July MotM Competition!

[Tay]

MotM is coming back! Technically Down was MotM in June, but I ran into a technical issue and didn’t get things installed in time. Sorry, Down!

 

The next MotM will be chosen via participation in this thread. Here’s what you have to do to be qualified for consideration:

 

1. Vote in the poll above
2. Write a reply about how Visual Novels have impacted your life. Feel free to write as much as you want.

 

Those users who BOTH vote in the poll and reply in this topic describing VNs’ impact in their lives will be entered into the competition. The competition will close on Tuesday 7/15, at which point I’ll use a random number generator to select the winner and our July 2014 MotM!

 

Please Note: It doesn’t matter which poll option you pick – just that you voted. The results will be chosen randomly, so don’t be concerned that your choice will impact your likelihood of being chosen.

 

All users should feel free to vote in the poll, however, even if you don't want to be MotM. The poll is for internal use, only, as a comparison to a more thorough and rigorous poll we did last year.

[Tay]

Oh! I forgot to talk about the rewards! There are two rewards for becoming our July 2014 MotM: 

1. You will be lavished with love and honor.
2. You can either choose a hand-drawn note of congratulations from me, or you can ask me just about any one question and I'll do my best to answer it.

 

Good luck!

[OriginalRen]

How have visual novels impacted my life? Ya know, I've always thought about this question and how to best answer it and after much thought I can honestly say I can boil it down to one simple sentence:

Visual novels are culture.

I've used the phrase "language is culture" with my students many times before, but when I really stopped to think about it, it was the same for me with VNs. Visual novels aren't just games anymore, they are gateways into another culture that intrinsically motivate those around them. Sure, they may not always be rich in story or make much sense in the grand scope of things, but overall I can say that visual novels are one of the main reasons I wanted to teach English in Japan to begin with.

It all started with a DeviantART friend of mine introducing me to Katawa Shoujo. After that game visual novel reading became a hobby of mine, one I still enjoy to this day. I read all the "popular" games and learned about new ones when I finally found Fuwanovel. For me to say visual novels alone changed my life is an understatement.

It may seem like I'm kissing everyone's ass and singing the praises of everyone for all the land to hear, but in reality it is more than that. Visual novels made me interested in pursuing projects on this site, it made me interested in seeing the podcast stay alive, it made me interested in its people. Visual novels, no the entire fandom of the genre, are the people. Without the people you lose the excitement, you lose the joy of sharing a game with others, and you lose the force that breathes life into these games. Sure you can sit alone in your room and enjoy the fun of an awesome scene in a novel, but what good is it if you can't talk about how awesome it is to others? I'm not saying you need to share the experiences with every person you meet, but isn't it that much better when you yourself can say, "well shit, that game was amazing" and someone agrees?

Visual novels made me proud to talk about what I enjoy, it made me want to teach more Japanese students English, and it made me motivated to learn another language. The friends I met through this medium make me proud to talk about what I enjoy and not be ashamed. Sure, everyone can use the argument that "internet friends" aren't "true friends," but what good is that? To me some of the people I have met through the common interest of visual novels are incredible people. I may not share the same interests as them in some cases, but you're damn right they are pretty awesome to talk to and a joy to have met and keep in touch with outside of the net.

The people are the core, and the medium is the house that shelters them all. Visual novels impacted my life like I am sure they have other people, and I'm sure everyone has their own story to share.

[solidbatman]

I found more ways to waste my time thanks to visual novels. 

[HMN]

so one year ago i stared learning japanese and from the very start i knew i needed something to keep me interested in learning and there isn't better way than doing something fun related to the language right? that's how i started watching anime reading manga and ultimately i came across fuwanovel and visual novels, when i first started reading one i didn't know what to expect but i fell in love with them shortly after.these days i'm never bored i always have a VN to read and also as a non-native speaker i pick up a lot of vocabulary while reading one and it's a really good way to test my ability in reading japanese so you could say visual novels are one of the reasons that kept my interest in the language

[Nosebleed]

I'll try not to quote that big post I made some months ago about my life too much.

But to put it simply VNs are what drove me to learn japanese and from that I decided that I wanted to mold my professional career around learning and translating japanese, particularly VNs of course, and this drove me to self study which is something I barely used to do before.

