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(Ero)game over man, game over! Pretty much everything in eroge banned
by Josh Tolentino, 06/23/2009
(Ero)game over man, game over! Pretty much everything in eroge banned photo

Things just got a lot worse for h-games and their creators and players. More details have emerged regarding the upcoming adult game regulations, and it seems that titles containing content that caters to pretty much any known fetish will be restricted or banned outright. Think I'm kidding? Almost everything outside of the missionary position is now off-limits, with the restrictions covering images (both illustrated and live-action), text, packaging, and even the publisher/developer's name.

The list of content to be restricted extends far beyond the scope of the original complaints over the Illusion Soft-published title Rapelay. Code language or euphemisms for the various listed genres is also banned. The list itself isn't finalized, more keywords may still be added, and the exact date and method of enforcement is to be announced, but it's hard to view this as anything other than a deathblow for the eroge industry.

Some publishers have begun region-based IP-blockage of their websites, including Minori, publisher of Wind: A Breath of Heart, which itself got (non-adult) manga and anime adaptations. Regardless of what you think about rape, h-games or even porn in general, this is a massive defeat for free expression. Given the sweeping nature of the regulations, we might even see the fight coming to anime, manga, and doujin works in the future.

Sigh. Hit the jump for the full list of keywords. Some don't have direct English equivalents, and may sound redundant.

[Via Canned Dogs]

  • Loli
  • Gang Rape
  • Sexual violence/Assault (陵辱)
  • Cruel sexual play (鬼畜)
  • Reverse rape
  • Shoujo
  • Forbidden sex (相姦)
  • Reverse sexual violence (逆陵辱)
  • Forced (強要)
  • Multiple play (複数プレイ)
  • School council (生徒会)
  • Bestiality
  • Bondage
  • Threaten
  • Train groping (車内わいせつ)
  • Enjo Kousai (wikipedia link)
  • Incest
  • Torture
  • Bind tightly (緊縛)
  • Pregnant
  • Rape (強姦) (another way to refer to rape)
  • Slave
  • Pregnant woman
  • Imprisonment
  • Impregnation
    •




    (41) COMMENTS



    PBz0r

    Not sure what to think. I was never interested in eroge but this sounds like they're actually planning to ban all sorts of pornography. After all, if eroge can't contain these subjects, why should AV's and doujins? Surprising to say the least, coming from the last developed country to illegalize child pornography.

    Well at least armpit moe is still legal. Yuck.
     
    fission2

    This level of censorship is absurd; at first I was toying with the idea that these changes could be acceptable changes, but now it makes me want to organize a counter-attack to this draconian rule.

    Sexual tendencies are as much a part of the human condition as say the thirst for knowledge, higher achievement, and a part of self-fulfilment. While I may not partake in the more ludicrous aspects of H-Games, I respect that these fetishes are a part of people themselves.

    As Voltaire once said, "I don't agree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death your right to say it."

    This won't change anything; if there's one thing the black market's taught us, it's that there will always be a way to acquire something even if it's outlawed. I mean take a look at prohibition, not to mention the prevalence of piracy; the free market WILL WIN, whether it's open in the public or in the scenic underbelly.
     
    Kougeru

    i assume with loli comes a ban on shota. but i think it's very odd to ban "pregnant " and "bondage" which are pretty common fetishes in normal porn. this is really hard to believe tbh..ill wait for something more official than llpalace to believe it 100%....also the japanese font on this website is appearing as moonspeak, not sure if that's a site issue or a copy pasta issue..they work on canned dogs tho.
     
    Kougeru

    sry for double post, but i was wondering if anyone knew wth "Reverse rape" is...only thing i can think of his "consent" ....
     
    Pangloss

    @Kougeru: I think it may refer to the girls forcing themselves on the guys.
     
    Zonic505

    @Kougeru: Basically, reverse raep is Woman raeping man.

    WOW, I can't believe how many types of porn they're banning, considering this is Japan....

    & why the crap are Shoujo games banned? What's wrong w/ that?!
     
    Kougeru

    Zonic, my assumsion is shoujo refers to any girl that isn't a loli, but is still younger than 18ish...This is pretty overkill..no evidence shown to link the games with any real harm so they should remain unbanned,legal, and available for anyone over the proper age to buy. does japan not have freedom of speech laws? I know in the US if there's no proof it's hurting anyone, then it's not illegal. it seems more and more lately in the world people are getting too lazy to actually do research and just ban things they don't like.
     
    dark

    Crazy, but I predicted this when I posted on this topic a few weeks ago...any government, will take a situation to the extreme to "protect" it's citizens from whatever they deem is outside the norm...the USA does this stuff all the time also.

    Where is your freedom now?

