@Monomate said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

@Leonkh99

Yep, absolutely. I know that their hands are most likely tied which is unfortunate since I do really like Steam. Those forums are just a dumpster fire and there can be no recovering from that unless they nuke several topics and temp ban some users.

SoA has been finicky about their communication. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't but mostly they seem to be the ones hyping up a project and then proceed as normal. You get a few troublemakers making a mockery of them in every single one of their twitter posts but so far I've only ever seen them say to contact customer support if a very angry fan hadn't received AC they paid for or some other bug. The Sega I know springs up random projects out of the blue that no one asked for like that new Super Monkey Ball game awhile back.

If you really want to see an angry fanbase, you should look into the Fighting Food Friends debacle.

That's the misconception here though... Sega of America has 5% involvement with PSO2 Global. The localization was outsourced to a separate hire known as Lionbridge Technologies, who translated everything and recorded the dub, and like previously mentioned... ESTsoft handles all the Community side.

But the actual 'game'... managing the game servers, preparing patch updates, handling support tickets from ESTsoft, implementing the localized files from Lionbridge Technologies, telling ESTsoft what to say on certain matters, etc... nearly EVERYTHING is Sega of Japan which itself makes PSO2 stand out alongside Sega's lineup which normally leave Sega of America as the ones responsible for this sort of thing.

About the only thing Sega of America does for PSO2 is submit it to the different classification boards around the world, help hire staff for ESTsoft and basically handle the regional business side of things... oh and put the game on their website.

@Leonkh99 said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

The localization was outsourced to a separate hire known as Lionbridge Technologies, who translated everything and recorded the dub

What other media have they worked on anyway? IMDB just says Halo: Reach....

@Leonkh99

Is it a misconception? Have they stated this is how their work flow is on a day to day basis or is this an assumption made from data taken from the credits, hiring boards, etc? I am not sure we know the true scope of how the game is handled. We can assume but I don't think we will ever know the full story unless an insider is privy to the inner workings or they state as much in an interview. Most businesses don't relay this information publicly.

@Ashlette-Era said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

Censorship occurs far more often than you think. See the Censored Eleven, Disney's censorship of pro-LGBTQ content in their children's shows (this seems to be fading thankfully), Disney's removal of pro-LGBTQ content in general to appease oppressive governments, "LGBT free" zones in Poland, etc.

You have to ask yourself the following:

What is the benefit of un-censoring stuff like Al's body or the bath scene?

Some things are not worth spending your energy on.

Kids shouldn't be worried about any of that stuff to begin with. Be it politics, or what their preferences/identities are, (if you want to go that route) Teens, maybe, and only if the thought crosses their mind organically. I'm seeing pro, and anti LGBTQ groups, trying to shove thoughts and opinions down kids throats needlessly, when they should be being taught more practical things, that you need in everyday use, such as basic math, reading comprehension, and manners. Kids and teens these days, have a sh*t attitude as an end result.

But we aren't talking about kids here, we are talking about adults. We aren't talking about Disney films, we are talking about how some censorship, can, and historically does, lead to more censorship, in video games. Al's body, I don't really care about, but according to other users, the bath scene gives context to other similar scenes in the later story arc, and could indicate removal of those scenes. Those scenes, have more character development, again, according to someone else's post. I didn't want to click their links, due to spoilers.

@Mattwo7 The CCP yep. Also Singapore's government.

@Anarchy-Marine said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

Kids shouldn't be worried about any of that stuff to begin with. Be it politics, or what their preferences/identities are, (if you want to go that route) Teens, maybe, and only if the thought crosses their mind organically. I'm seeing pro, and anti LGBTQ groups, trying to shove thoughts and opinions down kids throats needlessly, when they should be being taught more practical things, that you need in everyday use, such as basic math, reading comprehension, and manners. Kids and teens these days, have a sh*t attitude as an end result.

But we aren't talking about kids here, we are talking about adults. We aren't talking about Disney films, we are talking about how some censorship, can, and historically does, lead to more censorship, in video games. Al's body, I don't really care about, but according to other users, the bath scene gives context to other similar scenes in the later story arc, and could indicate removal of those scenes. Those scenes, have more character development.

Honestly, kids have always had a bad attitude. The brain of a child is not fully developed so they tend to argue about things they don't understand simply because they don't know about something and are angry they can't do the bad thing. Off limits items are as highly regarded because of this.

This defense has a few holes. If censorship leads to more censorship, then how is some censorship okay but the other is not? Just because you don't care about it, does that make it okay? If you do care about it, why is it okay? Is it the public perception that makes some content not okay? Because if so, a bath scene with questionable connotations among minors seems more like an easy target for a censorship nuke.

@Monomate So what if they haven't stated? many people have spoken up about it and the Community Team have let known that they aren't part of Sega of America and Sega of Japan is the one handling things as well... plus all the evidence present throughout the game (which i'll share momentarily).

@Monomate said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

@Anarchy-Marine said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship: Honestly, kids have always had a bad attitude. The brain of a child is not fully developed so they tend to argue about things they don't understand simply because they don't know about something and are angry they can't do the bad thing. Off limits items are as highly regarded because of this.

