The Future of VNs Now!
It is my hope and prayer that everyone reading this had a safe holiday season and was able to enjoy it with loved ones: whether that be family, friends or (hopefully) both. At the beginning of December, I asked for your patience as I weighed the future of this small corner of the Internet we call VNs Now. I want to explain how I got to the decision I did, but I see no point in drawing out the inevitable so here’s what’s going to happen.
I’m not going anywhere yet, but there will be substantial changes.
The VNs Now Podcast will continue and begin providing reviews and previews along with news and commentary of visual novels, interactive fiction and the gaming business until at least 2022. The official press release will be coming in the next few weeks from the parent company of this site Ishmaelic Arts and The VNs Now Podcast will return to air in the next few days with a fixed schedule that I will go over at that time. Reviews and previews will shift from the detailed format I use now to a digest format that I can release once a month, along with new features that will track things like VN crowdfunding. The specifics of this I am still hammering out because it will all depend on my schedule. Finally, the website will be completely revamped to focus on the digests and the podcast with most of the old stuff put into an archive.
Now, how did I get to this decision?
Last December, I was ready to hang it up. I would love to blame it on my work schedule outside of reviewing or pure burnout: but that has become normal to a degree. The problem, at least on my side of the fence, is a fundamental divide between myself and a prevalent group of EVN developers that have some influence in this community. I can sum it up fairly plainly: a lot of y’all hate yourselves.
I have noted for years, maybe from the very beginning, that the EVN developers community was one of the most relaxed, welcoming communities I’ve ever seen up close. The only problem seemed to be that once the game was over, the community disappeared. This has annoyed me, frankly, because a lot of talented developers were left in the lurch when trying to figure out the basics of selling their work. It seemed to me that more needed to be done and I did my best to cover the financial aspects of this things and point those who wanted to know. I thought I was doing a service, but this past year made it very clear that I wasn’t. I had utterly failed.
I’m a Capitalist, folks. Capitalism, at its core, is a system based on being honest about the human condition. It’s an admission that we all have self-interested goals and humanity works best when we as individuals respects the self-interests of each other. In doing so, you naturally divide the worth of your work (your interests) and the worth of yourself. You have to, because not everyone will be invested in your self-worth. But, they can and do get interested and invested in the worth of your talents. In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith said it like this;
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.
When I came in, I naively thought that the majority of EVN developers, especially those who were clearly planning to commercialize your work, had already made that natural separation between your work and your self worth. I ignored the many, many anti-Capitalist rants many of you go on daily on social media as simply a sign of the times: not a fundamental part of your nature. But it is a fundamental part of many of you guys’ nature. You say you hate Capitalism, but that’s not necessarily true. You hate acknowledging your own self-interests. You hate admitting you believe your work has some worth on its own. You’ve connected the worth of your work to your self-worth: seeing your projects as an extension of who you are. And, in doing so, have to continually face the crushing reality that not everyone values the work you keep linking pieces of your mental and psychological well-being to. Then you smile and try to press on as everyone else cheers the purity of your intent. It’s self-abuse. It’s toxic positivity. And it all comes from the exact same place: self-hatred.
Again, I’m not saying this is every single EVN developer. That’s just ludicrous. But, guys, it is a lot of you: maybe even a plurality. The response to the KFC VN more than cemented that thought into my head, I’m afraid. Anywhere else in gaming and media, a multi-million dollar enterprise producing something in that medium to reach a completely different fan base is a cause of celebration. Here? KFC International were shamed for not being ‘pure’ enough. For, somehow, making a mockery of a medium that produce some of the most ridiculous pieces of fiction that has ever existed. Sakura Spirit is a visual novel. NEKOPARA is a visual novel. But somehow, Colonel Sanders doesn’t belong in that space because they ‘aren’t sincere’. Because that’s the metric here: sincerity and self-worth. Either you invest in the person and their emotions, or you’re the problem. That’s the standard. It’s insanity.