    By the way, fission2's prediction is spot on, all this stuff will just go "underground" and out of sight, and unregulated.
     
    harmonic

    Great, I was just reading about the Chris Handley case, and now this. Friggin Close minded morons ruin everything. Oh well, Back to telling my government that we don't want internet filtering, since I can't import loli now.
     
    Josh Tolentino

    One of the worst parts about this whole affair is that the makers are now blocking their own sites off for fear of FOX News-esque people trawling for ammunition. After all, what set off this whole chain of tragedies was Rapelay appearing on an English-language vendor site.

    Not of course that foreigners are to blame. After all, this gross overreaction was brought upon by the Japanese government, but I'm sure that many h-game devs now feel that if they (and us filthy gaijin) had just kept it on the down-low (or "download" if you like), none of this would have happened.

    Just look at the blocking text that appears on Minori's website if you try visiting:

    [i]"Some foreigners seem to be having an antipathy against EROGE.
    Therefore, We prohibited the access from foreign countries, to defend our culture.
    Sorry for you of the fan that lives in a foreign country."[/i]

     
    Zonic505

    The image at the top pretty much expresses my feelings. Whatever happened to, ya know, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION?! Who's to tell us that we can't have fetishes?!?

    Hopefully, this'll only lead to an ESRB-esue rating system for Eroges to warn people what they contain instead of just banning these all together.
     
    Kageryu

    The EOCS is a joke. They did this with comic books in the states during the Cold War, it's not going to change a thing.
     
    Wedge Jaeger

    I'm going to go against the grain here and say this is a good thing. anything past this sentence will probably ignored now, so I'll just go ahead and leave it at that.

     
    Xelotath

    With the bullshit over here I tought maybe Japan was the last safe place for otaku but I was wrong. Wtf is wrong with these people, might as well ban having sex or thinking about sex. I hope eroge makers will start selling online through their own website, bypassing those retail regulations. Then the shops will cry that they're losing money and the bans will be lifted.

    You try may and ban our eroge but you'll never take my lolis!
     
    Xelotath

    @Wedge Jaeger: Are you telling me banning nekomimi is a good thing? Cause animal ears are included in the bestiality thing. Also, 2D people are not real so why the fuck banning it should be good. The gouvernement should stop doing the easy worthless thing and start taking care of those real criminals, not otakus fapping to some 2D pron.
     
    Aiya

    This is why we can't have nice things :( and wtf is wrong with shoujo games? :/ they might as well ban everything that's pretty much about sex in general.

     
    Slust

    Japan... Listen. You manage, in some form or another, to be involved in 70% or more of my masturbation material. I'm going to need you to... you know, not become dominated by the Evangelical Christian Agenda when it comes to censorship in your media. I definitely don't have weird fucking fetishes, but you're going well beyond censoring rape and child porn of people who don't exist, so just stop. Okay? Thanks.

    I still love you, though.
     
    The-Excel

    Har. About time they caught on this.

    This is going to end the same way Prohibition did. It'll take about three years before the backlash forces them to overturn it. Either way, I'd love to see them try to enforce something this large-scale.
     
    meonlyme775

    That's like... not even fair.
     
    Parasepsis-Ezza

    What do they hope to accomplish with this?
    H-games aren't my thing (yet), but everyone and their mother knows this is a futile effort. A list that big was made by people who are only going to make it bigger and bolder, to the point that it encompasses multiple medias.

    Can someone clarify what "student council" is?

     
    Gee-Man

    Huh...that's...a lot of things, wow.

    So, I guess it's missionary with the lights out from here on out? I was never interested in eroge games to be honest, but I feel this is way too extreme. I can understand the sentiment behind banning rape and non consentual sex, but so many other things? It seems that the Japanese publishers are more or less bending over to the pressure from both the Japanese government and protesters abroad.

    Ah well, we Americans once tried to ban alchol (despite having a large population of Irish, Scottish, and German immigrants) and look how that turned out. Either eroge is going to go underground (and hopefully fans will have learned their lesson this time, and keep things on the "down low") or the backlash is going to be too much.

    Then again though, unlike Irish and Germans during Prohibition, eroge fans aren't a very large portion of the population...
     
    Hikouseki

    Censorship is already spreading across the net, and there seems to be little political will to stop this. After all who wants to stand up for rapegames? That's what you call political suicide.

    And other fetishes are just as bad. In fact, I get the feeling the politicians have been looking at the development in China as not being a threat to democracy and an open society, but something to incorporate into their own wet dreams (controll=S).

    Give them your hand and youll lose your arm. Thats how censorship work.

    I dearly hope a backlash is coming, but the nearest future doesn't look too optimistic to me. It will be lights out from here on - after all who wants to proclaim to the world, in real-life, that they get off to 2D pictures of cat-eared girls raping men in the school counsil room...
     
