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Author Topic: Steam: Not So Steamy  (Read 2146 times)

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Mongrel

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Re: Steam: Not So Steamy
« Reply #40 on: September 09, 2012, 06:41:30 PM »

Those are actually less bad than some things that might come to mind.
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Re: Steam: Not So Steamy
« Reply #41 on: September 09, 2012, 06:58:52 PM »

H-Games in Japan getting an All-Ages port is not only nothing new, it's almost expected from the more story-heavy ones

Fate/Stay Night has Realta Nua, a PS2 (And soon Vita) version. Most of Key's games (Air, Clannad, Kanon) have an all-ages release.
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Shinra

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Re: Steam: Not So Steamy
« Reply #42 on: September 09, 2012, 07:05:41 PM »

H-Games in Japan getting an All-Ages port is not only nothing new, it's almost expected from the more story-heavy ones

Fate/Stay Night has Realta Nua, a PS2 (And soon Vita) version. Most of Key's games (Air, Clannad, Kanon) have an all-ages release.

This is true. The big ones do almost always get all-ages releases for consoles, so my example was far from perfect. Still, I can't help but wonder if a digital distribution platform as wide as steam wouldn't entice these developers to release more of their games in the US. It would certainly encourage translation groups to pick up the projects and try to obtain licensing rights to do American releases. Carpe Fulgur's success with (the admittedly all-ages) Recettear doesn't have to be a unique example
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Classic

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Re: Steam: Not So Steamy
« Reply #43 on: September 09, 2012, 07:08:48 PM »

game developers bend over backwards to get a T rating and retail outlets shy away from putting mature titles on prominent display
I'd say that this means, kind of by definition, that the "intended audience" is skewed wider than the actual reported demographics. It occurs to me that there could also be reporting errors. I mean, I still don't report most of my purchases and I never did when I was a kid (for some reason, I felt like asking for a 42 cent stamp to mail off a postcard to a game company was something my parents would call frivolous). Anyway, back on topic...

I actually really like the "redlight" idea. I feel that porn games are (for reasons of budget problems) something of a special class of game. Even if porn were included in greenlight, I'm not sure what it would do for any of the parties. If the porn games had their own popularity contest, a sort of special olympics, I think it would at least be a vehicle to float the cream to the top.

...
Yeah, pun intended.

EDIT:
Wait, Recettear was/is based off of a porn game?
This is news to me.
I have a bad feeling that the content would leave me with an unpleasant taste in my my mouth.
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Shinra

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Re: Steam: Not So Steamy
« Reply #44 on: September 09, 2012, 07:28:06 PM »

No, no, I was just using it as an example of a PC game that got a localization from japan despite japanese misgivings about the American games market. Steam as a platform is a really useful tool for marketing and selling a foreign game. Without Steam as an avenue of distribution it's unlikely that a Japanese company like, say, Type Moon would license the game to an American company.

It's applicable because Carpe Fulgur had to basically beg easygamestation for the licensing - the company was convinced the game would be a massive commercial failure in the US and didn't want to dilute their brand with a failure. Instead, the game has sold over 100k copies and was a pretty huge commercial success for an indie title. This is entirely due to Steam as a distribution platform.

Quote
I think it would at least be a vehicle to float the cream to the top.
:oic:
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Thad

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Re: Steam: Not So Steamy
« Reply #45 on: September 10, 2012, 07:24:17 AM »

Look, if you want to understand any corporation's decisions, then do a cost-benefit analysis.  Does Valve stand to gain more by greenlighting this porn comic than they stand to lose from agitating the zealous drones who tend to also buy Modern Warfare games at release price?

I don't think those are the people who are going to get mad, though. I would like to see what percentage of the main game buying demographic is actually offended by things like this.

"The main game buying demographic" is not and has never been the demographic that companies are worried about scaring.  They're worried about shareholders, not customers.

I linked a Zappa interview (originally from Playboy but SFW unless you're worried about language that is probably less graphic than the series of made-up porn titles in this thread) the other day; it had this pertinent bit:

Quote
Did the record industry fight the labeling hard enough?
The record companies are interested in one thing, which is making a profit. If Cop Killer sells millions of records, they are happy about it. They are not happy when police officers' pension funds sell their Time Warner stock and people boycott Time magazine.

The people who flip the fuck out about GTA/Mass Effect/RapeLay/Super Columbine Massacre RPG are not the people who are likely to BUY GTA or Mass Effect, and CERTAINLY not the people who are likely to buy RapeLay or play SCMRPG.  But they may own stock in the companies that make them, or buy other products from the companies that make them, or any number of things that might affect their bottom line.

It would be great if they could just mind their own damn business and let people play whatever games they want, but that's not the sort of person we're talking about here.

(Valve, of course, is not a publicly traded company and is therefore insulated from concerns about people selling off stock.  But there's still a lot of potential harm from a controversy -- lots of the companies who sell games through Steam ARE publicly traded, and a Hot Coffee-scale backlash could have a ripple effect through the entire industry.  Worst-case, Steam itself could come to be falsely identified as a porn site in the minds of the public.)

Anyway, point being that a platform that defaults to announcing what you're playing to everyone on your friends list the instant you play it (and lists your in-game achievements publically!) might not be the best platform to distribute erotic games.

Solution to that's simple, though.

Segregate adult games to a separate section that, at least by default, DOESN'T post all that shit publicly.

Yeah, that flies in the face of the current annoy-your-friends-with-oversharing paradigm, but I think under the circumstances it's the better option.

There's also a pretty compelling argument that there's games that will literally allow you to murder police with a purple dildo and throw their bodies into a trash compactor, which while cartoony and played up for laughs is a lot more offensive than a lady's breasts.

I certainly like to think the majority of Americans agree with that assessment and our laws and ratings systems are just wildly out-of-step with actual popular opinion.

That said, our ratings systems and laws ARE built around the supposition that sex is more offensive than violence, and our media certainly play along (though they'll jump on a good controversy about either one).

I've mentioned before that, while I disagree with Breyer's dissent in Brown v EMA, I think his reasoning is sound -- it IS utterly absurd that you can legally prohibit a retailer from selling a copy of Playboy to a 15-year-old but not from selling him a copy of GTA4.


Anyhow.  In conclusion it would be nice if SOMEBODY would break the cycle and allow a mainstream distribution point for adults to buy adult games.  Valve is certainly in the best position to be that guy, and it is disappointing that Valve has chosen not to.  But I can see why they're gun-shy, too.
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Mongrel

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Re: Steam: Not So Steamy
« Reply #46 on: September 10, 2012, 07:55:07 AM »

I don't blame Valve either. I mean, from their point of view this is something that carries high risks and has a relatively small upside. Even if it turned out to be a success (i.e. high sales, many titles), it would probably result in exactly what Thad said: Valve being thought of as a porn portal in the mind of the public. Which would kill their main business.

Like François, I don't really have a direct interest in this, but it IS an interesting subject. Historically many new communications forms received an early shot in the arm from porn distribution - modern mail systems, film, vhs casettes, the internet. It's not like I make a hobby of following porn distribution measures (comments of "Surrrre Mongrel, surrrre" follow), but if the porn industry starts paying attention to some new tool that sees wide adoption, that's an early sign that it's viable for a lot of other less racy things.
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Brentai

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Re: Steam: Not So Steamy
« Reply #47 on: September 10, 2012, 08:59:50 AM »

EDIT: Have now read whole response.
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