Dissertation Survey

[kmacdw]

My final year dissertation deals with the censorship of Japanese video games for release in the west (particularly in terms of content deemed to be of a sexual nature).

As part of that I have set up a survey to gauge people's opinion on the matter; and I need members of the video game community to fill it out.

It's split into two parts (I'm a poor student so I can't afford Survey monkey premium features )

Part 1: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PYLYYTB
Part 2: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PYY96X5

Please answer both parts and do so honestly. It should only take a few moments of your time.

I am eternally grateful for any respondents. i would say there's cake but that would be a lie

[turf]

Done.  Good luck!

[desocietas]

Best of luck on the dissertation!

[indenton]

It's Showtime!

[kmacdw]

I've actually had to edit and re-post the first part of the survey due to a couple of grave errors. They didn't show up when I tested it 

Thanks for the messages of good luck

[shepard11]

I told the surveys for ya. Interesting topic. Best of luck to ya with this project.

[kamikazekeeg]

Interesting questions, though the DOA section felt a tad iffy and everything was centered around "censorship", when I think there's instances that are definitely less about censorship and more about localization and making sure a game is more easily accessible, especially in the case of Nintendo.  People in the west are gonna have issues with sexualized teens in Xenoblade and Fatal Frame, so they altered the clothing options a tad.  The breast slider in Xenoblade was probably abit overboard though.

Censorship can be too broadly used sometimes.  DOAX3 was never a censorship issue, it was just a situation where someone on Team Ninja...or the community section I think it ended up being...felt like the atmosphere in the west for a pervy game like theirs would create negative attention, so they chose purposefully themselves to not release it here.  I think it was mostly just them not wanting to spend any extra money to ship the game over here, since the game was never gonna sell well in the first place cause it's a niche perv game.

If Senran Kagura and the Onechanbara games can get released over here, or any regular Dead or Alive game can get released here, there's really no good excuse to not bring DOAX3 over lol

Good luck with the project.

[kmacdw]

Interesting questions, though the DOA section felt a tad iffy and everything was centered around "censorship", when I think there's instances that are definitely less about censorship and more about localization and making sure a game is more easily accessible, especially in the case of Nintendo.  People in the west are gonna have issues with sexualized teens in Xenoblade and Fatal Frame, so they altered the clothing options a tad.  The breast slider in Xenoblade was probably abit overboard though.

Censorship can be too broadly used sometimes.  DOAX3 was never a censorship issue, it was just a situation where someone on Team Ninja...or the community section I think it ended up being...felt like the atmosphere in the west for a pervy game like theirs would create negative attention, so they chose purposefully themselves to not release it here.  I think it was mostly just them not wanting to spend any extra money to ship the game over here, since the game was never gonna sell well in the first place cause it's a niche perv game.

If Senran Kagura and the Onechanbara games can get released over here, or any regular Dead or Alive game can get released here, there's really no good excuse to not bring DOAX3 over lol

Good luck with the project.

Rest assured I understand where you're coming from.

I talk about localisation issues within my discussion; however overall localisation is a justification for censorship, however it is censorship nonetheless in many people's minds, as it involves making changes to the designer's original vision.

As for DoA; I do mention that a lack of audience in the west is a legitimate reason for not releasing it here. however with the staff member's comment on the depiction of female characters and the general fume online; I felt it stood as a good example; especially since other examples were just outfit changes and the like.

I'm more so focusing on the general consensus that Nintendo localisation issues and DoA Xtreme 3 are censorship and the backlash that surrounds that. Rather than explicitly stating "these are examples of censorship; so what do you think about them?" Basically I'm using the fum on the internet as the justification for what I'm doing

And thanks.

[indenton]

Alright, I've tried my best to leave some meaningful and truthful comments for ya! 

You know when I started watching/playing Pokemon, I had the urge to pull out a 2 x 4 to beat my pets into to following my every command to fight other domestically abused animals.  Hold on, I adore my pets just as much as did before Pokemon came into existence.  Yeah I was hoping to talk a bit more about 'Being Desensitized to Violence', but I can see you're was going in the direction of Censorship of Sexual Representation. 

No no no, not appropriate at all, now if you'll excuse me I must partake in a session of Skullgirls.  Hello Nurse!

[krelyan]

Interesting questions, though the DOA section felt a tad iffy and everything was centered around "censorship", when I think there's instances that are definitely less about censorship and more about localization and making sure a game is more easily accessible, especially in the case of Nintendo.

I agree.  I personally would have liked to have seen more options for something like question #6.  I felt railroaded into a position I didn't necessarily agree with.  I personally feel that commercial justifications on something like localization (especially when it's done by the developer/publisher themselves) being lumped in with "censorship" dilutes the word from what most people intend for it to mean.

[kmacdw]

Interesting questions, though the DOA section felt a tad iffy and everything was centered around "censorship", when I think there's instances that are definitely less about censorship and more about localization and making sure a game is more easily accessible, especially in the case of Nintendo.

I agree.  I personally would have liked to have seen more options for something like question #6.  I felt railroaded into a position I didn't necessarily agree with.  I personally feel that commercial justifications on something like localization (especially when it's done by the developer/publisher themselves) being lumped in with "censorship" dilutes the word from what most people intend for it to mean.

I understand what you mean.

However I had to make it black and white in order to make the study plausible. If I was doing a thesis and have a far greater word count, than I likely would has delved into the many grey areas of censorship in video games but I had to limit things.

I realise Xtreme 3 isn't censorship in the traditional sense but it is 'self-censorship' in a way.

Similarly I know that changes for localisation due to cultural differences are common practice; so again it's not censorship in the purest sense, however nonetheless it does involve altering the original artistic vision.

Truth be told when I got to my literature review I cam to the realisation that studies on video game censorship weren't very common,so I likely would have been better off focusing on video game censorship in the purest sense; the likes of GTA San Andreas and Manhunt 2 for example. However it was too late for me to start fresh.

[azure]

Done, hope it helps!

[krelyan]

I understand what you mean.

However I had to make it black and white in order to make the study plausible. If I was doing a thesis and have a far greater word count, than I likely would has delved into the many grey areas of censorship in video games but I had to limit things.

I realise Xtreme 3 isn't censorship in the traditional sense but it is 'self-censorship' in a way.

Similarly I know that changes for localisation due to cultural differences are common practice; so again it's not censorship in the purest sense, however nonetheless it does involve altering the original artistic vision.

Truth be told when I got to my literature review I cam to the realisation that studies on video game censorship weren't very common,so I likely would have been better off focusing on video game censorship in the purest sense; the likes of GTA San Andreas and Manhunt 2 for example. However it was too late for me to start fresh.

Sure I get that you can't cover all sides with the limited format, just thought I'd share that I personally didn't agree with either of the 3 options rather strongly.  I think the DOA example is a bit of an unusual case because how it's addressed makes the assumption that the comment referenced reflects the position of the company as a whole.  So if you go with that it does for the sake of the argument it's basically saying that the developer was "self-censored" for fear of criticism... which is I feel a whole different bag of worms than the other arguments you use in part two.  And that seems like a universal, super broad worry for any artistic medium: the concern of what others will think of your work.

[mastafafik]

Consider it done. Good luck!

[kashell]

I finished both of them. Good luck, kiddo!