What's keeping the West from making DOAX style games?

[Einspanner]

"What's keeping the West from making DOAX style games?"

Dignity?

I mean, no... it's not that. We have no dignity to lose on that front, I think it's just that they primarily are designed to appeal to people who want to be vaguely teased, while the west is less terrified of women with pubic hair, or who don't cry like toddlers when they have sex.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Because if you want porn, YOU WATCH PORN.

Games are not porn. Or movies.

Stop trying to make games a pornographic media.

 

[freaper]

Because if you want porn, YOU WATCH PORN.

Games are not porn. Or movies.

Stop trying to make games a pornographic media.

Would you say that porn with game elements, or a game with porn elements isn't a game? Because there's plenty of both available on the internet for free. By comparison, pink literature isn't literature? A porno isn't a movie?

 

[Lunar Templar]

A history of religious prudery, for starters.

while you COULD say something like this is the reason, it's not.

If I had to guess, because it doesn't sell. While the games generate controversy and discussion, they don't make money.

This is.

Those games just do not sell. So there is really no reason for anyone in the west to mimic it, or even want to due to how hard it would bomb.

cause I guarantee you, if ANY DOAX game had moved 'CoD' or even Souls like numbers, you have more badly animated fake tits then you'd know what to do with.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

It's because the mean old feminists and religious prudes won't let us!

No, just kidding, it's because no one cares about such games. Well, almost no one. It's just too niche of a genre to be much more than a free game on some seedy website.

 

[infohippie]

A history of religious prudery, for starters.

That and the fact that, despite all the hustle and bustle, there isn't a freaking audience for it.

Nonsense, of course there is. But the developers have to give at least as much attention to the gameplay as to the T&A, plus they have to be willing to tell the inevitable screaming Tumblrites and concerned mothers to go fuck themselves.

Look around communities such as Undertow Club and Lewd Gamer and you'll see there's a substantial audience for games like this. Though preferably with more nudity or at least easily amenable to modding such things in.

 

[DefunctTheory]

A history of religious prudery, for starters.

That and the fact that, despite all the hustle and bustle, there isn't a freaking audience for it.

Nonsense, of course there is. But the developers have to give at least as much attention to the gameplay as to the T&A, plus they have to be willing to tell the inevitable screaming Tumblrites and concerned mothers to go fuck themselves.

Look around communities such as Undertow Club and Lewd Gamer and you'll see there's a substantial audience for games like this. Though preferably with more nudity or at least easily amenable to modding such things in.

There really isn't. It's as niche as niche games get, and are far below the 'consumer size' threshold of companies like Rockstar. Even Dead or Alive, the flagship 'boner genre' game in the United States, isn't financially viable, and it's decline started long before 'Tumblrites' were a thing.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

A history of religious prudery, for starters.

while you COULD say something like this is the reason, it's not.

If I had to guess, because it doesn't sell. While the games generate controversy and discussion, they don't make money.

This is.

Why do you think they don't sell.

 

[Totenkreuz]

You're in a room with 20 other people and you're just about to start animating a sex scene.
Suddenly those small tweeks on those other animations you didn't want to do gets alot more appealing.

It's not something I've spoken at length about but I can't see it as something alot of people want to do, it just feels 'wrong' from a personal standpoint and thats why I believe we aren't making such games.

Cheers.

 

[NiPah]

"What's keeping the West from making DOAX style games?"

Dignity?

I mean, no... it's not that. We have no dignity to lose on that front, I think it's just that they primarily are designed to appeal to people who want to be vaguely teased, while the west is less terrified of women with pubic hair, or who don't cry like toddlers when they have sex.

I'd say the West is terrified of games with younger children in them, as for actual children I'd say we're worse.

Random Podcast said it best, Japan is obsessed with 18 year olds acting like they're 13, America is obsessed with making 13 year olds act like they're 18.

 

[infohippie]

A history of religious prudery, for starters.

That and the fact that, despite all the hustle and bustle, there isn't a freaking audience for it.

Nonsense, of course there is. But the developers have to give at least as much attention to the gameplay as to the T&A, plus they have to be willing to tell the inevitable screaming Tumblrites and concerned mothers to go fuck themselves.

Look around communities such as Undertow Club and Lewd Gamer and you'll see there's a substantial audience for games like this. Though preferably with more nudity or at least easily amenable to modding such things in.

