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Do you own every mangagamer title, or do you have some fan-entitlement excuse to not pay money for those, either?

> Gipface getting sued would be like FUCKING CHRISTMAS IN JULY.

lol what? dmca doesn't apply in canadia, what are they going to bust him for?

Thanks for bringing some informed points to this 4chan-infested comment thread.

Of course not all VN translators are NNL, and I don't think I pointed fingers at anyone else. However, unless other groups take a very clear public stand, I don't expect interested parties, especially in Japan, to tell the difference. The bad apples here can definitely ruin it for everybody, especially if they enjoy a large degree of fan support, as sadly seems to be the case.

Pardon my bluntness, but ignorant drivel quoting Sartre is ignorant drivel no less. Article 8 of the 1886 version of the Berne Convention already guaranteed exclusive translation rights to authors of protected works (and visual novel are protected works in that sense of course). Nowadays, it applies essentially everywhere in the world, since the WTO TRIPS agreement includes those provisions. You can translate the work if you are so inclined, but it is illegal to distribute a translation, or a translation patch, without authorization from the rightsholders. NNL can be prosecuted under Canadian laws if they distribute this and minori can sue them for damages. If that's how it turns out, there won't be much of a VN translation scene left to speak of, so you'd rather hope it doesn't.

Also, "vandalizing"? That's not what you call the removal of material you own and that is illegally hosted on a third-party site. That you read it on an Internet tabloid doesn't make it right.

This post, while it does have some valid points, is also quite biased.

One could chose the more literary approach to this subject ; in his first and major book the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that "books and most art forms take on a life of their own, separating from their author in order to exist".
This quote has a pretty obvious meaning in the case of books, mostly regarding interpretation and commentary, especially in times of controversy - "you said in your work...", "this sentence can be understood as you meaning that you...", etc.
And the philosopher to add, "they sometime exist

against

their author" (my emphasize). Art is art because it is in the culture, because it influences the world around it ; trying to make it a product removed from any influence is hence not only futile, it is also contradictory. What minori. is doing here is just saying, "it's an eroge made to gain money, it shouldn't be viewed as anything but a local good for local and short-lived use". Can they ? It is blatant that eroges have some sort of influence, both as a cultural object (the controversy in the US around pedopornography in mangas and j-games) and as an artform (where it both receives and gives).

Another side is the action of translation itself ; as long as it doesn't distribute the game itself, there is absolutely no way to argue against it.
It is only knowledge - and not the knowledge that comes from the game scripts, that can indeed be copyrighted. It is the knowledge of a language, the same one the creators used, free of charge, to paint their ideas.
It can be problematic with books, since they are basically nothing but words, that's why there are law devices in place to both help and prevent translation (comparate literature studies need them and have some rights to it, but editors can't sell translations freely).
But it is not in the case of Eroges - have you ever seen a script ? By itself, it's pointless, like me telling you "a dark haired chick with a weird smile by Da Vinci" and pretending I gave you the Joconde.
Hence, I'd say translations do nothing but provide people with enough knowledge to understand Eroges - they certainly don't violate copyright (maintaining they don't pack the game). If people download pirate copies, sure, that's piracy, but what has the translation got to do with it ? Indirectly encouraging piracy ? That's like saying Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) encourage music piracy because they allow people that couldn't previously to hear.
Because that's what non-japanese speakers are faced with eroges - mostly deaf persons waiting to be given working ears. Of course people have a tendency to want for free what they can, instead of paying for it ; but that's completly removed from the topic at hand.

I must say I don't understand the replies given by minori., and since I own both Ef. and Eden*, I sincerely hope someone helps me read them. How would that be illegal ? I paid for the game, and I'm asking for help playing them ; it's like flour makers complaining that their buyers ask for the service of bakers to make bread. "NO YOU CAN'T IT'S MAH FLOUR YOU NOT MODIFY IT". Really ? That just seems dumb, and it is exactly how minori. appears to me.

What we would need would be a nice talk between everyone, trying to understand what we have to lose, what we have to gain, with translations. Minori doesn't seem open to that ; vandalizing a wiki, continuously spitting the same lines (rubish if I might add too), is not constructive. Sure some individuals got retarded and lacked common courtesy ; that's not the majority I see however.

Even if big companies do it, that doesn't make it right. Region-locking content is discrimination, plain and simple. It's ridiculous that it is still allowed in this day and age, in countries that are supposedly bastions of freedom. But it seems everyone is only equal till you get to the border.

Ever read the side of a US DS game box?
"For sale, rental and use only in US, Canada, Mexico and Latin America"

Japanese DS sale warning is much the same; "For sale and use in Japan only. Commercial use, unauthorised copy and rental prohibited"

I eh... I was expecting to find a European variant as well, actually, but I can't seem to find a similar message on my UK DS boxes.
There is a "Licensed for sale only in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania" line on my UK PSP boxes though (similar to the "Licensed for sale only in North America and Mexico" ones I've seen on US PSP/PS3 boxes).

So, basically, it sounds pretty normal to me.

I am a 24 years woman myself (thankfully, i do not live in USA) and i'm totally against that position of CNN and this idiotic woman society or whatever who started the mess in the first place.

Dear god, just how exactly DUMB someone need to be to believe that a GAME can make adults go out and rape someone? Oh yeah, of course video games are baaad, they make innocent people rapers, killers or worse - they made us to start the war with Iraq in the first place, that's what games do!

I insist that all kinds of hentai games - even the most perverted ones about raping - not only *should* exist out there, but really *must* be sold everywhere around the world. I'd really prefer to see some sick bastard sitting at home playing RapeLay than roaming the streets of my city looking for a real-life prey.

No, JList does not bother paying the ESRB the standard administrative fee to rubber-stamp their games as being Adult Only, which appears to be what minori demands that interested Western parties do despite most consumers being happy to take a publisher's statement that "this erotic game is absolutely not suitable for children" at face value.

Apparently the reasoning behind this might be that in Japan the equivalent organization (CERO) extends a guarantee that the contents of games which they have rated are legal under Japanese law, and minori misunderstands the ESRB as also doing this. I doubt going through the ESRB would indemnify JList against an accusation of distributing child porn, should such be forthcoming one of these days.

"if you live in africa you're not entitled to use, buy, sell any products of us, let alone view our website"
"if you live in america but your computer is in niggerspeak you also are prohibited from using our product."

yeh sounds pretty legit

u mad