually wanted to talk about: https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/7578-idealizationappeal-of-heriones-in-vns/

Hmm, the actual topic is interesting so I'll just plow on ahead.
 
Why do nukiges exist?
-fappers may prefer the text + voice + sprite/cg interface of visual novels as it is more immersive.
-the long play time gives a chance for the fapper to grow attached the the characters, resulting in a different experience.
-a few people play nukige (mostly?) for entertainment value, but that's beyond the point
 
Why do people (still) play all-ages nakige/charage-VN's?
-they enjoy becoming attached to and spending time with the characters
 
Why developers explicitly include H-scenes in non-nukige games?
-some of the people who enjoy becoming attached to the characters now would like H-scenes with their herione. I mean doujinshi (derivative) porn is practically the same concept.
-for people who bought the story and get bored of it and are still interested in random porn, they are included anyways.
 
What if most VN's didn't have H-scenes?
We'd have a lot more resources to devote to CG's. Imo, that wouldn't improve VN's THAT much, unless artistic directing improved as well. Well, it would certainly allow for scenarios and settings which are more CG-demanding. That's actually pretty important and a shame.
 
In terms of the western market, it would definitely increase the marketability of these games. But many of the people interested in VN's still do so because they enjoy becoming attached the heriones, and as the TL'd hentai/doujinshi industry and manga gamer's finances show, the western fandom is no less horny than our Japanese counterparts.
 
It's hard to speak generally, but if a VN wanted to use an H-scene for development purposes, there would be no need to include them on the other herione routes. Now, since a quota is demanded, I suppose writers will incoporate them as best as they can, to the point where the fact that the two characters have sex isn't as disruptive to the story as the fact that the VN explicitly shows the scene, for the purpose of titillation. Honestly, for this, the skip button. If you are purely talking about immersion and not outrage at the existence of fan-service in this world, 8 seconds of skip isn't bad.
 
Now, for the topic I actually wanted to talk about: https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/7578-idealizationappeal-of-heriones-in-vns/