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Visual novels - making them more popular in the west? how?


FoggyOrchid

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as you all know Fuwanovel's goal is to make VNs more popular in the west but how does one do that i'm not familiar with the rest of the western world thus i'm not familiar with market but i'm assuming there are no online retailers and B&M aka brick n mortar's that sell physical copies and iv never seen any online retailers or B&M that sell VNs in the US the point i'm trying to make is VNs have no footing in the western market at least not the US so how does one make them more popular in the west. I'm trying to gage everyone's opinion so we can know more. But then again do we "really" want them to become more popular in the west i know most of you will say YES!! but is that true cus if they do blowup in the west the whole pick up a free VN and go will no longer exist of course most will pay up for something they love as will i but then again some VNs are just bad and no one will pay money for a bad product and let's be honest there allot of bad VNs maybe more bad then good and that's a big scare for any company trying to bring them to the west and of course we cant forget h-scene's if VNs did become big at least in the US the ESRB won't let that fly but there are a lot of good VNs that have no h-scene's but then again there are good ones that have h-scene's and of course we will lose are tight knit community at Fuwanovel i guess thats it sometimes sacrifices must be made....do you want them to be big in the west

 

thanks for anyone who read and sorry if this is already topic i looked but i did not see any thing about it and of course maybe i'm over thinking all this and sorry for any bad grammar

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Well, it's to increase demand. Basically, most westerners have no idea what VNs are. Fuwanovel introduces the West to VNs, and then westerners send game devs requests to localize their next game, thereby creating demand for localization in the west and making VNs more popular in general.

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To be honest with you, I don't want VNs to be popular in the West. I like to be unique and know of something amazing that few know about. Besides, western governments would probably censor everything to the core. I'm happy with the way things are right now.

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To be honest with you, I don't want VNs to be popular in the West. I like to be unique and know of something amazing that few know about. Besides, western governments would probably censor everything to the core. I'm happy with the way things are right now.

i agree with you 100% 

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It's less "I want visual novels to be popular in the west" and more "I want there to be a viable market for visual novels in the west."  Let's face it:  there is no way that visual novels will ever be anything other than niche.  There is nothing about the medium that lends itself to mainstream acceptance in today's gaming community.  Maybe this would have been different when CRPGs were just starting to hit their stride in terms of maturity, but we've moved on to a point where even CRPGs are mostly action hybrids of some sort.

 

But just because the medium won't be mainstream doesn't mean that there is no place for visual novels in western market.  Afterall, who could have predicted that games like The Walking Dead could be as successful as they are?  Who could have foreseen Project Eternity being such a big hit on the crowdfunding front?  It isn't popularity that is needed.  It's simply awareness.  Visual novels have always been the sort of thing that I would have loved.  But I didn't know that until I gave Katawa Shoujo a try out of sheer boredom when my internet was out for about 5 months.  How many other people are possibly missing out on incredible narrative experiences just because they don't know that they exist?

 

So yeah, I want more VNs in the west.  And yeah, I feel that if we have to deal with 17+ versions or All Ages versions being the only ones localized in the short term, it's an acceptable price for the medium to gain a permanent foothold in the long term.  After all, we already have visual novels even on this very site that have content patched back in by fans.  It's not like that practice would suddenly stop just because it's official translations that need to be patched.  And in any case, I feel there is a demand for visual novels in the west, there will be less need to rely on distributions platforms that refuse to host games with adult only content.

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It's less "I want visual novels to be popular in the west" and more "I want there to be a viable market for visual novels in the west."  Let's face it:  there is no way that visual novels will ever be anything other than niche.  There is nothing about the medium that lends itself to mainstream acceptance in today's gaming community.  Maybe this would have been different when CRPGs were just starting to hit their stride in terms of maturity, but we've moved on to a point where even CRPGs are mostly action hybrids of some sort.

 

But just because the medium won't be mainstream doesn't mean that there is no place for visual novels in western market.  Afterall, who could have predicted that games like The Walking Dead could be as successful as they are?  Who could have foreseen Project Eternity being such a big hit on the crowdfunding front?  It isn't popularity that is needed.  It's simply awareness.  Visual novels have always been the sort of thing that I would have loved.  But I didn't know that until I gave Katawa Shoujo a try out of sheer boredom when my internet was out for about 5 months.  How many other people are possibly missing out on incredible narrative experiences just because they don't know that they exist?

 

So yeah, I want more VNs in the west.  And yeah, I feel that if we have to deal with 17+ versions or All Ages versions being the only ones localized in the short term, it's an acceptable price for the medium to gain a permanent foothold in the long term.  After all, we already have visual novels even on this very site that have content patched back in by fans.  It's not like that practice would suddenly stop just because it's official translations that need to be patched.  And in any case, I feel there is a demand for visual novels in the west, there will be less need to rely on distributions platforms that refuse to host games with adult only content.

well said and yes i agree that there is a demand for VNs in the west and them only being niche sadly your probably right

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I for one would love to see VNs sold in physical form in Western stores :). It is a non-issue for me even if they are censored versions. If you are really keen on the 18+ edition, just make it clear that there is one available in Japanese. Paying for a VN really makes me committed into giving it more patience. World End Economica was an example and I ended up really enjoying that :).

 

Games like World End Economica and Planetarian would be all right as starting points. They are mostly clean so hopefully newcomers would give them a chance............. It is nice to dream (;w;).

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I for one would love to see VNs sold in physical form in Western stores :). It is a non-issue for me even if they are censored versions. If you are really keen on the 18+ edition, just make it clear that there is one available in Japanese. Paying for a VN really makes me committed into giving it more patience. World End Economica was an example and I ended up really enjoying that :).