There really isn't. It's as niche as niche games get, and are far below the 'consumer size' threshold of companies like Rockstar. Even Dead or Alive, the flagship 'boner genre' game in the United States, isn't financially viable, and it's decline started long before 'Tumblrites' were a thing.

It's niche, sure, but the DOA games' main problem is that they were shit games. It's not enough to spend all your budget on boob physics and designing skimpy outfits. You've got to have a genuinely enjoyable game underneath it all. Make a fun game WITH T&A and it will sell. Make a game that has nothing to appeal beyond the T&A and people will go "Meh, why bother when I could just watch porn?"

 

[Lightspeaker]

I'm vaguely amused by several people in here saying "its not that the west has sexual hang-ups, its that they don't sell". Never occurred to you that they don't sell BECAUSE the west has sexual hang-ups?

Think about it this way: two people walk into Tesco. One buys the new Doom; a game about violently slaughtering demons in showers of blood, ripping them apart with your bare hands, etc etc. One buys Nekopara; a cutesy, funny, 'naughty' visual novel about catgirls but still relatively tame.

Who is more likely to get a weird look from the cashier? Because I'd put money on it being the second.

Or on a more simplistic level...something like SAW or a porn film? Which is more likely to be thought of as embarrassing if a family member found it?


No, they don't sell well. But frankly I think pretending that the fact that the west has major issues with sexuality has nothing to do with the sales figures is intellectually dishonest. They're interlinked; together they answer the OP's question.


Aaaaand I'm out.

 

[Grumpy Ginger]

People are aware here that Japan is actually a pretty prudish and that creepy harem anime is not representative of the whole country. Why they don't sell well in the west, porn is readily available and the whole digital waifu thing hasn't really caught on but does fairly well with the Otaku types in Japan.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

They tried. Not R* specifically, though. BMXXX, Outlaw Golf 1 & 2 (And I'm pretty sure Blockbuster had a special Xmas version), Outlaw Tennis. The Man game.
Leisure Suit Larry may or may not count.

I largely blame the uptight western world. FCC, and all that. That and I dunno, the west sorta treats this as a throw away game that just barely has to work, relying on the shock value, and T&A to sell. Probably because westerners are too embarrassed to buy the games, and the censors screw things up.

I mean it's not impossible to make a game that has jiggle physics and is actually good. Senran Kagura as a series, Mount your friends.

Eh, I'm just rambling, though.

 

[Erttheking]

A history of religious prudery, for starters.

That and the fact that, despite all the hustle and bustle, there isn't a freaking audience for it.

Nonsense, of course there is. But the developers have to give at least as much attention to the gameplay as to the T&A, plus they have to be willing to tell the inevitable screaming Tumblrites and concerned mothers to go fuck themselves.

Look around communities such as Undertow Club and Lewd Gamer and you'll see there's a substantial audience for games like this. Though preferably with more nudity or at least easily amenable to modding such things in.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If people on Tumblr keep devs from releasing a game overseas, either they have no drive or they have no spines. Either way I don't feel sorry for them and consider the blame to be on their shoulders. Also a game that has massive amounts of T&A AND good gameplay. Yeah...I don't see that happening. That's about as likely as there being a complex and engaging love story...call me if a game manages to actually do that though because having all three would be goddamn amazing.

Question. Do these people want to buy the game because they genuinely are interested in it, or to spite SJWs? Because I saw a lot of that for DOAX3. I'm not saying everyone did, but more than a few did.

 

[infohippie]

I'm vaguely amused by several people in here saying "its not that the west has sexual hang-ups, its that they don't sell". Never occurred to you that they don't sell BECAUSE the west has sexual hang-ups?

Interestingly, there is a post HERE [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/9.940660.23727832] from someone working in the adult gaming field that says there is actually quite a demand for it, but distributors are their biggest problem - basically they're afraid to be associated with this kind of content, which I believe stems directly from the west's sexual hangups.

Think about it this way: two people walk into Tesco. One buys the new Doom; a game about violently slaughtering demons in showers of blood, ripping them apart with your bare hands, etc etc. One buys Nekopara; a cutesy, funny, 'naughty' visual novel about catgirls but still relatively tame.

Who is more likely to get a weird look from the cashier? Because I'd put money on it being the second.

I bought NekoPara volumes 0, 1, and 2, and am eagerly awaiting volume 3 which will hopefully focus on Cinnamon and... Maple, I think? I also bought HuniePop and enjoyed it immensely. I'm used to staring down weird looks, though I imagine most gamers would prefer not to have to deal with that.

