[Poll + Discussion] Censorship in Gaming: Is self-censorship actually censorship?

[sanahtlig]

10 minutes ago, VLOCKUP said:

I guess the priority thing is what make STARLESS fix patch will be released. They have better priorities after all.

That's an entirely different matter but also not a good situation.  After JAST's recent QC failings I can't really blame anyone for not wanting to pre-order anymore.  Have to wait for reviews to make sure there isn't something wrong with the game first.  And then wait some more because no one reviews titles that aren't major releases or the flavor of the month.

Even Flowers doesn't have an in-depth review 9 days after release, and that had gotten a lot of attention.  Sakura Dungeon had site reviews within 5 days.

[Tehoa]

That Satan -> Prince of Darkness cencorship accusation makes me think that obviously English eroge localisations are cencoring eroge by removing mosaics!

Yeah... That is obviously ridiculous claim. Still I don't think it is exactly wrong that people complain loudly about cencorship (even if it really isn't cencorship). I mean that is way to get attention and some companies can cater to them as a result, that could benefit both the people complaining and the companies.

[WinterfuryZX]

19 minutes ago, Tehoa said:

That Satan -> Prince of Darkness cencorship accusation makes me think that obviously English eroge localisations are cencoring eroge by removing mosaics!

Yeah... That is obviously ridiculous claim. Still I don't think it is exactly wrong that people complain loudly about cencorship (even if it really isn't cencorship). I mean that is way to get attention and some companies can cater to them as a result, that could benefit both the people complaining and the companies.

Well... if the genitals are redrawn by the localizers, yes, they basically "censored" the original mosaiced art...

[john 'mr. customer' smith]

Sex was a mistake

[Ningen]

It's more like cut content than censorship if it isn't required by law.

Willingly taking out things is even worse than doing it because you're being forced to.

[knightnightmare]

The idea the government has to be involved before it is actual censorship is nonsense.  The Merriam-Webster definition of censor is as follows:
 

Quote

:  a person who supervises conduct and morals: as
a :  an official who examines materials (as publications or films) for objectionable matter
b :  an official (as in time of war) who reads communications (as letters) and deletes material considered sensitive or harmful

Nowhere is that does it say anything about the government. An official could be anyone in position of power at a company or organization. 

[sevencamelot]

I believe all censorship has a reason, therefore I can't really oppose it. 

Companies want to make money, so their decisions are based on that.  I do prefer games that dont stray too far from what was original.  But putting a censor bar or changing a char age etc is hardly anything to cry about.

[Guest]

Either they follow local regulations for their games not to me rated M and shit like that or they beleive they'll profit more out of changing their games a bit.

Big deal.

It's a business decision.

[kyrt]

Localization is just a fancy business term for censoring/altering content in order to increase profits and to actually make the game understandable by people not of the original country.

[Soulless Watcher]

Not sure if someone has brought this up yet, but this all reminds me of the video Jim Stirling did on the subject. 

Thank God for him.

[yorikbad]

About Censhorship

It's a hilarious discussion from a point of non-american ESL human being that lives in a country, which for 70 years stayed behind the Iron Wall. Guys, you really don't understand that censorship and especially self-censorship is evil. When people agree to it, for commercial or moral reason, they always choose the easy way. Because the hard way means debate, struggle and fight. Many different communties won their rights through constant battle with the censhorship, ignoring someone saying ''you are not our target audience or you're vocal minority''.

About censored VN

Visual Novels from the very first one were created for adults and still are aiming to adult buyers in Japan. So when localization companies bring these games to the West, cut the sex scenes or tone down the violence, they CHANGE target audience. And also, there is no such thing as all-age visual novels. Even Tokyo Babel or you actually believe a child can understand all that religious stuff? I am okay with DI official translation because it's the only way I can read this game, but don't justify its censhorship just because it's kamige.