What do outsiders (actually) think of VNs?

[Darklord Rooke]

 But the guy sitting in front of you who has a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey on his desk is just a healthy teenager with a little bit more obsession for sex than the average kid. 

 

Smut novels have always carried a negative stigma, and romance novels were looked down upon for a long time because of this. That being said there's been an active movement going on to make reading smut seem normal and acceptable, a crusade that is aided by the sheer popularity of the romance genre (by far the best selling genre in the book world.)

[Kosakyun]

Smut novels have always carried a negative stigma, and romance novels were looked down upon for a long time because of this. That being said there's been an active movement going on to make reading smut seem normal and acceptable, a crusade that is aided by the sheer popularity of the romance genre (by far the best selling genre in the book world.)

 

Is it not normal?

[Tawm]

Most people don't know it exists, and those who do know of them, but don't educate themselves further on the subject view them as weaboo porn games.

Every VN on Steam is labeled as such, even when containing no AO content.

 

In fact, when I introduced VNs to my brother, he didn't see the explicit sex scene in Saya no Uta coming.

His reaction was priceless.

[Kendjin]

Most people don't know it exists, and those who do know of them, but don't educate themselves further on the subject view them as weaboo porn games.

Every VN on Steam is labeled as such, even when containing no AO content.

 

In fact, when I introduced VNs to my brother, he didn't see the explicit sex scene in Saya no Uta coming.

His reaction was priceless.

 

Its better than if you didn't see him coming

[Suzu Fanatic]

Most people don't know it exists, and those who do know of them, but don't educate themselves further on the subject view them as weaboo porn games.

Every VN on Steam is labeled as such, even when containing no AO content.

 

In fact, when I introduced VNs to my brother, he didn't see the explicit sex scene in Saya no Uta coming.

His reaction was priceless.

 

Pretty much my thought on "outsider" opinions, they don't know about it except for what slips into their sight by chance - and typically it's the porn style (i'm looking at you, Steam.).

 

TBH, back before Tsukihime was translated, I only considered VNs as spank material too - never even considered the idea of a "real" story unfolding and something to enjoy beyond a handful of CGs. The thing is, they don't really try too hard to make a distiguishable difference when promoting, so a average joe is going to see the anime artstyle and just presume it's a porn game (becuase lets face it, 8 out of 10 times it is).

 

Not that that's a bad thing, it's just a difference in cultures. A large portion of the world is fairly prudish (when generalized as a majority), whereas sexuality is a more openly expressed subject in Japan. Many would argue it's a mysgonistic culture, and at times it is hard to argue against that; but their history "is" steeped with sexuality.

 

A good example is a few years back there was a controversial art exhibit in europe, featuring alot of Japanese artifacts and paintings of the various eras, and many of which are very "provocative" and of course cuased all kinds of people to be offended and shocked, some thinking it was in poor taste, and some that simply had no idea (myself included) that its history was so colorful. EDIT: and I don't mean some cheap exhibit - I don't recall the details, but I remember it being a very respectable and reknowned exhibit, possibly involving national works.

 

Typically, if someone cannot accept or even try to understand something, it's a recipe for misunderstanding and stereotyping.

 

woops, kinda rambled there, but I'm sure someone gets what I'm saying :3