Survey Says Japanese Dislike Shooters

[Zoroastres]

Anyone care to explain the fascination with tentacle-rape cartoons?

Sadly, I know this. It's not really a fascination per se, though I suppose it MAY have evolved into a fetish of sorts....

Back in the day Japanese censorship laws forbade any graphic depiction of male genitalia, so you see tentacles as, essentially, euphemisms for penises, to allow graphic depictions of sexual penetration.

^--I think I deserve a pat on the back for that one. It's about as erudite as anyone can get talking about animated pornography. Ulgh.

Right. Let's get one thing straight: Up until about the mid-20th century, Japan has been very xenophobic and bigoted nation.

Hi there. Let me introduce myself: I'm a man familiar with both history and, you know, the definitions. Xenophobia and bigotry are NOT synonymous with isolationism, even if the two coincide.

The U.S., for example, may have been isolationist in the post-war years, and we may also have been extremely xenophobic and bigoted in virtually every conceivable way, but there's no realy causality there.

 

[Brognus]

The reasons that the Japanese don't like FPS is because

This should be good.

A) there isn't an FPS with a gay looking main character with millions of belts and zipper acting as clothing

As opposed to the overly-macho-to-the-point-of-absurdity western action heroes? (I swear all they do is eat steroids!)

B) there usually isn't a heavy focus on characters and story in FPS games

I agree with you on this, I love a game with a good story, I think this is universal.

C) most FPS games probably aren't linear enough for the Japanese

Ever Play Harvest Moon, or Any Animal Crossing game?

D) the Japanese, for some weird reason, don't have the desire to play online with other people, which is a huge part of the FPS genre

I believe MMO's are doing well in japan, the problem is it's some genre's are harder to translate into multiplayer games. (Story-Driven RPG's for example)

If someone made an FPS that featured animu girls, an emo main character, a billion lines of dialog and featured an arrow that always tells you were to move, it would sell millions in Japan.

As opposed to Overly Muscled males making non-stop one liners and posturing endlessly about their masculinity while they pat each other on the bum, while women endlessly fawn over them and prove to be nothing more than an ego booster. (Oh and let's not forget about the black guy who dies first, can't EVER have a story without at least 1 black man dying!)

 

[UpInSmoke]

Anyone care to explain the fascination with tentacle-rape cartoons?

Juvenile experimentation. Americans seem to have this incredible fascination with sex, but when all is said and done, it's also Americans who are shocked by porn.

Humans have an incredible fascination with sex. The Japanese just seem hellbent on taking it in odd directions.

 

[Brognus]

I believe the tentacle thing sprung from the fact you couldn't depict a male penis in the 80's in Japan, so they switched to tentacles, to get around the censorship.

 

[Brognus]

Hey you think that is crazy, you should see some of America's Crazy views regarding nudity, and the double standard with movies and video games. You could rip someone's head off, cut open the skull and eat their brains, and the movie would be rated pg-13. One topless scene on the other hand is rated R, or something.

Don't forget, anything rated in a movie is automatically rated 1 level higher for video games because "Omg GTA is a murder simulatorz!!!!"

Remember how crazy the media went over the "Hardcore Sexx0rz" in Mass Effect?

 

[Nirvens]

Anyone care to explain the fascination with tentacle-rape cartoons?

Juvenile experimentation. Americans seem to have this incredible fascination with sex, but when all is said and done, it's also Americans who are shocked by porn.

Humans have an incredible fascination with sex. The Japanese just seem hellbent on taking it in odd directions.

Right, right. But the sensibility to issues such as porn or sexual anomalies is generally a western thing.

 

[Brognus]

The Japanese might be into some crazy stuff, but America's Puritan views towards sex and nudity is just as bad. (OMG GAY MARRIAGE!)

 

[Wormthong]

Can we start attributing the failure of dating sims to western xenophobia now

I can't wait until we start

It'll be the best day of my life

Allow me.

Ahem; omfgz0rz amerika is so xenufobic, y arent datting sims doing well in the us u ppl just dont like tehm because ur a ignerent!1!1!!1

shutup im not even american and i even hate dating sims why becouse they are even more repetitive then lets say jrpgs or rts or shooters becouse in most dating sims its quite obvious what you have to chose its just a wall in front of a small flash of bare ass or whatever a very thin wall made out of crackers but it still feels like its quite useles when another way biger flash of total nudity is right next to me (the internet)

 

[Joeshie]

As opposed to the overly-macho-to-the-point-of-absurdity western action heroes? (I swear all they do is eat steroids!)

Most Western characters aren't overly macho, save for a few notable exceptions. Most Western game characters look like, well, normal guys.
Do they look similar? Sure, because most of them are designed to look like what a male looks like. Do they sometimes go overboard? Yeah, sometimes, but you are far more likely to find a normal looking male in a Western game than you are in a Japanese game.

