Why do people hate censorship so much?

[Polarblastman]

Sometimes when japanese games are localized, the publishers might censor a game to keep it more age-approapriate. This might mean changing the look of a costume to make it less skimpy or making a violent scene less gorey. I understand that people might not be happy about this and might do things like installing a mod to uncensor the game and I am fine with people enjoying the game the way they want to enjoy it.

Sometimes though, they get really mad that a game got censored to the point where they might say they will boycott a game or refuse to play any version other than an imported one.

It just confuses me because censorship usually tends to be small things and nothing major. I'm not trying to defend censorship or anything but I am legitimately confused why people would be so angry. Do people just really hate the thought of recieving an inferior product or is it something else?

[King Of Nothing]

Because it's nonsensical and they are afraid that if they let it pass, the censorship might get worse in the future.

[Factorio]

small things and nothing major? The entire business of news media has completely changed throughout the years because of censorship, so many things are censored now we dont even notice. and people want to speak, they want to do what they want without restrictions, if i want a bikni clad girl in skyrim, i want a bikini clad girl, not a giant black blob.







dont ban me mods plz

[Crystal Sharrd]

For me it's if the censorship is nonsensical, such as the BS with the Game Corner in Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver. And sometimes skimpy clothing isn't that bed depending on the age of the character and just how revealing the clothing is. But some changes do make sense, such as the face petting minigame in Fire Emblem Fates.

[Xero_Daxter]

I've always wondered.... why Japanese P8rn is censored?

[ナルゴ]

1. Distorts the original vision the devs had for the game
2. I'm mature, I like mature. Don't take that away from me to cater to sensitive westerners.
3. Many people who call for censorship in games aren't consumers of the product in the first place.
4. I'm fine if the censoship is optional. However if content is outright replaced or removed, then I'll be apprehensive about purchasing it as I'll deem it as inferior to the original.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

The usual arguments are:

1. "If we don't tell publishers that we don't need these edits to appeal to the west, they will keep thinking we do."

This reason has in recent years become less relevant, as publishers are increasingly amenable to leaving things as is rather than changing them for cultural reasons (as was more common in past decades), since the fandom for such games and anime and similar works has become more cemented and has more market presence and purchasing power.

2. "It disrespects the author's intention."

Perhaps, though in my opinion it doesn't necessarily disrespect it any more than a bunch of other changes for a ton of other reasons during production inevitably do. Not to mention that the "author" is usually a group of people, not just one person with an artistic vision.

That said, this may be the case with some stories which really have a strong flavor/point/narrative in a certain way that gets diluted with an edit. For example, if a story arc involves characters being f***buddies and drama that ensues from that, trying to portray that as a casual friendship might not make much sense.

3. "We need to stand strong against censorship! If we don't, religious conservatives/SJWs/dastardly government agencies/whoever will win the fight!"

Prrrobably not the right place to do this. The people who make these games don't care to stop just because some people in some other country tell them that they don't like their games. Besides, the industry as a whole has trended over the years toward being more faithful to the source material, sex scenes and all. Not to mention that the internet now makes it trivially easy to find information, and often also to find reverting patches/mods.

Obviously, though, this should be evaluated on a case by case basis. If you're dealing with a company that really just doesn't have much of a conscience about artistic meaning, yeah, do give them a holler. On the other hand, if it's something that's basically clearly "let's do the absolute minimum we need to in order to get past local laws, and the alternative version is glaringly easy to find and replace", then you might be fighting the wrong battle.

4. "They removed the sex scenes. I like sex scenes."

Well, that's perfectly fair. I personally disagree with it but I can't fault it.

[The nameless Gamer]

It's actually not difficult to understand. I'm a person who is against stigmatizing and antagonizing sexuality, especially if it is presented in a context of a carefully built romantic relationship. It's something lovers are supposed to do, so why cut those scenes?

[Drab]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Raven the undying:

Ursprungligen skrivet av Xero_Daxter:

I've always wondered.... why Japanese P8rn is censored?

Different culture. As much as the American leaders want to think it does, American laws don't apply to the rest of the world. In Japan, as far as porn is concerned, everything is okay (including breasts and ass) except for the genitals. That's just censored out.

It's due to a very very old law that nobody still cared to eliminate because they are very conservative about them as a country.

No one wants to look at Asian genitals anyway.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Ursprungligen skrivet av The nameless Commander:

It's actually not difficult to understand. I'm a person who is against stigmatizing and antagonizing sexuality, especially if it is presented in a context of a carefully built romantic relationship. It's something lovers are supposed to do, so why cut those scenes?

Incidentally, this argument is relevant to sex scenes, but not necessarily to skimpy clothing or violence which OP mentions.

[The nameless Gamer]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Quint the PSY Duck:

Ursprungligen skrivet av The nameless Commander:

It's actually not difficult to understand. I'm a person who is against stigmatizing and antagonizing sexuality, especially if it is presented in a context of a carefully built romantic relationship. It's something lovers are supposed to do, so why cut those scenes?

Incidentally, this argument is relevant to sex scenes, but not necessarily to skimpy clothing or violence which OP mentions.

Well... there was a time when any skirt not below the knees was considered scandalous. As for violence? Meh, I don't like it in excessive amounts, but if people want to see it, who am I to judge? No double standards from me.

[Azza ☠]

When you are playing an ultra violent video game, and the blood is rainbows... you know it's an Aussie product rather than NZ. Plus that's just due to them not having the restriction age groups setup correctly by the government.

Overall Maturity isn't even an age. Rather it's a state of mind. If you can't figure out fiction vs reality... then you shouldn't be playing any video games or even watching tv, at all... no matter the age.

[-V-]

Because the worst thing about censorship is *******

[Dyne]

I don't lol

[TwinEdgedBastard]

South park The Stick of Truth was censored here in Australia, essentially removing 2 minigames from the game. Yet the actual tv show is completely uncensored despite showing scenes that are just as bad if not worse than the ones cut from the game.

Saints Row 4 also had an entire story mission cut when it was released in Australia, because they thought the mission glorified drug use.

Then we move on to games completely banned such as Hotline Miami 2, I played and loved Hotline Miami 1, so hearing that Hotline Miami 2 was banned in Australia was quite heartbreaking. There are also a few other banned games but I don't really care for those tbh.

In short, It feels like we're being treated like children despite being more than mature enough to play these games. Sure there are some things that can be seen as "taken too far" but for the most part it's annoying when something gets changed because some 70 year old politician thinks it's "too innappropiate".

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

Most people hate the double standard of sex vs violence more than anything. Running over and shooting innocent pedestrians is fine, but some stupid mini game where you have sex is off limits.