Visual Novels Illegal?

[bradpara]

Just put a legal disclaimer at the very begining saying, "All persons engaged in sexual activity are 18 years old" and that should cover everything

[Esa94]

Just put a legal disclaimer at the very begining saying, "All persons engaged in sexual activity are 18 years old" and that should cover everything

I thought that's already established.

[Panty Supervisor]

Just put a legal disclaimer at the very begining saying, "All persons engaged in sexual activity are 18 years old" and that should cover everything

Yeah, we need something like the Shinobi Ryuu declaration:

This is a declaration made with the consensus of all the characters that appear in this story.
All the characters appearing in this game have gone through special training and all actions carried out are done on the basis of mutual agreement.
Even if you're a inhuman person who believes that fictional characters in creative works do not have human rights, please do not ignore this.
We also thank all the kind people who see a character in the story saying phrases such as "help me" and take it as a real call for help.
However, even though you are worrying for the characters in the story, these are all lines spoken from a script.
They are not saying all this from the bottom of their hearts. We are sorry that they have put in so much effort into their acting that some people will confuse it as something that is really happening.
This game is a fictional story.

I thought that's already established.

Can't remember reading something like that in the game, but I only played v1.3 of Act 1, so I don't know about the later versions.

[SixthPeriod]

There's a few realistic things we should look at here.

1] It has been stated that this game will have adult content that features "minors", and no one has notified the devs that what they will eventually distribute is illegal.

2] Even if it is illegal, no one has notified the devs of this fact, ergo, no one probably cares.

8] There are FAR worse things on the nets that haven't been banned, such as Justin Bieber's Twitter page

There are also some other things I'd like to bring to your attention. Many of you, if not all of you have extensive knowledge of Japanese culture, and as such you will have ventured on to many Anime, Manga and Japanese oriented websites. Now, I ask each and every one of you to go and see if you can find a site that does NOT feature loli orientated anime, drawings or games somewhere within it, be they extreme or not . Secondly, the characters within the game are not exactly overly sexualised 10 year olds (no, not even Emi) and it does feature an actual message as well as the ability to turn the adult content off.
Lastly, this game is basically an eroge, so even if it is illegal, your not going to go to your parents or you morally up standing friends or peers and go "hey, I got this great new game where you get down and dirty with disabled girls", because while some of us may be perverts, we are not stupid.

That sounded really serious for a second there, but I'm pretty sure this isn't illegal as such in the West

That's in the west but what about north America? The video Panty Supervisor linked shows that it may be ok but not everyone follows by the book and the convicted manga collector proves that. Visual novels may be a lot worse if they think it's not suitable. If they do find out then the publicity alone will be a huge embarrassment. I love this stuff but I don't want to go to jail for fifteen years. Also, this is the Internet and things are widely available in every country so your going to have to check your local laws if this is ok. It might be iffy in the US but now I have to find out if its safe in Canada. Judging from what Ar Grathnos is saying, It might not be a good idea to have on my hard drive let alone store in the cloud.

[Esa94]

now I have to find out if its safe in Canada

Don't play the Emi route and you should be just fine

[Shades of gray]

Actually SixthPeriod, the manga guy currently

remains free pending a yet-to-be scheduled sentencing date

and that was 2 years ago... so yeah... the courts suddenly realized... "crap we cant convict a guy of owning scribbles on paper" and thus are now stuck on what to do

[SirMax]

Considering they're all in the last year of highschool, there's nothing to contradict them all being 18 or over, and there's nothing saying any of them are under eighteen. Innocent until proven guilty applies; it's perfectly plausible to assume they're all of age, so it would be hard if not impossible to convict anyone on the basis of them being underaged.

[Ar Grathnos]

Considering they're all in the last year of highschool, there's nothing to contradict them all being 18 or over, and there's nothing saying any of them are under eighteen. Innocent until proven guilty applies; it's perfectly plausible to assume they're all of age, so it would be hard if not impossible to convict anyone on the basis of them being underaged.

Exactly.

Barring the devs going "lol no they're all 17 lololololololol" any country such as Canada or Australia shouldn't have plausible grounds with which to persecute. And that's if they even care. The one instance in Canadian courts where "loli" was involved was an extreme case. I.e. it had babies and preschoolers. That shit I just don't understand...

[Esa94]

Considering they're all in the last year of highschool, there's nothing to contradict them all being 18 or over, and there's nothing saying any of them are under eighteen. Innocent until proven guilty applies; it's perfectly plausible to assume they're all of age, so it would be hard if not impossible to convict anyone on the basis of them being underaged.

I'm actually assuming them being in the last year of high school (eg. 18) will be made a central aspect of some storylines, because in the less-than-ideal case Hisao and the girl can only be together for as long as the school year lasts. Which isn't enough, obviously.

But yeah. The girls' birthdays are listed on the website; use that and the setting of Act 1 to decide whether or not they are of age. Everyone is at least 17.

[Shockproof Jamo]

Hey, what the authorities don't know about, can't hurt you, right?

now I have to find out if its safe in Canada

Don't play the Emi route and you should be just fine

"Katawa Shoujo: Canadian edition". Emi's path has been deleted and replaced with a Nomiya-path.

[Ar Grathnos]

I'm pretty sure Emi is still in the final year at Yamaku, just like the rest of them. /buzzkill

Considering they're all in the last year of highschool, there's nothing to contradict them all being 18 or over, and there's nothing saying any of them are under eighteen. Innocent until proven guilty applies; it's perfectly plausible to assume they're all of age, so it would be hard if not impossible to convict anyone on the basis of them being underaged.

I'm actually assuming them being in the last year of high school (eg. 18) will be made a central aspect of some storylines, because in the less-than-ideal case Hisao and the girl can only be together for as long as the school year lasts. Which isn't enough, obviously.

But yeah. The girls' birthdays are listed on the website; use that and the setting of Act 1 to decide whether or not they are of age. Everyone is at least 17.

And that's also assuming they started school at the right age and never missed a year or got held back, etc.

[Shades of gray]

heh, here in the UK the age of consent (for all types hetero or homo or lesb) is 16

having said that, at one point in the uk the age of consent was 10... and homosexual consent used to be 21 (and at one point was banned and punishable by hanging, look up "Buggery Act 1533" and no, that name isn't a joke)

Guess us Brits like em young lol

[Canuck]

Hey, what the authorities don't know about, can't hurt you, right?

now I have to find out if its safe in Canada

Don't play the Emi route and you should be just fine

"Katawa Shoujo: Canadian edition". Emi's path has been deleted and replaced with a Nomiya-path.

Why would we want to download KS to let a middle aged fat guy screw us? We already just elected the Tories.

[Napalm]

This is a declaration made with the consensus of all the characters that appear in this story.
All the characters appearing in this game have gone through special training and all actions carried out are done on the basis of mutual agreement.
Even if you're a inhuman person who believes that fictional characters in creative works do not have human rights, please do not ignore this.
We also thank all the kind people who see a character in the story saying phrases such as "help me" and take it as a real call for help.
However, even though you are worrying for the characters in the story, these are all lines spoken from a script.
They are not saying all this from the bottom of their hearts. We are sorry that they have put in so much effort into their acting that some people will confuse it as something that is really happening.
This game is a fictional story.

Or do as Yume Miru Kusuri did and pretend all characters are over 18 in a funny way.

[Yukimi]

I read in Matt Thorn's blog that the manga collector was sentenced to 6 monts of jail (the minimun sentence posssible) and that the conditions of the 2? years of parole were being set up (they seemed to be pretty strict btw). I really don't believe this would happen in Spain but still.. who knows?