I agree with you on this, I love a game with a good story, I think this is universal.

Yes, but a game doesn't NEED a story to be a good game. All it needs to do is have good gameplay. However, the Japanese seem too dismissive of a game simply because it doesn't focus greatly on a story and characters.

Ever Play Harvest Moon, or Any Animal Crossing game?

Yawn, two games does not dismiss the well documented and acknowledged love the Japanese have for linear games. Many Japanese developers have come out and stated the the Japanese prefer linear games, so trying to argue otherwise is quite silly.

I believe MMO's are doing well in japan, the problem is it's some genre's are harder to translate into multiplayer games. (Story-Driven RPG's for example)

Actually, the only real MMO that has done decently well in Japan is Final Fantasy XI, not surprisingly.

As opposed to Overly Muscled males making non-stop 1 liners and posturing endlessly about their masculinity while they pat other guys on the bum, while women endlessly fawn over them and prove to be nothing more than an ego booster.

Yawn, exception rather than the rule.


Really, I think the biggest difference between the West and East is that the West is much more open about trying something different and is likely to enjoy a wide variety of genres and types of games, rather than Japan who seem to narrowly like a few specific types of games.

FPS COULD become popular in Japan, just as RPGs (a Western invention) became popular in Japan. There just needs to be more FPS tailored to Japans narrow interests.

 

[UpInSmoke]

The puritans in America are just an extremely vocal minority. The average joe doesn't give two shits about a movie rating or a pair of swinging tits. We like naked time just as much as the rest of you. The problem is that the Jack Thompsons of the world make puritan causes their life's work. They fight these frivolous silly battles with such a ridiculous, insane passion that they somehow manage to get their way while the sane majority is focused on more substantial matters.

 

[Brognus]

As opposed to the overly-macho-to-the-point-of-absurdity western action heroes? (I swear all they do is eat steroids!)

Most Western characters aren't overly macho, save for a few notable exceptions. Most Western game characters look like, well, normal guys.
Do they look similar? Sure, because most of them are designed to look like what a male looks like. Do they sometimes go overboard? Yeah, sometimes, but you are far more likely to find a normal looking male in a Western game than you are in a Japanese game.

I agree with you on this, I love a game with a good story, I think this is universal.

Yes, but a game doesn't NEED a story to be a good game. All it needs to do is have good gameplay. However, the Japanese seem too dismissive of a game simply because it doesn't focus greatly on a story and characters.

Ever Play Harvest Moon, or Any Animal Crossing game?

Yawn, two games does not dismiss the well documented and acknowledged love the Japanese have for linear games. Many Japanese developers have come out and stated the the Japanese prefer linear games, so trying to argue otherwise is quite silly.

I believe MMO's are doing well in japan, the problem is it's some genre's are harder to translate into multiplayer games. (Story-Driven RPG's for example)

Actually, the only real MMO that has done decently well in Japan is Final Fantasy XI, not surprisingly.

As opposed to Overly Muscled males making non-stop 1 liners and posturing endlessly about their masculinity while they pat other guys on the bum, while women endlessly fawn over them and prove to be nothing more than an ego booster.

Yawn, exception rather than the rule.

I dunno, seems really Standard In shooters.

So? Make a FPS that has a story that doesn't suck?

Honestly I don't remember the point I was arguing for with linearity, so I'll concede that.

Korean MMO's seem to do well in japan, if I recall.

I might have exaggerated, but my point about games trying to over masculinate main guys, (not just games) still stands.

 

[Brognus]

It's the Whole cultural thing regarding sex, and how uptight Americans are with regards to sex, suffice to say, American culture is rather prudish when it comes to sexuality.

 

[Brognus]

The whole "Ultra Effeminate Males" thing is just pandering to the female demographic, much like how females in som-ALL western games have gigantic boobs and seem to only need a thong and a bikini top for protection.

Having a story or a plot is important in mediums, be it tv, books, even a play! Too many western gamers think they can dismiss the plot if you put enough action into the game, that while fun, would be pointless.

 

[Joeshie]

I dunno, seems really Standard In shooters.

So? Make a FPS that has a story that doesn't suck?

Honestly I don't remember the point I was arguing for with linearity, so I'll concede that.

Korean MMO's seem to do well in japan, if I recall.

I might have exaggerated, but my point about games trying to over masculinate main guys, (not just games) still stands.

It standard in shooters, especially recently, because shooters tend to aim towards realism. How realistic would it be to have a skinny teenager in a warzone? Not very.

There are FPS games with stories that don't suck, but my guess is that they never get released in Japan.

It wouldn't surprise me that Korean MMOs do decently in Japan because most Korean MMOs tend to be dressed-up animu style.