VNs gave me something to open a path in my life after I was stuck so many years not knowing what to do with it.

VNs gave me a new hobby as well as a lifestyle, they gave me new tastes I didn't know I could have before and they gave me hours of enjoyment that I'm glad I had the change to experience.

And most importantly they were the foundation of this community that I'm glad I can be part of and share my VN experiences with~

[Funyarinpa]

Games can be one thing or another(and if they do both well, they are genuine masterpieces): 

 

1)They can be fun.

2)They can convey a story or a message.

 

They are equally important.

 

And pretty much all VN's I have read managed to achieve the second one. 

 

A full list of all I have done so far:

 

Remember11

Ever17

999(with emulator)

Virtue's Last Reward (VLR for short)

Umineko

Steins; Gate

FruitSim

 

Umineko taught me how strong love, the desire for truth or revenge and perspective can be . Steins ;Gate taught me of memories and friendship. 

999 told me of the morphogenetic field and how people are never what they seem, but mostly told me a great tale. VLR told me an incredible story and bent my mind with each twist, and when I finished it, it became my favorite video game of all time. FruitSim told me of... ...fruit.

 

VN's made me find this absolutely amazing and weird community. They sparked my interest in Japanese and made me realize what a beautiful language it is, and what a unique culture it is built upon. If someone told me Japanese were actually from another planet, I would not have been surprised.

 

VN's are pretty damn awesome.

[Kaguya]

So, I've read over 300 VNs (without counting nukiges). It's been really a lot, I often find out that most people I talk to here haven't read even a tenth of that. Kind of lonely, actually-  there are tons of great VNs I'd love to discuss with people, but I can't seem to find anyone else who has read them.

 

Well, I learned (still learning, I guess) jp because of them. After there wasn't anything translated to read anymore, I had to go after the untranslated ones. I most likely won't use it for anything besides browsing pixiv and reading VNs, but it's entertaining anyway.

 

In the end, VNs are my main source of entertainment. I do a lot of exercise to keep healthy, but those aren't fun, they're just necessary. I've found myself charmed by the way VNs can tell stories. While I do have my complaints about them (for example, way too much romance) they're still pretty fun.

 

So, yeah. They bring me lots of fun, which overall makes my mood better. That's the small impact VNs have every day in my life~

[suikashoujo]

VNs gave me a new way to experience the anime/manga type stories that I had already loved for a long time. They opened me up to more experiences and interests that I may have never given a second glance otherwise. And most importantly, they gave me a fun way to waste my time.

[Okami]

VNs & Anime changed my life for 360 degree. It could be even sad that they saved me.

 

Before I become Otaku I didn't really enjoy anything, my life was boring and I didn't care for anything, I was just moving form day to day not careing for anything and was just killing a time with whatever comes to my mind, I was high or/and drunk all the time and when I wasn't I was doing crimes to get money so I could buy more drugs and alcohol (Witch is how most people in my country live). I was fighting in bars and street fights all the time I even killed someone before (Judged as self defense on court). And some things happened and I ended stuck in hose and after some times of playing games and watching movies/TV shows all day while searching a net for something to kill a time with I stumbled across an Anime that I used to watch as a kid (bleach),  and as I was bored I decided to watch it to kill a time. What come as surprise is that I actually enjoyed it, in that point of time I couldn't even remember the last time that I enjoyed doing something, I tried most of the things life has to offer and I didn't really enjoy any of them but while watching this Anime I really enjoyed it. After that I started searching for something similar and started watching more Anime and I enjoyed them even more but what surprised me even more is that I actually cared for what happens in those Anime to those characters, I newer cared for anyone, friends, family, girlfriends it was always just about mutual benefits I never cared for any of them nor did any of them cared for me and it was just natural that way but I cared for those characters in Anime. After that in a very short period of time my life, personality, opinions everything about me changed completely even my look changed I become a new person, I like to say that the old me died and the new me was born. I still don't care for anything in RL if anything my opinion about it gone even lower then it was but this time I simply choose to ignore it and to interact with it just as minimum as is necessary. And when I discovered VNs they expended my life that resolves around Anime as the only thing that has worth in this world. I doubt that there are many people who's life was changed so much by VNs and Anime as they had mine.

[Flutterz]

Several years ago I wasn't doing a thing with my life, but then I found VNs. Now, a bit over 2 years later I'm sill not doing a thing with my life, but I'm also playing porn games.

