Maidens of the Kaleidoscope
~Hakurei Shrine~ => Touhou Addict Recovery Center => Topic started by: Stuffman on July 16, 2009, 09:37:06 PM
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Touhou games cost about ten bucks in Japan. That is a very good value. Importing Touhou games is considerably more expensive, about twice as much. That is not a very good value.
The idea of digital distribution to negate the cost of importing crossed my mind, but then it occured to me that this is silly because everyone always downloads the games the day they become available anyway, and the point is to support ZUN, not to have legit copies of the game.
Therefore, ZUN should get himself a Paypal box or something for donations so westerners can send a couple bucks his way, clear our consciences, and merrily torrent his games as we always have. I would gladly pay about fifty bucks for all the touhou crap I have. ZUN gets free money, western fanbase looks better, nobody has to jump through any distribution-related hoops. Everyone wins.
Discuss.
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You could probably email him asking him how he would best like to recieve your monies.
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Judging from the titles of his games I'd say his English is probably subpar, so I would need somebody who speaks fluent Moon to make sure the message gets across. But if I could, yeah, I'd be happy email him about the subject.
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Make sure he doesn't think it's some kind of Nigerian money laundering scam.
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拝啓ZUN、
お前様の子供を生みたい。でも、西洋に住むのです。
だって、私は気が済む円を贈る！私ばかりか、西ファンダムさえ贈っている。
どうしたら？
敬具、お前様のファン～
do it
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Can you tell me exactly what that says?
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Dear ZUN,
I would like to conceive your children. However, I live in the West.
Even still, I would be content with sending you money! Not only me, but much of the Western fandom.
How would we do this?
Sincerely yours, your fan~
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I would like to conceive your children.
I also noticed this part is ambiguous. I don't know how to correct it, though.
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oops kfixed to 生む(to birth).
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I would like to conceive your children
:V
But hey, if you know sufficient moon then yeah let's put together a letter! I'd like to explain our position a bit better than that though.
Dear Mr. ZUN,
I am a Touhou fan that lives in the west. As you know, most of us download your games, but many of us would be happy if we could buy them to support Team Shanghai Alice. However, it is expensive to import games from Japan. The cost is about three times as much! So, I had an idea: how about accepting donations through your website? That way, we could reimburse you for our downloaded copies at a normal price. What do you think of this?
Sincerely,
A western Touhou fan
How's this?
Also, taking suggestions for humorous P.S. message. Like "BRING BACK MIMA", but funnier.
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How's this?
Also, taking suggestions for humorous P.S. message. Like "BRING BACK MIMA", but funnier.
Post.Scriptum. we would really apriciate if the most loved PC-98 Character Mima would be the thrid to re-appear in a new Windows game...
oh well...
there is a shop here in germany where they sell stuff from Japan... they go there twice each year and i might be able to contact them and ask them if they could get a copy of the game for me... (of course i would give them the money, too).
but if it won?t happen...
i would sure give Zun some money 10? for each game he made... (at least the Windows ones, i don?t really like the PC-98 ones... i blame the emulator for freezing a lot)
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Hmm.
Actually, thinking about it, it probably doesn't sound so good to try to justify our rampant piracy. Maybe I should take Drake's approach after all.
EDIT: The next reply will surely be DO IT FAGGOT so I'm gonna do it
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did you change your mind because of my post?
damn... i never thought i could do something like that... :V
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yeah, ZUN should get something back for our piracy :/
i can't really help you out with this, nor do i have no way of sending him anything if this does happen, but i'll be sure to do so when and if i can
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If anyone works out how to give ZUN money, please let me know. I figure I owe him a few bucks at least.
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E-mail sent. Let's see if he responds.
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E-mail sent. Let's see if he responds.
so... what now... waiting and drinking tea?
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I endorse this idea 115.25%. 'Hope it works...
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I would gladly pay ZUN for every game I've downloaded...except for PoFV and the fighting games. :V
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I'm guessing he'll think, "Oh shit. Westerners."
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Well screw you then for making me translate so much :(
拝啓ZUN、
私は東方ファンに西部を住んでいる。言いまでもなく、大部分私たちはゲームをダウンロードするでも、上海アリスを貢ぐためにゲームを買えればいい。
おりあしく、舶来ゲームは高直。三倍価だ。だからブログに賽銭を貰ってはどうですか？
?
そうすると、私たちは払い戻すをあからさまの海賊する～
敬具、お前様のファン
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Your Japanese is terribly incorrect, please stop trying to use it. Unless you are a huge M and love the shame.
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I'm guessing he'll think, "Oh shit. Westerners."
Part of me wants to see ZUN troll us with "STOP PLAYING MY GAMES YOU FILTHY THIEVING GAIJINS"
Because come on, getting trolled by ZUN would be awesome
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I'm guessing he'll think, "Oh shit. Westerners."
