First off, school started for me recently so I am EXTREMELY sorry for my absence! >.<
Anyway, sex in video games. As the laws in most developed countries will tell you, any sexual contact between those under the age of 18, wether it be a depiction or the deed itself, is illegal. As you probably know by now, this is a big problem for those of us in the OELVN community that want to stay true to the original Japanese visual novel formula, because one of the largest components in visual novels is sex! Whether it be for arousal or story and character development, sex plays a large role in the crying games of Japan.
Now this won’t seem like a big deal to someone outside of the community. You just need your characters to be over the age of 18, right? Unfortunately that’s not quite how it works. For one, most visual novels feature a key setting: high school. It’s not hard to figure out why. VNs are romantic games at heart, and high schools are where most people’s first loves, first dates, and first sexual experiences happen. This setting is so popular in Japan that any other setting is almost considered novel.
Secondly, even if you don’t use a high school setting, or have all of your characters be 18, US law has an interesting clause: if the average viewer would identify the character as underage or a ‘minor’, that is how the character will be viewed under law. Yeeeeaaahhh. Not to break your spirits, but unless you draw your characters with huge DD breasts, they will probably be viewed as underage by the majority.
Lastly, if you do mention sex in your story, you can’t go into detail with it. Basically, if the court finds the work in any way arousing, you are screwed. However, if the sex has literary, scientific, or medical ‘value’ it will be perfectly fine and will not be considered child porn. But how the hell are you supposed to tell if your work has ‘value’ or not?
And this is where the article breaks off into interpretation, personal opinion, and a guide for adventurous indie OELVN developers who want to end the stigma of sexual writing in the visual novel industry without getting arrested and labeled as a pedophile. The following questions will be explored: Can supposedly arousing, underage sex have literary value? Does sex have a place in your story? Is sex a sin? Let’s find out!
YOUR STORY BEFORE SEX
What is your story before the characters get down and dirty? This is probably the largest deciding factor in wether or not your work will get mauled by a court, so listen up. There are three main factors in this: plot, theme, and genre or mood. These three factors will show wether or not your game has any sort of artistic value to the world, or if it is just meaningless moe, cliche, and sex.
The important thing to remember here is that US courts are not filled with people familiar with anime and manga, or the culture. They will find it infantile, sinful, disgusting, and easy to judge and misconstrue. There is genuine hatred held for this particular form of media in our society. With that in mind, the typical romantic fairy tale moe moe Lucky Star big eyed small chested otaku pandering fest will be reviewed harshly by the greater population, whereas something subtle, realistic, and philosophical will be given more slack. I.E. do not include sex in a superficial work. Just don’t. If you do, don’t hold the law in contempt for what they will probably do to you. So, continuing on.
Plot: First off, does your story have any plot? By plot, I don’t just mean action-packed, dramatic, puzzling, or whatever. Your story can be slice-of-life, but it will help if you have some direction, or at least character development over the course of the story. Conflict, problems for characters to overcome, and even subtle romance can have value depending on how you go about showing it. Overall, plot is not the largest factor in this, simply because our culture loves existential shit and considers it thought-provoking. (And it really can be if you do it right!)
Plots to avoid are… having a tsun-tsun girl meet a guy because he stole her panties and sniffed them. Obvious and perverted things like that, lol.
Theme: Secondly, is your story giving off a message of some kind? If your only message is that panty thieving’s a great way to meet girls if you’re a masochist, you’re doing it wrong.
However, I will offer you perverted people some chances here… if your work is somewhat stereotypical and ecchi, add an overlapping theme on human sexuality and how it affects people. Get deeper into the subject matter! You can have panty shots, panty thieves, tsun-tsun girls, just give them more psychological reasoning behind their actions, or serious consequences. Explore a teenage girl’s life when pressured into being sexy or having sex or starting a new relationship. Even something like that, which you might find stupid, would probably help your chances.
Genre: Is your story just an ecchi comedy or something more? I won’t give you any more bad examples, you know those already. But for slice-of-life or action genres, I think the biggest thing would be having a point besides just entertainment. Some sort of religious, psychological, philosophical undertones would be a great way of making it more interesting to read and better for the courts.
THE WAY YOU DESCRIBE SEX
This is crucial. Doing this the wrong way could mean… well, suicide, if you’re that guy. :P
The best way to show this is through example, so, with censors and ambiguity in place, here it is:
“Mmm, so… ah!! My ***** are ripping from the pressure of your big *****! Stop…~!”
Get the picture? Sexy dialogue, although possibly acceptable, is probably not something you should include. Most teenage girls (unless they are huge sluts) probably wouldn’t talk like that their first time anyway. (Without censors: “Mmm, so… ah!! My socks are ripping from the pressure of your big claws! Stop…~!” She has a cat.)
Another thing that you might not want to include: your fetish. For one, TMI. Two, that is definitely only for arousing purposes. If you really must include your fetish, put it into a comedy scene, such as walking in on a girl peeing (if that’s your fetish in the first place). Dog collars, handcuffs, whips… probably not in the average high schooler’s bedroom. And tentacles? Get real!
The best way to describe sex? Conservatively and spiritually. Yeah, I know you don’t buy into that soul touching crap, but it will seem more artistic. If you don’t want to lie to yourself, than just imagine it as getting into character, like an actor. That’s what you should be doing anyway as you write, actually. :S
An example of this:
“I… I’m not sure about this… can I trust you?” Her voice seemed caught in some unseen trap, her body shaking lightly beneath mine.
“You can trust me… after all, I love you.” I pull in for one last kiss, her lips providing a soft, secure feeling. She closes her eyes.
“Alright.”
(Describing the making of a PBJ sandwich.)
My last word of advice? Be honest! If your character would find it embarrassing, describe it as such! Amazing, uplifting? Go with it. Nerve-wracking, but worth it? Great.
If they have prior experience, go with that too. It will be better and more understandable to a jury than… “Kyaa! It hurts, I’m crying! Oh wait, I love it! More, more, more!!”
IS SEX A SIN?
What do you believe in? I’d like to hear what you have to say, whether you found this helpful, whatever you want!
Me personally? I believe that sex shouldn’t be given so much of a bad reputation. It’s natural, we all do it, so why do we have to be so uptight about it? Why do we need to have so much censorship?
Also, this was written without any extra proof-reading, it’s 12, I’m tired, I’m 14, etc. I just don’t think that we, as developers, should have to live in fear of having our lives ruined for the sake of self-expression and entertainment. I also don’t think that the men or women playing these games should be seen as freaks, pedophiles, or unjust for liking what they see.
Truth be told, I would include sex into my stories if I wasn’t underage myself, or if I didn’t want to start my own company someday. (I don’t want pre-existing stigma since I want to be a children’s cartoon artist.) I also do not find anyone under high school age appropriate to have in sexual situations; I just think that people in high school are old enough to do what they want and take care of themselves.
I will write follow up to this as I see fit, and I might delve into certain topics more if you guys want. I’m not the most intelligent though, and this article was not the most well written, so feel free to give your own opinions on your blogs, I would be very happy to see them.
Good luck to you in writing valuable sex!
… >>;