[OriginalRen]

Several years ago I wasn't doing a thing with my life, but then I found VNs. Now, a bit over 2 years later I'm sill not doing a thing with my life, but I'm also playing porn games.

Spoken like a true man Flutterz. Bravo.

[hsmsful]

Well I was already a shut-in by the time I knew visual novels and anime. 

So the only impact that instead of lazing around and killing THE TIME on my sofa enjoying the cold air coming from my air conditioner and eating ... eating eating and then I got fat.... then *cries*

After that, i knew visual novels and anime. So I play Vns and watch anime in free time... thus not eating.... thus losing weight. That's the only impact VNS HAVE ON MY LIFE. 

The only other impact I can remember is : increasing my fapping frequency

[Funnerific]

Write a reply about how Visual Novels have impacted your life.

To put it simply, I found love.

 

Visual novels have the beauty that most of the other forms of media, as well as IRL itself, never had - that is, when the story is not aimed at children/family type of audience. And while anime has some of it, it doesn't offer nearly as much connection to the characters (first-person perspective), immersion (thank you, loads of amazing BGM), options (I've had enough of "romance" harem anime with no actual romance) or let you go at your own, comfortable pace. Getting to intimately know the heroines you come to like is another good point, but I digress.

 

I feel like visual novels have filled up a large empty part in me. They help me learn about different sides of the argument and form opinions as well as stimulate thinking in general - particularly useful for someone who has always lacked common sense.

 

Since I've read practically every translated VN I found interesting, my passion has brought me to the obvious next step - I am mostly done with joyo kanji and it shouldn't be too long now. My current goal is to read at least one route in some easy Japanese VN (Hanahira excluded ) this summer, which would otherwise be going to waste like most of the others (there was a time when I spent a month reading books, but in the end I just didn't get hooked on them). Some day I want to translate a VN or two as a tribute, but that's a longshot.

 

And to think that only half a year ago I couldn't imagine myself learning (and studying) any new foreign languages other than German, which unfortunately I will need.

 

While I don't really have the ability to spread the word, visual novels are something I hold very close to heart.

[Scars Unseen]

Visual novels helped through several months without the internet.  Nearly 5 months of utter boredom alleviated by Katawa Shoujo, Steins;Gate and Grisaia no Kajitsu.

 

Oh, and they helped distract me from my divorce as well.

[Zakamutt]

Before visual novels, I was less socially involved on the net. The few friends and scattered communities I was part of were sliding away for the most part; I wasn't all that sad about this, but it wasn't great either. I spent my days playing DotA and browsing small-time forums or reading info-binge sites like tvtropes and wikipedia. I used to devour books when I was younger, but that had slowed down.

 

Basically, I was diverting myself from reality with games. Now, read on because this aspect did not improve

 

I saw Katawa Shoujo mentioned on various sites (among others I think RPS had an article on it?). It was free, so why not? Seemed interesting. Read, and experienced them feels. From tvtropes I had seen CLANNAD being mentioned quite a lot, so I got that as my second vn (I think...). F/SN followed, etc. Somewhere along this process I found vndb and used its lovely sort by rating feature to plan out what to read. I don't know what took me to fuwa; might have been someone dissing it on vndb for all I know.

 

Fuwanovel was interesting. I was already interested in pirate issues and concepts like the sharing economy, abolishing copyright et cetera, so I pretty much agreed with Aaeru's position (market realities make me slightly more pragmatic now; the market situation we've got makes certain compromises sensible for the goal of making VNs more popular in the west.) Quite early on Fuwa, so discussion threads were more interesting to me (and I hadn't debated every topic at hand already.) Started off with no introduction, just posted.

 

Eventually I joined Steve's ts3, back when he was still spamming delicious loli pics. I held off from the IRC for some time, because I wasn't sure if it was any good... but eventually I joined and it turned out to be significantly more active than the ts3 (if less focused.) A core group of people on IRC got pretty active at this time, with me and then-Nakanishi Kaguya (thus Nakuya) being the most active and/or spammy. There was fun, there was drama (the silliest of which being the AMApocalypse - did you just cringe? ), and it was certainly pretty lively all in all.