    EvilOtaku

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that this ban only covered the title and box art for the game and not the contents of the game itself.

    I agree that censorship is a slippery slope, but this is only a superficial change. The eroge industry will just have to come up with new code words and euphemisms.

    The existing games can be sold as is, all they have to do is change the title and the box art.

    Again please correct me if I'm wrong so that i can be suitably outraged
     
    Kristin

    I like that line dark...

    "Where is your freedom now?"

    I totally agree.

     
    Josh Tolentino

    @EvilOtaku

    No, it extends to content, which includes game CG, dialog scripts, etc. Adjust your outrage accordingly.
     
    Pentence

    Y know i realy hoped this wouldnt happen and somehow i dont think this is gonna stick very long. I mean if this does go through as is this is gonna piss off alot of people and retail sales like someone said, will indeed drop. This is a huge blow for freedom of speech , art and expression.

    Either way this is rediculous and will be either amended in the future or abolished all together. Either way it will be bypassed be it by legal ileagal means.
     
    Pentence

    Also to Hikouseki statment at the last part ,no i dont get off to that but ya know what its like fission2 reminds of voltairs great words "I don't agree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death your right to say it."

    In this case ill openly admit to loveing bondage and S&M and several other fethishes hell i tell people i i know tidbits all the time about it ,not in detail ( unless they want to know). Long have i thought that some things of the percieved darker desires of human nature and their understanding and exploration alow for a better understanding of not just oneself but otehrs as well. We must be able to except who and what we are ,that includes the darker perhapes less desirable parts.

    To not alow people to explore these things is to deny a person their ability to explore themselves in a simulated scenario or otherwise. I will say this all in public as well as here i have no issues with this for i beilive one should be held acountable for what they say no matter to whom and whre they say it. After all with the way things are if you wish no one to hear what you have to say you had better not say anything.
     
    kamanashi

    This won't last long. I don't see how they could possibly enforce this with the amount of people that would be losing jobs. So, I'm going with probably a false alarm or just a ban in retail stores.
     
    Resvrgam

    Some of those articles on the list I completely agree with. It's a HUGE cry for help when defective people actually have rape fetishes involving interactive cartoons.

    Some of the articles on that list (Shoujo?!) just seem a little absurd to put a ban on.

    Personally, I find the whole idea of a "dating simulator" offensive to women (as the game mechanics usually involve eroding a girl's will until she finally submits to sex) but banning games involving women under the age of 18 seems more puritanical than anything the States could throw at us.
     
    vac2008

    NOOOOOOOOOO! Why must they get rid of loli, bondage, and train gropping?! Are they also getting rid of catgirls?
     
    Magnalon

    Nice article Josh!

    I suppose this means that Bible Black and the like would be banned to hell? (So to speak).
     
    kamanashi

    @Magnalon: I guess so. Bible Black has most of those after all. That really is one disturbing series.
     
    The-Excel

    I'm wondering exactly how many you-know-whats come out of the woodwork to protest this. Man would that be hilarious.
     
    Hikouseki

    @Pentence Well, I’m glad there are people like you who DO stand up for what you like. Still, I’m sad to say I wouldn’t openly express my personal preferences in 2D pron, unless tortured. Too embarrassed (closeted in this area) I guess.

    Also what is forbidden sex? Anyone knows, just curious...Or is that everything else but normal, healthy, child-producing type of sex –wait that was also on the list, lol.
     
    gwjunkie

    This is almost as infuriating to me as the lobbying in the U.S. Congress that's happening right now toward a "performance tax" on radio stations. And that only infuriates me more because I'm vying to get into the music industry and a law passing such a tax would effectively destroy THAT industry.

    But honestly, this is ridiculous.

     
    misanthrope

    @Resvrgam

    Rape fantasy is actually very common, even among women. The Journal of Sex Research has a paper about it.

    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_1_45/ai_n24383385/

    It's a pretty long read, but very interesting.
     
    Nihon Freak

    Whatever happens, they can't possibly control the whole Internet. Look for freeware H-games in the future. You can't just deny sex entirely.

     
    The Amazing Shenazin

    well that's it for eroge I guess

    let's hope this only kills eroge and nothing, way to go America

     
    MetalAwesome14

    I don't have a strange or out-of-place fetish, but just because some people do, doesn't me they should destroy it from the face of the earth.

    It's funny how Japan is having a miniature civil war over this.
     
    Agata

    Too many news about eroge ban I come across all around while surfing online! It seems to me that eroge industry has become a favorite target of many feminists, politicians and other social groups. I would like to ask them a single question: "Guys, do you have anything better to do?" Leave manga and eroge for adult people who appreciate it!

     

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