Yeah, guys in Western games will sometimes be overly-masculine, but doesn't that make more sense to have a guy look like a guy than a guy look like a girl?

 

[UpInSmoke]

It's the Whole cultural thing regarding sex, and how uptight Americans are with regards to sex, suffice to say, American culture is rather prudish when it comes to sexuality.

yup. And look how much good that prudish attitude is doing for our kids. They're still having sex, they're just not being properly educated about it beforehand. Abstinence-only sex education is a resounding failure. Again, I can't imagine that the average american is against real sexual education... but the loud mouth puritans can't seem to butt out of the lives of the sane majority. grr. i hate them so much.

 

[Brognus]

It standard in shooters, especially recently, because shooters tend to aim towards realism. How realistic would it be to have a skinny teenager in a warzone? Not very.

How Realistic is it to have a cyborg in a suit of armour with energy shields fighting aliens? Not Very.

There are FPS games with stories that don't suck, but my guess is that they never get released in Japan.

Probably because they were designed for the Western Market.

It wouldn't surprise me that Korean MMOs do decently in Japan because most Korean MMOs tend to be dressed-up animu style.

My guess was huge timesinks or whatever, but Last time I checked Lineage 2 is doing quite well in japan.

Yeah, guys in Western games will sometimes be overly-masculine, but doesn't that make more sense to have a guy look like a guy than a guy look like a girl?

Basically Eyecandy for the females, Kinda like females in western games, See: Lara Croft.

 

[Nirvens]

So? Make a FPS that has a story that doesn't suck?

It's harder than it looks, making a good story about a guy that runs around and shoots people. You barely get to see the guy you're playing as, so you can't get in much character development, except for in cutscenes. Not only are cutscenes an optional feature in the FPS genre, but if they get too long, the spazz in us all will start whining. One way people have addressed this in the past is by throwing character development out the window (and in Bioshock's case, bringing it back in later with spectacular results).

Not only that, but most FPSes enjoy using the military as a reason to shoot things. Whenever something like that is used as a concept, the story turns out shallow. I praise Call of Duty 4 for making a relatively (albeit barely) deep story despite this.

 

[Brognus]

It's the Whole cultural thing regarding sex, and how uptight Americans are with regards to sex, suffice to say, American culture is rather prudish when it comes to sexuality.

yup. And look how much good that prudish attitude is doing for our kids. They're still having sex, they're just not being properly educated about it beforehand. Abstinence-only sex education is a resounding failure. Again, I can't imagine that the average american is against real sexual education... but the loud mouth puritans can't seem to butt out of the lives of the sane majority. grr. i hate them so much.

I totally agree, Luckily I live in Canada and our sex-ed course is thorough if nothing else.

If I recall I wound up in 4-6 sex ed courses in High School, they basically all taught us the same things. They told us how sex always had the chance of getting a girl pregnant, and we learned about STD's and that While Abstinance is the only 100% effective method they knew we'd have sex anyways. Then they went through the various means of birth control then went through the pro's and con's of each method (like the pill doesn't protect against std's for example.) Then we had a Q&A period where we could write questions down and put them in a box, and they'd read and answer the anonymous questions. There's other stuff we covered but I can't remember it all.

 

[Usige Beatha]

When I spent a summer in Japan, the number one thing I noticed is the slight overtone of fear/uncertainty/revulsion to SOME Western *and even some Eastern* products/stuff.

Its the same thing as some Americans feeling disdain towards some of the products made in foreign countries, even in this country.

I've been in South Carolina for 5 years now, and I can tell you 100% that the rest of the country FEARS South Carolina *and the South in general* and masks this fear by calling all South Carolinians "Racist" in order to rationalize this fear and hatred.

The Point is that every nation has a level of revulsion to things that are strange and different compared to the Cultural norm for their society. I believe the Japanese are slightly "turned-off" by FPS games weather it be because they're not made Japanese companies or because they honestly see no point too them.

People like whats familiar, and for Japan that's Samurai's and Anime's with slight overtones of desire to return to the previous state of National Glory *can anyone say Fascism?* while Americans love the Rebel fighting the oppressive regime that trying to take away their Bibles and Apple pies and fire arms or the lone Western Gunman fighting to avenge the death of his father and uncle at the hands of an evil Cattle Barron.

Its all based on whats familiar to your culture.

 

[Nirvens]

It standard in shooters, especially recently, because shooters tend to aim towards realism. How realistic would it be to have a skinny teenager in a warzone? Not very.

Yeah, guys in Western games will sometimes be overly-masculine, but doesn't that make more sense to have a guy look like a guy than a guy look like a girl?

If there was a skinny teenager in a warzone that managed to survive, it would be interesting to explore why.

If there is a guy that looks like a girl, it gives him something that your overly masculine protagonists don't have: character. It singles him out as someone truly unique.