 

Eventually I got a twitter account, since some people weren't on the IRC much and spent their time there instead. As drama and time took its toll on IRC activity, I became more active there instead.

 

Throughout, I was obsessively refreshing the fuwaboards new topics search to see if I should read or weigh in on something - these days things tend to already have 20 replies by the time I see them and at that point I'm generally superfluous and/or unwilling to read those 20 (which my policy requires.) I still refresh them anyway, though~

 

I tried to do things for the site when I could and was nonlazy enough. A few of the torrent releases we've got are partly or mostly thanks to my work, and I actually uploaded two to one of Fuwa's seedboxes back when Aaeru was still around. Eventually I got to be a writer for VNAer. I was pretty slacky after a brief burst of activity, but these days I've picked up the pace on that somewhat (look and see ). My belief in the ultimate fuwanovel goal of making VNs popular in the west (aim high, realize that more popular is as far as we're going to get heh.) is a big part of why I'm doing it these days. Massaging my ego helps, of course - though I'm probably not read by that many.

 

VNs didn't stop me from escaping from reality, but they did make that escape a much more vivid. I've experienced some great stories through VNs, equally or perhaps more engrossing than good books I've read - especially on the emotional front. VNs were often romance-themed much more than the usual Western story I'd read before (reading romance books as a man is pretty embarrassing, and they're aimed at women in the West.) With VNs I could discount that (reading the VNs on a faptop in my room, door closed...), and it's quite possible my inexperience with the type made me rate them higher than experienced reader would - I wonder how much this is a factor for other people.

 

VNs led me to Fuwanovel, got me on twitter (much better than expected), and generally made my life revolve around the scene. I think my days now are somewhat better than what I had before. And when I read an engrossing VN far into the night... that's a pretty nice ride. I did also stop reading regular books though, so I suppose I lost something (A Memory of Light gazes mournfully upon me...)

 

I still need to fix RL though. Ah well, nobody's perfect.

[ExiledSaber]

I still belive to this day clannad had a hand in helping me through a real dark time, and no i dont want to elberate on that, those where dark days.

[Tay]

Reminder: This will close in 3 days, at which point I'll convert your names into a numbered list and use a random number generator to choose the winners.

 

Thanks for the fabulous entries! I hope others will continue to add their voices before Tuesday!

[krill]

when i was younger and again now i didn't have many friends so i spent my time reading. my fave was the choose your own adventure books. id read all the ones in both my local library's and schools library and eventually had to have them shipped from other libraries to my local so i could keep consuming them. the idea of interactive fiction was amazing to me . then when i got older i heard about visual novels and wanted to give them a try figuring it be similar but didn't know where to start looking and soon forgot about it. one day while surfing a hentai site i ran across a link for katawa shoujo. i downloaded installed and then played it non stop for days with no walk through. i was immediately hooked it was like being a kid again and discovering a story world where i had a part in the out come. but so much better then the old choose your adventure books because the story's had more depth and the characters were better fleshed out . so once again i felt the joy of reading a story and seeing how my choices influenced how it turned out.  child hood wonder thats what visual novels mean to me a passport to someone elses fantasy world where i help control where the story goes. 

[crunchytaco]

I've been on an Anime marathon since January when I left work due to medical leave. I had carpal tunnel syndrome and since my work uses 90% of that arm, there was nothing I could do. It's probably been around 10 years since I've returned to the Japanese scene. Anyhow, with all my free time I searched for all the greatest Anime hits that I've missed in between those years. I finally stumbled on the cover of Fate/Stay Night and Zero and thought they were nice covers. Not knowing which one to watch first, I did some research on the title and that was where I heard about the term "Visual Novels" for the first time. Unlike Light Novels that I've been wanting to read for awhile but couldn't due to language barrier, I was overjoyed that these Visual Novels have a fan base of translators behind them. 

 

In March I Googled Fate/Stay Night visual novel, and a post by Kaguya 50 VN's You should Play Before you Die came to the top. That's how I found Fuwanovel. I have to admit, the first time I saw that homepage, I was instantly captivated by its layout - O 'dat childish innocence. Those colorful, playful words drew me right in. I knew I was in the right place. Thus, Fate/Stay Night was downloaded and I was glued to my seat for a full week. What did I just read? The tears were so beautiful. I hadn't felt this touched by a story in so long. The feeling of being there every moment, living and breathing through the MC's eyes was unlike anything I've played before. Bliss, bliss, bliss was all on my mind. 

