TrickWithAKnife wrote:I know I'm going to be unpopular for asking this, but what do so many people feel the need to go as close to legal child porn as possible?
Sure you don't all have to have images of underage girls performing sexual acts? "But it's relevant to my story" is a cop out, unless all you are capable of thinking about is pedophilia.
/rant
I'm borderline asexual actually, its not so much an act of trying to immerse myself into child pornography. I'm not even really into the hentai side of VNs for that matter. I just don't believe having to tip toe around certain sensitive concepts when it comes to writing. Its not a matter of "Am I going to try to write hentai with under aged characters" because I'm not. More along the lines of "Why do I have to be judged by western sociological views for trying to create something that is hopefully culturally indistinguishable from an eastern medium?"
For example, making a bishoujo game is hard enough while trying to adhere to a feminist standard. I'm trying to reach the moe crowd, but I always feel myself having to please my own equalist standards, on top of trying not to loose a friend who is offended by the thought alone of bishoujo games. (And strangely not Otome games. >.> )
Then you have the topic of racism, where apparently you are considered racist by not the way you portray a character of an ethnic origin, but by the utter lack of diversity.
And then you have the standards of writers, some of whom would go as far as to label every single character from fruits basket as a Marry-sue. So yet again, you have to be very careful about making sure your characters feel realistic instead of like the comical anime tropes that your target audience is probably more familiar with.
Then there's agism, which we've discussed the extreme side already, but on a minor side, sometimes I feel like I need to make a game where everyone is in their forties to make these people happy. (Hmm, that might actually be kinda fun now that I think about it.
)
I could go on, but what it comes down to is; with each "Ism" and standard I feel the need to apply just to avoid offending someone, I feel myself getting further away from the game I set out to achieve, and the core audience it was meant for. Suddenly its not the bishoujo game fans I'm trying to please, but everyone. And I may even agree with most of the points. But it just gets to the point where I can't tell the story I set out to tell anymore. My ONLY concern should be the feelings of the players whom I'm trying to reach out to, so I have to make compromises with the rest of the world. So that means shutting down my biases and the biases outside of my target audience. But shutting down society's biases is an act that's easier said than done.
And don't worry, I don't look down on you for asking or speaking a point of view which conflicts with my own. Both sides of an argument should always be laid upon the table, and I have respect for you being the guy to do it.
), the characters are fictional, so no real under age people are being exploited, so whatever. Its character development as far as I'm concerned. And illegal acts are depicted in the media all the time, so why should this be more illegal than anything I see on Dexter or Breaking Bad? Dexter is no more a snuff film than a hentai game depicting characters who are 1-2 years shy of 18 is child pron. -shrugs- 
