Lemma Soft Forums

On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 2:11 AM , [name]<email> wrote:


question type: question
from email: [email]
summary: Reviewing Visual Novels

question:
Would it be inappropriate to use the Goodreads site/service to review stories presented in a non-traditional book format? I’m interested in the possibility of using Goodreads’s service to review visual novels (non-linear stories presented in a digital interactive format, often with images of characters and settings presented along with the text). By a non-linear story, what I mean is that the digital format of visual novels allows readers to make decisions for the main character at certain parts of the story, which in turn typically affects the conclusion/ending of the story. They are essentially novels with pictures and sound that allow for reader interaction which affects events in the story. Would it be alright to review stories presented in this format on Goodreads?

I have attached a screenshot of the typical presentation of a visual novel.

Hi there,

I sincerely apologize for the delayed response! You are welcome to add a visual novel to Goodreads' book database if it meets our standards for a book record. We have more information on this here.

It sounds like you're describing a wide variety of publications in your email. If you have a specific visual novel in mind, it might help if you could send its details to me. I can look it over and let you know if it's eligible for inclusion in our database.

Please let me know if you have any further questions!

Best,
[Goodreads person]

Eirrir wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2017 6:57 pm
On a more serious note, I also agree that visual novels are technically games, given the platform that they are on. For example, The Letter, a visual novel that recently came out, is a visual novel, but I would not classify the VN as a book. The mechanics within that VN include quick time events and relationship building systems that would classify it as a game. A few other examples of VNs with actual gameplay are Virtue's Last Reward, Danganronpa, and 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors. Because the platform that VNs are on allows for these kinds of gaming mechanics, it would be difficult to categorize VNs as books in the usual sense. You could argue that these are rare cases and that most VNs are usually the simple "make-a-choice" and read, but still, the "Goodreads librarians" would need to account for these cases, and that would mean too much work for them to go through each VN to see if they are "close" enough to your typical "choose your own adventure" books. I think that any game distributors who see the variety of mechanics in some VNs would be hard-pressed to deny that they are games.