Zodai Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 If it was that urgent of an issue fuwanovel.net would've already been linked as the new front site - .org, sans torrents. Fair enough, I'll go ahead with it. That said, clicking the Fuwanovel button from these forums directs to .net as opposed to .org. I can't tell if that's intentional or not, or worth fixing if it's not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERO! Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 will we at least be given info on where to get the patches free of charge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuky_nekoi Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 will we at least be given info on where to get the patches free of charge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arakura Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Honestly, I'm not very happy about the torrents being dropped. Not only was it a major convenience to me, but it's already hard enough to introduce VNs to people. Linking them to torrents at least made the first step of actually getting a VN really easy. Whats more, installing and patching a Japanese VN can be a huge pain in the ass the first time you do it. That said. I've always trusted your leadership Tay. I know you always do what's best for this site. If a major sacrifice is necessary to keep this community together, then so be it. Long live Fuwanovel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrillej1 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I do think the changes will affect the convenience of accessing what's available to play (especially for newcomers), but it's not a bad change for the site overall, I think. It'll be interesting to see how the community may change and different ways to support VNs. I trust in Tay's decisions^^ since I think he does what's best for the site and everyone involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimeWarp Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I think personally this is a bad move. I think a substantial part of the user base is here for the free, easy access to torrents ---> no free, easy, access to torrents, no more of those users. It would be better if we could at least host the torrents on another site; and I think the all the notifications about other sites hosting malware masquerading as fuwanovel translations is a pretty good indication of what could happen if all the torrents shut down. They'll still be distributed, but in a much less safe, and more dangerous way. The users of the forums and twitter and facebook will still stick around, because they're already hooked on vns. It's preaching to the choir. (Not that that's a bad thing; I'm in the choir too). To hook new users in, there needs to be easy access to free, good, vns. Some people are lazy and some people are horrendously bad with computers; and some people don't want to take the risk of malware that torrenting on a website of questionable reputation brings. The stream of new users, as in new to vns, will probably stagnate. The site will survive, but more as a stronghold of vn users rather than a site for conversion. As to the fact that fewer users of the twitter and facebook use torrents than expected, its probably because the sample is skewed. Users of the facebook and twitter are probably more dedicated and downloaded what they wanted already; the new users, the more important ones, are the ones not surveyed and probably downloading the most. I feel fuwanovel originated as a reputable listings site, and that's the core of its services. Without accessibility, it sort of loses its power, or changes the site fundamentally, from a vn sharing site to a vn promoting site. Which are two very different things -- not necessarily bad things, but two very different ones with slightly overlapping demographics. I hope this site the best, but I'm probably not going to follow it very closely from now on. Thanks for the awesome experience! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zodai Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 In conjunction with Timewarp's message, what exactly is staying? We can assume most stuff will be off, but will Katawa Shoujo still be on the frontpage since it was free to begin with? Narcissu can probably be directed through Steam, at least. What games that are both quality and free can we keep on the frontpage to give new people some starting content? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyrt Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 ...whatever. No seriously as bothersome as having to go back to the older days of finding the game and patching it myself actually was it's not like I didn't use to do it before. I'm a bit sad to see the more convenient (a.k.a. lazy) method of getting visual novels disappear but this is the result of people becoming more aware about the genre. I think vns becoming so known is both a good and a bad thing...when things go mainstream not everything that happens to them is good; I would hate to see more butchered games like If My Heart Had Wings. I do think it would be rather humorous if someone upset by this went off and made the VN Road in response. We've seen what has resulted in the torrents being taken off the website (malware, etc...most likely someone upset by the decision to get rid of torrents and try to get fuwanovel in trouble) but at the same time I believe this might just make the community better. The one thing I would like to see in the future added is either actual patches or links to find the patches of the various translated games; or if you want a more roundabout method of doing this you could just link the visual novel database page where that website often has links to any patches in the process...of course not all of them will be listed on there. I buy visual novels when I can and I'll probably take advantage of the vn ordering service OriginalRen was offering now as a result of this new direction. I wish you luck with the new direction of the website and would be happy to help in various areas if you so require. I'll be staying in for the long haul and look forward to see what some of these new features might bring to the table. Tay and Darklord Rooke 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockmandash12 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I'm kinda bummed by this. It was so nice to be able to get games from fuwa, but what needs to be done needs to be done. I buy VNs as much as I possibly can, but there was something nice