The reality is that I’m just a simple country boy. I cannot help with the legion of psychological issues lurking just underneath the surface of this developer’s community. And staring into that shadow damn near pushed me out entirely because I don’t want to see decent people get hurt when they realize just how dark their own souls are. However, as Bruce Wayne told Ra’s al Ghul in Batman Begins, ‘There are still good people there’. For all of the problems, many developers have worked for a very long time in the shadow of corruption and toxicity. And many developers who know the depth of their self-loathing are trying their best, too. So many deserve an opportunity to market their work and be recognized for what they do. Now, to deflate my ego there are plenty of people who will do this besides me: a growing number of sites and critics, in fact. But, at least for a little while longer, I want to keep telling those stories, both good and bad, while refining the tools for those ready to take the big step of admitting that their work is worth something on its own.
VNs Now was originally designed for mass market appeal. It looks and operates like IGN, Game Informer, etc because I had hoped to . That is going to change. We’re going to lean into the niche nature of the product and start focusing on delivering a consistent, focused product. And, in doing so, we’re going to focus on more than just visual novels. I want to see the whole picture of how narrative is evolving in gaming and VNs are just one piece of that evolution. My hope is that by bringing all of this pieces together it can create a piece of work that is the link for other works that have been missing a piece. And, if not, then as I noted before the podcast is only slated to run until 2022. You guys will only have to put up with me and my strange Capitalist notions for another two years anyway.
Thank you to all of my readers, followers and to everyone who has sent me a kind word while I was seriously considering shutting it all down. What is coming is a much slimmer experience: something wildly different that where we started. But, I do believe it has some worth still. And that, for me, is enough.
JP the Third
VNs Now!
PS. No 2019 Best Ofs this year, guys. Sorry, but it’s for the best until I get everything back on track. In its place, I’ll be working on a different list: the 50 Best EVNs of the 2010s. More information as it becomes available.
11 Comments
I agree with you re: the psychological issues in this community but I see the problem from a different angle. As a person of faith I do not believe in the equal distribution of resources without merit, but I also have major issues with capitalism as it expresses itself in a secular context.
Being a cornucopia of psychological issues myself, one of the best advice someone ever gave to me was “we are our actions”. That is, instead of judging myself by the thoughts and feelings that swirl under the surface, I should evaluate myself based on the concrete actions I take in this life. That includes, necessarily, anything I write and publish for the consumption of others. My creative work, being a collection of my actions, is a part of me. Unlike a child, it will not one day become its own person and act on its own volition. It will only ever remain an extension of myself, and of my will in the world.
That established, we can’t logically divide the worth of our work and the worth of ourselves unless we believe that all human persons have an objective and unalterable value. Faith in that value and in its incorruptible Source is the only thing that allows us to clearly look at our shortcomings. Without faith in that value, we cannot look at our shortcomings without logically concluding that we have no value or even that we have negative value. Logically, if we have negative value we do not even deserve to live. That is why so many people cheer each other on with “toxic positivity”. Lacking faith as they do, they are afraid to face the truth about their life’s work because of where they think it logically leads (suicide).
None of this is your fault, but the mistake you have made is to promote “Capitalism” as the solution when the real solution to the darkness you are encountering is faith. Namely, in Divine unconditional love. (Of course, we do not have control over the interior lives of others. We can only continually remind people to help them remember the truths that are foundational to a sustained conscious existence. But that is impossible as long as we are operating in a secular context.)
As a person giving criticism, eventually your words will necessarily cut right down to people’s souls, and you will continue to feel distressed by their responses unless you are confident that there is light at the end of the darkness for them, i.e. you can provide some spiritual guidance that is better than “toxic positivity”. If you find that you can’t do that, which is what it sounds like you’re saying, the answer is not to blame creators for having too many personal problems, but to ask yourself why you thought you could function as a corrective influence for them in the first place. Perhaps you were blindsided by their darkness because you took your role too lightly from the start.
That said, every failure presents an opportunity for growth. You can either make excuses or step up your game.
– Cel (formerly Sapphi)
As just a passing VN dev, I find myself agreeing with most of your eloquent words. Something about this whole site strikes me as coming from a place of superiority. There’s so much ego here to say “You hate yourselves and I’ve tried to correct you guys.” It’s to overstate the role of the critic (which I already personally don’t personally find that important or necessary) and the informant.
