Kotaku did a decent article

[Down]

News worthy, ain't it?

And it's kinda relevant to our favorite hobby, although it's not really directly brought up. Anyway, here it is:

http://kotaku.com/from-japan-with-changes-the-endless-debate-over-video-1747960323

And please, PLEASE read it until the end before going automatic and rehashing your pre-formed opinion in this thread. I think the article does a good job depicting the various kinds of issues at work on all sides.

[Nosebleed]

Wow, an article that doesn't attempt to make a biased point and actually wants the reader to think. I am impressed.

I think this part is really the most crucial in the whole scheme of things:

"I think if more publishers would at least talk about the changes they make and why they made them" said Niche Gamer's Brandon Orselli, "people would be a LOT more understanding, at the very least. Instead we mostly get quiet edits/changes/removal of content, and most people avoid talking about it"

There are certainly a number of factors that go into a decision to censor a game, but if you stay quiet about it, the storm just keeps getting bigger and spirals out of control.

Ultimately I think it all depends on what exactly do localisers value more and what balance they're trying to achieve.

[Nimbus]

A Kotaku article that was... good? If this isn't a sign of end-times I don't know what is.

 

In all seriousness there were some really good points made here, and I agree with Nosebleed that the lack of communication is one of, if not the biggest cause of the issues when it come to localisation. 

[shadowolf64]

I like Patrick Klepek (That may be because I love where he used to work, Giant Bomb). I don't always agree with him but he can write some good stuff. I think this is a good article which highlights both sides of the censorship argument. Even though it sucks when things are censored, a lot of the time I can see why they would make those decisions. Even if I think they are wrong at least I can see where they might be coming from, but if no one states there reasons it just seems shitty. 

Edited December 14, 2015 by shadowolf64

[sarkasmus]

The article isn't bad,

or maybe it's just because of that annoyIng pr*** in the FB comments I read

[CeruleanGamer]

I despise censorship and this Kotaku article isnt gonna change my opinion of that. Fuck all these feminists and fuck all these morons who are taking away our freedom of speech and expression (Geez, I sound like Stacy from Majikoi just now).

I did like what Lipschultz said though.

"There is no underage when it comes to art. These characters are pixels on screen, not people.........

The age the character is given in continuity is just a number. It's not a representative of anything real."

This is easily the biggest point being missed in censorship. Playing a game with naked lolis doesn't turn someone into a pedophile and neither does playing FPS games turn players into mass murders and terrorists.

Edited December 15, 2015 by CeruleanGamer

[Esto Gaza]

Pretty good for Kotaku. I like seeing both sides represented, but censorship is meaningless.

[Godskrieg]

This truly is a sign of the end times, Kotaku can't release a well-written article, it was written in the law of the internet. Aside from that I agree that more companies in general should have better communication, 'tis a valid point. 

Other then that this just makes me affirm my stance on the whole "separation of fantasy and reality" subject. I still believe that anything that is not real, be it art, books or whatever else, is free game. For the love of god Game of Thrones is one of the most popular things out there right now yet one of the characters, who is 14 (or 13), gets raped by her new husband pretty early in the first book AND in the show as well, yet its so popular and no one is gathering pitchforks and torches and raiding George R.R. Martin's house, now are they? This leads to my point, she is not real, if your problem is that shes 13 then slap the age of 5641 on her and put her back in the bikini. Christ people, its fictional, no one was hurt in the making of this video game. (Except the programmers fingers from all that typing.)

Just to clarify I haven't even played the game, nor do I care about the bikini.

[Suzu Fanatic]

It was a decent read - though they still managed to sneak in a backhanded "buying playboy to read it" type quip, when discussing fans' motivations for liking a particular game.

Oh well, still a better read then it normally is from them, it's almost unbiast. almost.

[monkeysrumble]

"(By the end of that message board thread, Lipschultz had been banned from NeoGAF.)"

Hahahaha!

Edited December 19, 2015 by monkeysrumble

[B0X0R]

Good job Patrick, you wrote a compelling article on Kotaku.