Shojo shoto and other images

[Spaceritual]

Recently and on many forums people are posting Shojo and Shoto images which seem to be children based characters. The thing is it is provoking strong debate over if this material is bordering on the paedophilia. To me it just seems cute but then again I do not know much about the background to these images.

 

If there is something deeper to them perhaps it is worth having guidelines for them? If it is just innocent fun then surely the posters of these images need protecting...either way it would be nice for the site to perhaps explain and give a stance on this issue.,,,especially in the screen shot sections where I prefer to hang out .

 

It is a thing I am not sure of , as I know Japanese cartoon imagery is sometimes hard to fathom , but surely someone must be an expert here who can fill us all in on it?

[DeadMansFist849]

I saw more than one person get banned for posting naked childlike characters. Note, however, that nudity in the general image share can get you banned anyway.

 

If you see someone posting a questionable image, report it, and the site staff will deal with it. :)

[JimboUK]

Before the ban on nudity there were several appalling images uploaded so it does appear there are some unsavoury characters using them. That said I'm sure the vast majority use them just as something different, anyway anyone who has played a lot of JRGs will at some point have played a minor, over 18s are over the hill in those games. As BlackBaron says, just report anything questionable, I have and it was removed within minutes.

[Spaceritual]

That is the thing though these images are not nude and not on the face of it sexual as such but the reviews the poster gets seem to suggest there is more to it than meets the eye...or it is all innocent and they have the wrong end of the stick...?

 

It probably is strange to some playing a cat or an elf this I assume is an extension on that line of thought . Think I will probably just give them a miss till I get a deeper understanding of what I am endorsing :)

[HappyHerring]

I must admit to occasionally being charmed by some cute char in a screenshot doing a cosplay pose but I tend to find such images a bit unpleasant. There are so many unwholesome connotations that I think that the best censor in the world, the self censor, ought to cut in and say "within my context I think I'd better edge away from playing these mods, taking images and posting them. there are too many cutural arbiters willing to pour a load over gamers' heads over any issue and I can so easily imagine a few national newspapers & a certain parlimentarian being willing to distort or spread bile over they're misrepresentations. Maybe I'm paranoid. I love anime but anime is anime and if we want to take from it for our games then let's use a bit of imagination & raise the characters' apparent ages a touch. Edited November 23, 2010 by happy pig

[DeadMansFist849]

If you see a mod, or image, that shows child characters dressed provocatively (using the DeviantArt definition, dressed in revealing attire other than standard swimwear) then please raise your concern with site staff. :)

[bben46]

Wanting to play the game as a child is not pedophilia. However, dressing your child character like a hooker may be.

 

There is a line. And we do monitor these kind of mods closely. However, there are people who only wish to play as a child with nothing sexual involved. Then we get people who see pics of any child, or any female that appears as if they might be younger than 25 with a small bust size, in an adult game and scream pedophile - then on investigating we find the poster is a 14 year old girl! :whistling: - Contrary to some people's beliefs girls (and women) do play and mod these games.

 

As for those who want a small bust. My own girlfriend is not 'well endowed' (and she is well over 25) and has plenty of comments relating to the absurdity of the busty ladies we see so much of in our mods.

[DeadMansFist849]

^This

 

Posting a Shojo image (for example) is fine, my understanding is that only suggestive images are actually a problem.

 

Flat-chested or small-breasted characters that are clearly not kids, also not an issue. :)

[Herculine]

Having done a Shojo companion mod myself, perhaps I am aware more than others of how fine a line actually exists there. I think for the most part the Shojo phenom on the Nexus is acceptable because the races like the one I used for my companions utilize the adult body mesh and textures and simply adds an anime stylized face to the characters. Had the race instead used a childlike replacement for the body I would have seriously reconsidered creating the companions and if the race mod used a nude version of said body then of course rather than create companions for it I would have reported it. I think that as long as the mods and uploaded images are simply mimicking anime styled characters without adding child-like characteristics to the bodies then they are not pedophilia. However, if mods are adding nude child bodies then indeed they should be removed swiftly, and if people are using such mods to create images of a sexual nature then of course those should be banned as well. Also as others have said, smaller breast sizes do not equal pedophilia IMO as long as the characters are still portrayed as being adults.

[Spaceritual]

Thank you for the thoughts...it is helping clear things in my own mind so I think I will look upon the images as innocent unless the dress or pose suggests otherwise .<br><br> <br><br><br><br>