The fact that this person believes his way is the right way and that everyone else who disagrees with him hates themselves and he should have the responsibility of trying to correct them sits so uncomfortably with me. Well, you said it best and for me, I’ll pass on this site because the egotistical influence on what might otherwise be great information and opinions I could agree with is too strong for my comfort.
I literally said none of this. I’m sorry that’s what you imprinted on what I said, but I will not be responsible for something I didn’t say. If you must pass on the site because of it, that is your call and I respect that.
I’m not asking you to be responsible for what I interpreted and received after reading a few articles. By all means, continue to live your life in the way that makes you feel satisfied. I felt that the tone of the articles didn’t fit my needs, as I prefer more neutral toned articles, and I felt at sometimes a sense of hostility and anger coming from your words. That’s all on me, and was me sharing my impression.
You say that you agree, but I am not sure how you got some of this from my comment.
It is possible to believe in objective truth and argue from a place of objective truth, without being “egotistical”. Even the most humble person who doing this will still be coming from a place of moral superiority, and will still piss a lot of people off. In my view, this **is** the role of a critic – I’m not sure what alternative you have in mind. And unlike you, I believe that the role is a vital one. Those who are able to shine a light on the faults of others around them absolutely have the responsibility to do so.
Now, I personally do think there is too much “fluff”, too much ego on this site that distracts from and dilutes the reviews, but that is more because the author tries to function as something like a talk show personality. Which is really just part of the current zeitgeist and a response to modern expectations for the news and reviews format. (As we grow more alienated in our social lives, we crave more personality in the media we consume.)
I didn’t say I got anything from your comment. I said I agreed with most of what you said, and added my own personal feelings in. I do not agree that there is any sort of divine responsibility to shine light on the faults of others. That puts others in a superior and judgmental role that I do not believe is the right of any human. I believe people are free to do so, but I believe in self-governing, stepping in only when others are doing harm to others. I said nothing about believing in an objective truth either way.
The author is free to write the way they want to write, for my part. It’s their views themselves which constantly filter through which I personally disagree with. I prefer objective and neutral writing on sites like this, so it just didn’t fit my needs.
All of this discussion though, including my own words is relatively meaningless to me, because it’s all just opinions and talk, and I prefer action and meaning to how I spend my time. Tldr: none of this is important enough to comment on further, and I was just stating passing agreement to some of your words, and why I had to personally pass on this site. It seems like you have very strong personal opinions that you believe to be fact for everyone, and had intention to have in-depth discussion on them, which is not my intent. I’ll leave you to it.
OK, I was just confused because the sentiments you were expressing – coming seemingly from a place of moral relativism – seemed antithetical to the thrust of my argument. I guess you were agreeing with some other part. I don’t need to have a debate, I just wanted to clarify the difference.
Good Afternoon! I have been going back and forth on this one, but I do want to respond to your points while being completely honest. So, being completely honest, you’re wrong. This is not a spiritual matter and I have and had no intention of approaching it as such. I am not a mental, psychological or spiritual professional and when there are real victims of abuse and crime in the EVN developer’s community trying to hide what happened to them while their abusers go on to victimize someone else, the most important thing I can do right now is not pretend to be any of those. All I can do is explain my history, change of strategy and why I’m doing what I’m doing now: be a better businessman. My hope is that someone does step in eventually and put a stop to the madness that the EVN community is hiding underneath all of that toxic positivity. Because that’s what that is. Toxic Positivity is having literal crimes happening all around you, the perpetrators and victims smiling at you, telling you nothing is wrong and then you smiling back. At the very least, I hope it is dealt with before Creative Destruction deals with it. Because that’s the path we’re on, you know. If this was an actual industry like AAA gaming and even half of the stuff that goes on with some developers leaked to the public, all of this would have burned down long before now. Ah, but that’s another matter. For now, my goal is to reposition this website within the next two years to provide a bridge for developers to a potentially better market than what exists now.
That is enough.