 

Games like World End Economica and Planetarian would be all right as starting points. They are mostly clean so hopefully newcomers would give them a chance............. It is nice to dream (;w;).

that's nice to hear VNs sold physical id buy that but than again we live in a day an age where everything is digital so going physical may be a step back or two honestly i love to see VNs on steam 

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I'd like to see them become sold in the west as well. The truth is that if anything is not accepted by the West most countries wouldn't follow. If the west decided to market and sell visual novels I'm very sure other countries would some how follow. After all the west has always been the leading region of the world.

I understand the need to feel like you are doing something that most people will never ever understand but the truth of the matter is that we still aren't buying them. This in my opinion is not good. But how could we buy them if they are not in a language we can all understand....

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I'd like to see them become sold in the west as well. The truth is that if anything is not accepted by the West most countries wouldn't follow. If the west decided to market and sell visual novels I'm very sure other countries would some how follow. After all the west has always been the leading region of the world.

I understand the need to feel like you are doing something that most people will never ever understand but the truth of the matter is that we still aren't buying them. This in my opinion is not good. But how could we buy them if they are not in a language we can all understand....

 

There is a low chance In my opinion that corporate marketing would succeed in selling large quantities of visual novels. Thats just not what the kids are in to nowadays. And most people who enjoy visual novels arent wealthy. We have visual novels, for free.

Visual novels are pretty underground in the United States. And there's a lot of entertainment that we produce that isnt followed by other countries. Isnt that why anime and visual novels exist? Other countries have different interests and tastes than Western society.

If somehow visual novels began to become more mainstream, there would be no problem changing the language haha

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I think that if done well, the official translation of Grisaia and planetarian would play a large role in bringing VN's towards english speaking countries. The fan translation has made Grisaia one of the more popular visual novels and the official translation can allow the VN to possibly be introduced as part of the VN (genre?) as a whole through steam or other means. Just a theory though.

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Two major issues with increasing the appeal of VNs in the west.

 

1.  VNs appeal first and foremost to those who are functionally literate.  I've addressed this reality in other threads, but the fact is, most people in the West never become functionally literate.  The best you get is parroting the words they read without understanding it, for most people.

2.  Sad but true... the appeal of VNs is primarily to otakus, because most of the VNs made in the West are made by or geared to those who already play translated Japanese VNs.  The best way would be to utilize the format to tell more western-oriented stories... but unfortunately, that is unlikely due to the simple fact that there is no real demand that might create such an industry.

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I think that if done well, the official translation of Grisaia and planetarian would play a large role in bringing VN's towards english speaking countries. The fan translation has made Grisaia one of the more popular visual novels and the official translation can allow the VN to possibly be introduced as part of the VN (genre?) as a whole through steam or other means. Just a theory though.

A game VN theory! Thanks for watching reading! :Kappa:

 

The thing is, usually most of those who enter into this medium are those who: 1-Watch anime, 2-Read Novels and such. And as few as those people are, they have a low chance of discovering VN's, and even if they do, they might end up not giving it a try because of the common misconception that VN's are "hentai games". But who cares anyway, I prefer'em staying a nich.

 

And also this:-

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The closest I have seen here in Australia would be 999 and VLR, I suppose. Perhaps blending VNs with some gameplay is a good starting point? Ease our way in or something :).

Your already doing that with your games B) . Keep it up!

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Your already doing that with your games B) . Keep it up!

 

Thank you so much! I am having massive difficulties getting folks to give my efforts a chance, though (;w;).

 

With 999, I know a few people who have no interest in anime, or even reading for that matter, yet they still enjoyed it. To be fair, though, it is a far shorter game than most of the standard VNs out there. Perhaps that is another approach? Give them shorter games to play first. Finishing a VN does feel good, so it might encourage them to read more, etc.

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Q: How to make VNs popular in the West? 
A: Throw lots of money at it and direct it at kids. 

 

I think that children are mostly open minded about things moreso than adults. Western adults don't pick up VNs. However, Western adults who already like anime may pick up VNs. With the case of the former - adults who never grew up with VNs - a VN is a pretty abstract concept to consider. People like what they're familiar with. That's why people CAN make the transition from anime to VN - lovers of anime can still get a similar enjoyment out of VNs. 

 

Before blowing holes right through this argument, I'm going to say that there's no such thing as an absolute and that obviously there are some exceptions to this. Whilst you may agree or disagree, however, there is one absolute that cannot be denied:

Much money must be thrown. 

 

If you're trying to make VNs popular, a super-high quality VN with in-built virality should suffice. Basically, to make an explosion of popularity in the West, I think you just need one (or a few) really really really ridiculously good VNs. So good that people spread the word to non-anime lovers. So good that it no longer becomes a niche thing but a mainstream thing. But to become a mainstream thing, it has to become the "cool" thing because that's how virality works - on using things as social currency. For example, if you HAVEN'T watched Game of Thrones, you're clearly the exception (...I'm actually in this category here). Popularity begets popularity. But how does the initial popularity happen? 

 

With lots of effort, for one. And one other rule: 

 

Much money must be thrown. 

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 Basically, to make an explosion of popularity in the West, I think you just need one (or a few) really really really ridiculously good VNs. So good that people spread the word to non-anime lovers. So good that it no longer becomes a niche thing but a mainstream thing.

Let us hope that your game will be the one. ;)

 

Or any other member here for the matter. I get the feeling that if the person that can make the game with all the above awesomeness, it would be nice if he were from here.

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Q: How to make VNs popular in the West? 

A: Throw lots of money at it and direct it at kids. 

 

I remember reading something about visual novels not being popular among the general public of japan because of it Explicit material.

So if that is the case directing visual novels towards children would not really help would it ?

 

 

 

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