about being easily able to get games that weren't ever going to be easily obtainable. I personally would love it if fuwa offered a service where you can easily buy a japanese download copy or physical, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon. About the forum move, I have a question: How long will the redirecting from fuwa.org to Fuwa.net last? Let's say that I linked to one of the forum posts: How long would that link still work, when would that link just be a dead link? ExtraMana 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExtraMana Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Muh free porn!! Well most people still think all VNs are porn anyway so.. Kurisu-Chan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dropindemonette Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 We'll need a lot more emphasis on OELVN reviews, as without the original Japanese classics this means we're going to need to search much harder for something to call a classic of the OELVN area. This means making Zakamutt play and review every piece of badly made tat on steam that nobody's been paying attention to so far. Perhaps we could try to give out some steam keys during sale time so those without the funds can still participate? Maybe having Zaka ask for review codes more frequently so we aren't killing his budget? here, i'll help: 1. decently received mystery otome with shitty minigames and terrible engine 2. terrible otome that isn't actually an oelvn (author is japanese) 3. overpriced mystery philosophical thing that the few people with the patience to play generally like 4. terrible otome that isn't actually an oelvn (it's japanese) 5. a decent and fairly popular otome that isn't an oelvn (it's korean) 6. a children's choose-your-own-adventure book that has nothing to do with anime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deep Blue Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 It feels like this entire page http://fuwanovel.net/novels now it's just a waste, I mean if you need a data base of visual novels you got vndb, you need to do something about that, change it and do something else with it. TimeWarp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sub-zer0 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Hell, I only joined a little but and site is probably gonna become a ghost town , but when is all the links getting removed? I'm gonna grab some stuff and keep them on my Portable Hard Drive, too lazy to patch and everything,lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tay Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 It feels like this entire page http://fuwanovel.net/novels now it's just a waste, I mean if you need a data base of visual novels you got vndb, you need to do something about that, change it and do something else with it. Yep, we're redesigning and retooling it right now. Deep Blue 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darklord Rooke Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 All this doom and gloom *tsk tsk*. Must be something in the water. Vemocleus and Ezeefreak 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vemocleus Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Did everyone really have problems finding the torrents they want before Fuwa? I for one welcome our *stabbed repeatedly* -WHAT A CRUEL WORLD!! *dies* ^ "Minsc and Boo stand ready!" As do I! "You point! I punch!" ...Bounces through my head everytime I see it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darklord Rooke Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 ^ "Minsc and Boo stand ready!" As do I! "You point! I punch!" ...Bounces through my head everytime I see it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havoc Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 first of all congratulations on the move. Personally i did not expect the torrent section to be taken down, as prepatched games are a very easy way to go. (in some situations) Altough i generally do not use the prepatched games, except when they happen to be the best source as it can be troublesome if you have to upgrade a patch from 1.0 to 1.1 and it is more diffucult to see what version of the patch a game is using if it is prepatched. That and the fact that not nearly all games are on fuwanovel. Altough i am curious as to what is going to happen to the torrents from now on. I am also curious as to what is going to happen to the vn section on the site ( not the forum) Personally i hope it will become a good database of translated games. Maybe something like this: - list of all english translated vn's and oelvn - tagged with primairy tags for example: (prefably no more than 10 primairy tags to make filtering easy) - official translation, fan translation, oelvn - story vn, nukige - tagged with secondary tags that describe what the vn contains: - romance, action, setting in a future world, - links to english patches if applicable, possible hosting of the patch. - links to the official site in case it is officiallt licences (mangagamer, steam) - easier to browse and filter than vndb with less clutter of similair releases, aka one page for one vn not six pages for one vn Which admittely is similair to the way vndb works, but vndb is kind of drab and above all is not very convienient to use. fuwa, could for example show everything on one page with the tags an screenshots at the top, a discription below that and below that the links. Personally i really like the way a picture of the vn is shown when you are browsing it can give a lot of info about a vn. And of course help people who are new to vn's find and install then, with the mentorship program a mentor could easily find a vn for download and simple send the link via pm or something. well i might be spouting absolute bullshit or maybe i am at least in the same continent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzu Fanatic Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I understand why it's happening, and honestly better safe than sorry. That being said; the reliable access that fuwa provided is what got me really interested in VNs - I now put "alot" of funding into localization projects, both public and private - I don't know if I would have without the exposure of material I discovered. I expect alot of classics to die out and disapear, with no real way to discover them. Sure I was finding them years before coming to fuwa, but as the internet slowly tightens it's grip (so to speak) - people are going to find VNs alot harder, or impossible