 

Being home out of work for extended periods had this collapsing affect on my well being. I was falling into a pretty bad depression. I was pretty close to getting married before I left work. All I could think about was my ex-fiance and Saber. Saber was so much more pure and loyal that when she disappeared in the end I cried for her while cursing my ex. Some people may not understand where my obsession with honorable female leads come from, but it's been a trust issue for me since.

 

The second VN I played hit me with another impact. The serious nature of Fate/Stay night was replaced by Sengoku Rance's, detestable MC and his adventures. Ironically, this game pulled me out of my depression. Perhaps I just needed a kick in the rear and start seeing relationships in a more comical fashion. The game kept me constantly laughing. That, the pretty women and the truly addicting gameplay distracted me from any depressing thoughts. This game really was my saving grace.

 

I still slipped in and out of depression after Sengoku Rance. More than two years ago my sister passed away. More than two years after that, I still wake up with nightmares related to her, wondering what am I doing with my life right now? Everyone around me's going to end up dead and long gone. The long hours drag by and your thoughts begin to wander into unnecessary deep and dark places.

----

 

Some VNs later I decided to reload up Sengoku Rance for more laughs. After doing every route, every accomplishment and discovering every H scene, I declared myself a true Rance fan. As weeks began passing, my shoulders began feeling lighter as I get more and more distracted from the memories of my ex. Replacing that depression has been a lot of anger. Anger is supposed to be healthy. It's when you wake up and understand that you are alive again. You no longer want to take it all for granted. But it's not healthy if the anger starts taking over you.

 

I needed something to release my pent up anger. What I needed was exercise. And playing Grisaia No Kajutsu was what inspired me to take up running each day. The main character brought out the child inside me who always dreamed about being a super soldier when he was young. Each morning I wake up at 5 in the morning, do my running exercise and then make breakfast. I've added in more exercise routines as I've been feeling more fit to do so. I forgot to mention that somewhere there my Carpal Tunnel is about 100% gone. All that rest I receive at the beginning and the gradual exercise I've built up with my arms have made it vanished.

 

I really have no excuse to be gone from work anymore. It's been about 6-7 months since I've been absent. I just wish I had more time to learn Japanese. My study came along really fluidly. Much faster than my study in Spanish due to motivation and love. I probably should worry about myself first, but if I have anything to spare I'd like to someday give back and spread joy.

[babiker]

Dam, I don't wanna bore people to death, so I'll just say VN's are awesome, I'm very keen on becoming a VN developer,  and I have met some of the best people in my life here. If gems exist in the in the internet, this site is one of them

[Steve]

and I have met some of the best people in my life here

 

thank you, you didn't have to be so kind to me 

[babiker]

thank you, you didn't have to be so kind to me 

(-_-)

[crunchytaco]

I don't really have much to say, I'm not great at putting walls of text. After watching the Shuffle anime I was on the wiki and I came across the term visual novel. Too keep it short I eventually came across fuwanovel after looking for a place to get VNs for free, heh. Ever since then I've stuck around even though I don't really read VNs that often. So essentially VNs showed me a new kind of entertainment, as well as brought me here where I have met and become friends with a few of the members here.

 

Seeing as I'm one of the two with the largest walls, I assure you I meant to type a paragraph.

[Katatsumuri]

It has impacted my life in some ways, and yet not at all. 

I have no great sentiments like "My life was boring before I discovered them", or "They taught me great lessons/values/stuff"

 

For one, it merely was the end of my search for something with more story than RPGs (which I still like a lot). I have always cared about story, and story is what VNs are all about (not counting nukige, obviously). It's that simple. And Besides, it has wasted more time than any other medium of entertainment, so I guess that means that it is my favorite medium.

 

But anyways, My interest in VNs merely came from me suddenly finding Fate/stay Night, and thinking that it sounded interesting. Hilariously, one of the reasons why I wanted to read it in the first place, is that it didn't seem that famous, and therefore, I wouldn't stumble upon any spoilers. One look at VNDB confirms that I had no idea about VN popularity at the time... 

 

And as a closing sentence, I only have this to say (write?): Take everything in moderation. Going to extremes is always bad, no matter what it is about.