 

[infohippie]

A history of religious prudery, for starters.

That and the fact that, despite all the hustle and bustle, there isn't a freaking audience for it.

Nonsense, of course there is. But the developers have to give at least as much attention to the gameplay as to the T&A, plus they have to be willing to tell the inevitable screaming Tumblrites and concerned mothers to go fuck themselves.

Look around communities such as Undertow Club and Lewd Gamer and you'll see there's a substantial audience for games like this. Though preferably with more nudity or at least easily amenable to modding such things in.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If people on Tumblr keep devs from releasing a game overseas, either they have no drive or they have no spines. Either way I don't feel sorry for them and consider the blame to be on their shoulders. Also a game that has massive amounts of T&A AND good gameplay. Yeah...I don't see that happening. That's about as likely as there being a complex and engaging love story...call me if a game manages to actually do that though because having all three would be goddamn amazing.

Question. Do these people want to buy the game because they genuinely are interested in it, or to spite SJWs? Because I saw a lot of that for DOAX3. I'm not saying everyone did, but more than a few did.

Personally, I didn't buy DOA at all because I thought it was a crappy game. I enjoy games with sexual content, but they MUST be good games, or in the case of something like a kinetic novel that doesn't have actual gameplay, they must have an engaging story and interesting characters. So I bought all the NekoPara series, I bought HuniePop, I've bought innumerable eroge visual novels. But I did not buy BMX XXX or any of the other games that thought they could make up for being crap by simply having sexual content. I don't personally give a toss what the SJWs say about it, but if a company wants to make sales in this field, they MUST have the balls to stand up to that crowd when they start their inevitable complaints.

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

We're not into the same thing as the Japanese, if you call that a sexual hang up I guess that would stop sales

Granted people do get weird looks for buying stuff like that so you have a point there...but with the growing digital market I feel like that would really be a huge problem. People who want crazy porn get crazy porn and aren't stopped just because of a few awkward looks.

Also let's be frank. Japan is prudish too. If it wasn't, that woman who made a canoe in the shape of her vagina wouldn't have gotten arrested.

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

Fair enough. I wasn't accusing you of doing that, I just know that plenty of people did it out of spite. I wouldn't say no to stuff like this, though to be frank I don't like paying for porn if I can help it.

I'm sorry, standing up? How the freaking hell do you stand up to SJWs? They're not like religious conservatives in the 80s and 90s where they were trying to get legislation passed against games, they're just saying they don't like it on the internet. At worst, they make petitions, and to be frank that's rare. Releasing a game despite people online not liking it is not standing up to people in my book. I released a story that I'm going to continue despite half of the feedback being negative. I'm going to continue writing it. I don't consider that to be standing up those reviewers.

This is without getting into how SJW outrage is blown out of proportion. It doesn't happen nearly as often as people act. Where was the SJW backlash against Huniepop and Nekopara?

 

[infohippie]

Snip

Fair enough. I wasn't accusing you of doing that, I just know that plenty of people did it out of spite. I wouldn't say no to stuff like this, though to be frank I don't like paying for porn if I can help it.

I'm sorry, standing up? How the freaking hell do you stand up to SJWs? They're not like religious conservatives in the 80s and 90s where they were trying to get legislation passed against games, they're just saying they don't like it on the internet. At worst, they make petitions, and to be frank that's rare. Releasing a game despite people online not liking it is not standing up to people in my book. I released a story that I'm going to continue despite half of the feedback being negative. I'm going to continue writing it. I don't consider that to be standing up those reviewers.

This is without getting into how SJW outrage is blown out of proportion. It doesn't happen nearly as often as people act. Where was the SJW backlash against Huniepop and Nekopara?

They protest and try to prevent outlets selling the games, such as the petition that got Target in Australia to stop selling GTA5. For Rockstar that was nothing more than a blip in profits that they could ignore. For a small developer that could easily be the difference between success and failure. It's not just negative feedback, it's concerted action to try to prevent it being available for purchase. I don't think NekoPara was much heard of in the west outside certain select circles, but I saw plenty of backlash against HuniePop leading up to its release. Sites like Kotaku panning it and calling it racist, sexist, trash, etc. I mean, there's even a campaign calling to pre-emptively ban sex robots (because they apparently objectify women, lol) and they don't really even exist yet!