to obtain, unless they deal with the archaic and painful import/export shinanigans. There aren't as many "safe havens" on the net as people seem to think - if two paticular alternate sites (nameless) were to be taken offline, it would kill the VN scene completely, I'm sure. Becuase physical import/export will deter all but the stuanchest of fans. It;s a tough call, really. "Free VNs" is obviously bad for the devs and writers that create them - I'm not going to pretend otherwise - but the exposure helps bring knowledge of the genre to a wider audience. And if it wasn't such fiery hoops of death to obtain copies legitly, I know many would/will do so (just look at projects like Clannad, and the Grisaia trilogy - most of those backers have probably already downloaded and read the Vns for free.) hehe, I'm just rambling at this point, but just wanted to put my thoughts out there. No point calling it "end of the world" just yet, time will tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funyarinpa Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 IMO the convenient database of unlicensed VN's on Fuwa was a necessary evil to attract new people to VN's. With that gone (or at least having took a significant hit), I hope the new structure of Fuwanovel and the blooming English VN industry manage to mitigate the effects the lost Fuwa torrents on the issue of the genre's appeal to newcomers. With games such as Clannad, Grisaia and Danganronpa getting localizations, I have hope. Suzu Fanatic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolverk Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I've always been for the pre-patched torrents from the start. A major issue with vn's for new readers is to find/download and them working.. So to decision to move away from that is.. Regrettable, in my humble opinion. I hold a similar opinion as Nayleen. Even if removing torrents is a blow for now. If we are able overcome that, fuwa will no doubt be stronger than ever. This is not really anything new, fuwa has changed lots of times. Overcome it each time. I believe it's resourceful enough to do so again. I realize my positivity side sounds like a standard template for a politician speech. Still I think it's true, so I'll keep it lol. Also, it's not like the most of the vn's will disappear from the Internet. You can find most if you look for them, nyaa works most of the time. It's more a problem for newbies than old timers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosakyun Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I believe that newbies will, one day, learn how to search for things themselves. With the loss of prepatched torrents in Fuwa, we're getting one step closer to the goal. Porn is the link that binds us all together. Porn will guide them unto the right path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nayleen Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 What KosakiFag said is pretty much what we've seen happen with the core userbase (the people who frequent the forums and other TL sites), where the majority of them patches the games themselves instead of "relying" on Fuwanovel torrents. If we can make the transition from providing the easy way to install VNs to being a resource that helps people find and patch the games themselves I think we've taken steps in the right direction and will see how we can offer more in the future. About the forum move, I have a question: How long will the redirecting from fuwa.org to Fuwa.net last? Let's say that I linked to one of the forum posts: How long would that link still work, when would that link just be a dead link? Right now all I have in place on the old server is a .htaccess file forwarding all traffic to a PHP file which then takes that URL and redirects it to the appropriate .net site. Something like this: forums.fuwanovel.org ==> forums.fuwanovel.netforums.fuwanovel.org/index.php?/topic/8694-important-domain-and-host-transfer/page-1 ==> forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/8694-important-domain-and-host-transfer/page-1 Pretty simple as you can see. As long as our old host doesn't remove the scripts the redirect will keep working, although the redirection I put in place causes Google to update all .org links to .net over time. It shouldn't get removed anytime soon though. Manually updating links seems like a pain, so I'd just rely on the redirection for now. I swear to god Lewy, mention Ruby and your ass is going down... Kosakyun, Darklord Rooke and Tay 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havoc Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 What KosakiFag said is pretty much what we've seen happen with the core userbase (the people who frequent the forums and other TL sites), where the majority of them patches the games themselves instead of "relying" on Fuwanovel torrents. If we can make the transition from providing the easy way to install VNs to being a resource that helps people find and patch the games themselves I think we've taken steps in the right direction and will see how we can offer more in the future. Right now all I have in place on the old server is a .htaccess file forwarding all traffic to a PHP file which then takes that URL and redirects it to the appropriate .net site. Something like this: forums.fuwanovel.org ==> forums.fuwanovel.net forums.fuwanovel.org/index.php?/topic/8694-important-domain-and-host-transfer/page-1 ==> forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/8694-important-domain-and-host-transfer/page-1 Pretty simple as you can see. As long as our old host doesn't remove the scripts the redirect will keep working, although the redirection I put in place causes Google to update all .org links to .net over time. It shouldn't get removed anytime soon though. Manually updating links seems like a pain, so I'd just rely on the redirection for now. I swear to god Lewy, mention Ruby and your ass is going down... might be a nice idea, to make video's with commentary on how to instal vn's and how to solve most common problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakamutt Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Bad move or no it was more or less plain unavoidable, and we might as well make the best of it. There are a lot of possibilites opening up with the site going legit, and I hope we can zero in on and use the hell out of them. It ain't over 'til it's over. you should just use ruby, which would help for some unfathomable reason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.