Other than that, on the issue of whether or not artists can separate themselves from their work, our philosophies are I will simply quote a mutual friend, ‘Real artists ship’. To ship any artistic work is to give it a life of its own and accept that the piece of you is now a part of someone else. An artist must be both a creative figure and a corporate figure: pouring themselves into their work then setting a price for that piece of their souls. That has been the nature of art since the Medicis; if not earlier. The idea that it should change now because the world has gotten more comfortable ignores the parts of our brain ‘art’ activates. It cannot and should not be separated.
We fundamentally disagree here on what my role is. A lot of people do, so I’m used to it. If you find some issue with that, as well as the issues that I have and will continue to call out, then so be it. We’ll cross that bridge if you continue to keep reading this site. But this is the path I’ve chosen. We’ll see how it goes. But there is one thing I want to point out. Again, I am not a spiritual professional but I am a man of faith. In my faith, if you find yourself in a position to see problems on the horizon, and you say nothing, and people are hurt, that pain and blood is on your hands. I take that very serious and as someone who clearly takes their beliefs seriously as well, I hope you can respect that.
Hi, thanks for writing back.
First of all, regarding your final words about the importance of speaking up when you see a problem – I can and do respect that, and I try to live by it as well. In fact that’s the same spirit in which my comment was written.
I am not really interested in debating the artist-art separation as much as I am in addressing what I see as the most important issue at stake here, so I’ll leave that topic alone for now. The argument I want to have is about your role as it relates to your faith. Frankly, I think you have been disingenuous both in the original post and in this reply, to enable yourself to back off from speaking the truth when you should be bearing down on it. While in the end what you do with your time and this site is your choice, I’m not going to let you deceive yourself without a fight.
You write about devs finding out “just how dark their own souls are”, then write “this is not a spiritual matter”. What else could it possibly be? Psyche, as in psychology, is Greek for “soul”. When you venture into the realm of talking about people’s psychological issues, you are talking about spiritual matters.
You say “I am not a spiritual professional” as if it matters here – it really doesn’t. You don’t have to be a saint to point out what’s wrong with people or their work; you just have to see a little more clearly relative to the people you’re critiquing. You say you hope that “someone does step in eventually” – so, what qualities would that someone have that you don’t? Why aren’t you that someone? Why this tone of resignation and defeat, as if you have done everything you can, when you haven’t as far as I’ve seen (in terms of being explicit about your faith and how it guides your process of evaluating both people’s stories and their business decisions).
The perhaps dreadful (to you) truth is that, as a person of faith, you have light to share. Maybe that light is dim, maybe at the core you struggle as well – that’s just human – but hiding it under a figurative basket is still wrong, when so many people you’ve encountered in the community clearly have even less of a moral compass than you do. Also, like it or not, once you decide to label a story as good or bad, you have taken a moral stance. The role of a critic is essentially moral – you might as well embrace it.
The thing I primarily objected to in your original post was that you were willing to be explicit about other people’s insanity, but coy about what sanity constitutes. You identified something toxic, but instead of telling people what the real antidote is according to your worldview of faith, you offered an ineffectual half-truth instead. You cared enough to address creators’ self-hatred but seemingly not enough to be completely honest about where and from Whom a creator should derive the inner strength and sense of self-worth to function and thrive in a competitive market. And my question again is, why? Why this silence at such a critical time?
Cel
The Capitalist isn’t the one doing the labor. The Capitalist is the one who’s making money off of labor they did not do. It is the middlemen, the stockholders, the landowners leasing offices, the people who own the product others developed and take the lion’s share of the profit just because they started out with more money. If you’re a Capitalist you own and profit off of Capital.
You can do business in a non-Capitalist way. You can make money and do art without being taken advantage of. Having an entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t make you a Capitalist. Profiting from Capital makes you a Capitalist, and that capital can include what other people made, and it drives lots of terrible things in the Video Games industry, including artists getting the short end of the stick and bad content.
For more info, see “The Trouble with Video Games.”
https://youtu.be/IYkLVU5UGM8
The majority of developers in the EVN community have been attempting to operate in a ‘non-Capitalist’ way for the last ten years. Many of them frequently say the very points you are in response to any news about AAA gaming industry. And whenever a company or developer operates outside of that mindset and reaches a larger audience, those same ‘non-Capitalist’ ends up riding their coattails. You’re free to believe what you wish, but the results speak for themselves.