Thus my point about what should be taught, rather than what is. You focus on the more important stuff, until their mind is more developed, then you can choose to add on everything else, later down the road. My parents did that, and my only negative attitude point, is when I'm trying to convey a point, and it's not understood, or is blatantly ignored, lol.

This defense has a few holes. If censorship leads to more censorship, then how is some censorship okay but the other is not? Just because you don't care about it, does that make it okay? If you do care about it, why is it okay? Is it the public perception that makes some content not okay? Because if so, a bath scene with questionable connotations among minors seems more like an easy target for a censorship nuke.

Not necessarily. Most saw it as innocent, anime esc comedy. Those who saw it as anything but that, on these forums at least, notoriously where argumentative, hateful, the first to accuse someone of horrendous things, and often times, this happened when their argument fell flat. Several of those, usable reference points, for someone that would take issue with the scene in question, seemed mentally unstable, and have gotten themselves banned. Their minds took something innocent, and made it what they perceived it to be, as that's their perception. Perception is based on the individual, not a group, even though a group can, and usually do share that perception. What they saw, says more about them as individuals, than any of their hate filled arguments. And the reason I say I personally don't care about that jumpsuit Al is in, is because, it's a minor thing, and doesn't really affect as much as an entire cutscene.

Edit: To clarify, that last part is my perception of the topic at hand. I look at the jumpsuit, as something that doesn't affect player characters, or the cutscenes all that much, thus why I don't expect others to share that view, as some have argued, that the scene is made all the more strange, when you take into account the sweater.

@Leonkh99

I like making assumption as much as the next person, but to back up arguments I like facts and sources. Without the raw data, you can't really say 5% or 50% is attributed to one company or another, or if a game is dying or not. I can say that SoA likes to censor 95% of their content but we all know that's not true (in all cases).

@Anarchy-Marine

These forums are made up of what I assume to be young adults, so the dung slinging was a given. A topic creator tried to do the same thing to me when I opposed their stance on censorship by insulting me, but when I told them about looking in a mirror and refraining from ad hominem to get a point across and have a civil discussion, they straightened up and approached the topic with more tact. However, like my previous statement, I don't actually know how old any of you are and I don't really care to know (I hope no one states their age. Don't say that stuff to be posted online forever!). If the moderators did a better job at cleaning up the mess before it happens, we could talk about this as we are now without the mindless insults.

I don't agree with the pro censorship about vulgarity. The content in this game is pretty tame by most standards and really the bath scene isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I am only assuming it was cut because they talked about rolling in sweat and how it excited one particular character. If they had changed that line to be less creepy, I wouldn't be surprised to see it implemented in the final cut like how Matoi is still as she is at the end of episode 3... but then you'd probably anger the purists that had the game changed. So there's really no winning this one.

@Monomate The character in question, is about as mentally unstable as those who, as you say, were dung slingers. She says weird things, as a means of show not tell, as she's the only one to be a creep, and it adds to a later scene where she starts going on a tangent, about mother always knows, and how they should tell her everything, which then makes the rest of the plot twists about her, really self evident. Even the part where she stabbs [Redacted]. The story writers were trying to show a story, rather than tell one, and they made the same mistake with her, as they made with the CEO creep. Too self evident where it was headed story wise.

That's actually part of the reason why many say episode 4 is cringe.

@Anarchy-Marine

I understand. I got the vibe that she was unhinged without the bath scene though. The way she reacted at Al's wardrobe simply because it was similar to a character she likes, to the passionate way she spoke to Hitsugi in the computer lab. If we needed a bath scene to convey her instability... that's just bad writing. Episode 4 is cringe with or without that scene but I can also say that I have started to get into the story ever since best character Bethor appeared. I really don't care that the one scene was removed.

@Monomate Well, if it gives context to the other scenes akin to it, then I can see why the scene should stay. There is also the question of those other scenes being cut as well. How much would the removal of two other scenes, distort the story. I'm not a veteran player, so I don't know, and won't know until after the rest of the Episode is released.

And I never said the writing wasn't bad. The execution of an otherwise good idea, defiantly could use some improvement. But I agree on the Bethor part. Gem of a character. Over the top ridiculous.

@Anarchy-Marine

It's true. We will just have to wait and see what gets trimmed and what doesn't. If they don't remove those scenes, they can always add a contextual line to reference it briefly. Or they can just be blatant about it and trim some more. Aika speaks highly of her escapades in the Earth world and Itsuki's friends but you wouldn't know specifics unless you watched PSO2 the Animation or listened to the numerous Japanese only dramas. If you had never seen the anime, you'd most likely hear her say that and be like, "Huh, must've happened off screen. Neat."

@Monomate Thankfully, after getting into the game, I did in fact, watch the anime. Made things easier to keep up with.

@Mattwo7 said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

@Leonkh99 said in Potential Reason for the Game's Censorship:

The localization was outsourced to a separate hire known as Lionbridge Technologies, who translated everything and recorded the dub

What other media have they worked on anyway? IMDB just says Halo: Reach....

Not Lionbridge specifically... but I do know that from the people that were hired, at least a couple of people were responsible for localizing Nier Automata and one of them did fan translations for some media from the classic Phantasy Star series.