Is katawa Shoujo the gateway drug of visual novels?

[ubergeneral]

Many people say that KS was their first VN. Others got went on to read other VNs like Ever17 and F/SN.

What is it about KS that gets new people into the game? So do you think that KS is the gateway drug?

[Caesius]

What is it about KS that gets new people into the game?

1. Porn.
2. Cripples.
3. Cripple porn.

Oh, wait, you were asking what it is about KS that makes people read other VNs, not why people read KS in the first place... Well, I suppose this is relevant then:

Number 1 was the reason I got F/SN in the first place, even though I didn't really know what a "visual novel" was at the time. I thought if it had a real story then I could skip right to the sex scenes and not give a damn.

I was wrong; I ended up getting totally sucked into the story and completely forgot that it was supposed to have porn in it. I think as long as someone's first VN has an engrossing story with interesting characters then they'll go on to read more VNs.

[Csihar]

It was for me. I didn't even know what visual novels were until I saw that infamous Kotaku article about KS, and the concept was just too weird to pass up trying out myself. I've played some great VNs since then (the Narcissu series and Kira Kira come to mind) but I think KS will always hold a special place in my heart, even in the extremely unlikely event that the full game isn't all that great.

[Bara]

See most everyone was into VN's before discovering KS. Really only a couple hundred people maybe a thousand or so will ever be interested in something so obscure and niche as cripple porn... Wait how many downloads again.... Errr, never mind.
Is KS a "gateway" to other VN's? You might as well say reading Hemingway is a "gateway" to cracking open Faulkner's books...
I'm a broken record on the subject, but a good entertaining story with engaging characters (and porn to boot) will stand on it's own merits and the media won't matter.

[Danonymous]

I had read most of the more popular VN's (F/SN, Clannad, etc.) before I found out about KS from, IIRC, TVTropes. What first attracted me, and I think quite a few other people, was a sense of morbid curiosity. 'Oh goodness,' I thought, like many other ignorant stooges. 'A VN about disabled people made by 4chan? This will scar me for life... Let's do it!'

Needless to say, my expectations were exceeded, subverted, and smashed by what I found. KS is an astounding piece of work, and I am very very glad I found it. My VN collection will never be complete without KS in it.

[Smoku]

KS wasn't my first VN at all.
I had no idea nor did I cared what's a VN until my brother started suddenly downloading some from the internets. hell if I know where did he got that idea from. Well, I'm not sure, but I think his search wasn't for VNs specifically. he just heard of this one that was later my first VN ever: Brass Restoration. I had no idea what that was, so I just installed this little free VN.
It was a non-h game. And it was glorious. I loved the story, the romance, the options, multiple endings, the brilliant music, the characters, everything.
Meanwhile, my brother downloaded a few more of the lowly, free VNs. some sucked, some were actually nice.
Then he stumbled upon Wanko to Kurasou (You all know what's THAT about..). it said "eroge", but we had no idea what that meant. So first downloaded, then asked google what's an eroge. Well... porn. heh. Hell, I'm not gonna play that.

But I did >.> And we laughed "Jesus, more sex?? with all of them??". And it wasn't that bad, tough it didn't unleash those special feelings I had for Brass Restoration.
Then we discovered a VN database. It had all kinds of VNs so we chose those which had none or just little hentai scenes in them.
And I asked a friend to download them all (cause my internet sucks). But before that we decided to take this one VN which we could DL with no problems: Katawa Shoujo.
I took my time before I started that. I said "huh, cripples? Well, I don't know...". But I did, and voila. So KS was like my... dunno, 3rd or more VN.
I've yet to play all the VNs I possess still.

[Leotrak]

First VN ever for me, far as I can remember... I don't think watching the anime versions of VNs counts (Clannad, Higurashi) Though, I'm thinking I might like to play the VNs of these two at least, someday...

Anyways, I think I got redirected to KS from Megatokyo, who's writer had already sung KS' praises. Being ever so trusting, I downloaded the demo... Unfortunately, this was when V1 was just released, so I don't remember my first response, other than that I never uninstalled it, and I kept a bookmark to the site hidden somewhere. Probably intending to await the full version. Which, by the way, I'm still doing, just moreso now, after I've actually gotten to 100% in the demo version now

KS as gateway to VNs? Well, maybe, but there wasn't a maybe option to vote for -_-"

[SirMax]

I got sent here by a forum post, which was titled something like "The only good thing to come out of 4chan" or similar, so I wasn't expecting horribleness. Since then I read True Remembrance by recommendation on the forum and enjoyed it, but I tried one or two others and didn't much like them (including Brass Restoration, everyone in that VN either has the "wacky!" dial too high or is in dire need of psychiatric aid.)

[Nyr]

Katawa Shoujo was my first visual novel. I heard about it from a friend, kind of. He told me about Damaged goods, which in turn brought me here. I downloaded it because I was interested in the idea of a 'dating sim', which I used to play a lot when I was younger on Newgrounds (those dark, dark days). I was then very surprised with the story and urging for more, I asked my brother for more examples of good VNs (he read plenty of them). Sooner or later I was sucked into the stories of the visual novels left and right. Finished True Remembrance a week ago, which I found really good, and I really recommend it to those who enjoy a great story with plenty of open space, to overthink what's going to happen next. That is, if you haven't read it already.

Tl;dr: <3 katawa shoujo.

[Xybaro]

*sees True Remembrance and Narcissu mentioned in this thread*

This is a good thread.

To be on topic, I played other VNs before this one, notably F/SN.

Those six people who voted they haven't gotten into other VN need to do so,

[mstrchef117]

It wasn't the first VN for me. I discovered H-games in 2006, of the Illusion variety (battle raper/rapelay). Two and half years later (at the end of my junior year), after becoming a closet otaku, I decided what the hell, I heard about Kana Little Sister a few years earlier, and Grave of the Fireflies was sad, so lets see how much sadder Kana could be.
Well, suffice it to say, it took me over a month to completely get over the story (prior, when I hear "The White Season" OP/Reason ED theme, I would start tearing up).

After Kana, I tried other D.O works, namely Snow Sakura and Crescendo. I think that It was then that I discovered Katawa Shoujo, (from that guy on youtube that rates bishoujo games) So, KS is my 4th visual novel (along with Family Project

By then, I exhausted the amount of officially localized English VNs, so I moved on to translation patches (Tsukihime, Saya no Uta, Chaos Head and so on).

So it wasn't a gateway drug, but if fed my "addiction" lol.

[whiteflags]

I don't remember. I think that should be a poll option.

[Xuan]

Katawa Shoujo was my first VN. I was wandering around the net when I suddenly discover Fakku, and they had this Katawa Shoujo Q&A stickied so I decided to take a look. Then a download.

I am really glad, I must say.

[Member22]

I remember finding about KS (and the VN genre) from the kotaku article on 1st feb... I tried it out of curiosity and really liked it. Before this, I was a big fan of RPG's as they present you with choices that would accumulate over the course of the game and change the ending based on your actions i.e I love CYOA games. From there, I tried out snow sakura, family project, F/SN, ever17 and many others. So yeah, KS was my first vn, and its still one of my favorites!

[GG Crono]

I was familiar with VNs but I had never read/played (what's the proper term here?) one before KS. A friend of mine mentioned it, and I was like "WTF, mate?" when he told me the premise. I looked it up on TVTropes, took a look 'round the forums, and my curiosity was piqued.

I haven't partaken of any other VNs yet, but I am not adverse to doing so if I find one that interests me enough.