(11-06-2014, 11:23 PM)allgivenover Wrote:(11-06-2014, 11:14 PM)Jana Wrote:(11-06-2014, 09:47 PM)allgivenover Wrote:(11-06-2014, 09:36 PM)Mae Wrote: -- Random factoid I discovered on the internet: some "dating sim" games and "hentai comics" feature characters that are under 18; in their country of origin they're legal but in order for these items to be sold to other countries, localization teams change dialogues and bios to make the characters fit the regions they're selling to so consumers don't run afoul of child pornography laws.
No, they really don't in the United States at least. We have this thing called the first ammendment that criminalizing this would violate.
As for your random fact, it's because virtual images have since been criminalized, but not written words, no one is talking about images here.
As someone who's spoken with localizers before, I'm afraid I have to say that you're wrong on this one. Character ages do often get changed to over 18 before a work featuring, say, high school girls can be officially released in the US.
Again, this is in the case of IMAGES, not written portrayals. If it applied to writing then several of the books on my shelf would land me in jail.Â
Seriously I cannot believe you all think that a written portrayal can be criminalized in this way. Whether two adults collude to do make it happen or one writes it on their own. I'm really kind of floored. Go pick up the first ASoIaF book in a bookstore and flip to the part where it goes on in detail on several occasions about a 13 year old Daenarys enjoying sex with Khal Drogo and tell me that two consenting adult Rpers are going to get in trouble for writing about underage encounters. You can read it right in the store!
That falls under 'literary value' as previously discussed. You're going to have a hard time proving smut involving a minor on an mmo as something of 'literary value' considering the general public would consider it on the same level as sexting. The problem is that everyone who engages in this thinks that what they're writing is above that line- Whether or not it is actually true. Not to mention that the book is written by one person, not two parties. No, the chances of you being prosecuted for that alone are next to nil- But it's something that could affect you should other legal complications arise (Not even just say, unknowingly rping with a minor. It could affect your custody battle, or really any case your character is called into question) or just in everyday life (If it got out it could jeopardize your career, or your friendships, yadda yadda )
But again, that was not the purpose of this thread. We're discussing an unwanted social trend affecting rpers within our community.