And then he'll add a Westerner Touhoe to the UFO game as extra stage and blame the incident on NASA.
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Your Japanese is terribly incorrect, please stop trying to use it. Unless you are a huge M and love the shame.
The language barrier goes both ways :]
@Stuffman: Considering Touhou only exists as it does because of a fandom that does what it wants when it wants with the source material, getting trolled by ZUN would be a really bad sign.
And then he'll add a Westerner Touhoe to the UFO game as extra stage and blame the incident on NASA.
Unzan is secretly Buzz Aldrin. Watch that right hook.
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Buzz Unzan? Hmm ... has a certain ring to it ...
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99% of everything touhou-related (of value) is made in Japan though. There's no reason for any Japanese person to care what the western people do.
We suck :V
(We don't actually suck, it's just because there is no doujin market in the US due to strict copyright laws so we only have amateurs working on this stuff. This has been a public service announcement)
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Copyright laws are cancer. :X
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Your Japanese is terribly incorrect, please stop trying to use it. Unless you are a huge M and love the shame.
The language barrier goes both ways :]
Most people are polite enough to attempt communicating in a language both parties understand to a significant degree. If you guys are going to be assholes and talk to ZUN in broken Japanese, then you'll do nothing but perpetuate stereotypes about gaijin dumbfucks. (By the way, that is what you are.)
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I want to give ZUN my moneys.
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Touhou games and soundtracks are actually closer to $15 and considering how many copies of each game he sells and the fact that he's the only one who makes the games, I imagine he's amassed a small fortune at least. I don't think he has to worry about the foreign market yet. I'm more than certain he's aware that there is demand, but he probably won't try to sell his game outside of Japan until he feels he can dedicate the time/effort to do so.
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zun can blow me
ps 住む
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Your Japanese is terribly incorrect, please stop trying to use it. Unless you are a huge M and love the shame.
Even though you're probably right seeing as I'm not the greatest in this aspect, I like to try regardless. It's an exercise. I'm not looking for fame or shame, just practice and communication. Please correct me if possible (unless there are too many mistakes to count) and I would be grateful. In fact, I would rather you correct me than just tell me I suck, as that way I can learn.
However, unless you write another letter, and I'm sure you can as you actually come from Japan, it's going to stay at the same level of terrible.
So answer, teru.
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Step 1. http://guidetojapanese.org
Step 2. Read things.
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It's a bit moot since it's already sent. I also included english text just in case, so we'll see, I guess.
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Your Japanese is terribly incorrect, please stop trying to use it. Unless you are a huge M and love the shame.
0/10
Seriously.
Step 1. http://guidetojapanese.org
Step 2. Read things.
-5/10
You're losing points, kid.
I imagine he's amassed a small fortune at least. I don't think he has to worry about the foreign market yet.
Ehm, not really the point. You can't say "well we don't have to pay for coke because coke is balls to the walls rich", it doesn't really work that way. The fact is, almost all of us torrent the games for free, and he deserves our money because let's face it: ZUN's a fucking God. Paypal would be the best option because I feel each game is worth more than 10 bucks. The music in each game by itself is worth more than 10 bucks, so I'd like to give him more if possible.
It's a bit moot since it's already sent. I also included english text just in case, so we'll see, I guess.
So you copy-pasted what has already been wrote or did you change it a bit? (Can we see the final copy?)
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Your Japanese is terribly incorrect, please stop trying to use it. Unless you are a huge M and love the shame.
0/10
Seriously.
Step 1. http://guidetojapanese.org
Step 2. Read things.
-5/10
You're losing points, kid.
If you are implying that teru is trolling in some way, then you are quite mistaken.
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If you are implying that teru is trolling in some way, then you are quite mistaken.
I'm implying that even though Drake's Japanese may be horribly incorrect, one should not say "lol that sucks" and end it there. Give helpful advice, constructive critisizm or write the whole damn thing over yourself, but saying "you suck" doesn't get us anywhere. Trolling is all I can see that faggotry as, so my apologies if you disagree.
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なんつーか。
いいえいいえ、そんなつもりめっそうもございませんでした。もうしわけありません。
次はもっと気の利いたことを言います、気配り出来なくてすみませんでした。
ほんっとうに、ごめんなさいでした。
建前です。本音を言うと、んな細かい指摘したって無理。ああ言うしかないんだ。
アホかてめー、あいつの日本語を見れば一目瞭然。
おっと、無茶ですね読めませんね。
勘違いもしますね。人間ですもん。
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This is the entire content of the e-mail.
拝啓ZUN、
お前様の子供を生みたい。でも、西洋に住むのです。
だって、私は気が済む円を贈る！私ばかりか、西ファンダムさえ贈っている。
どうしたら？
敬具、お前様のファン～
P.S. The message above is written by my friend. In case it is not clear or he is joking around, here is what I want to say: western fans who download your games would like to buy them and support Team Shanghai Alice, but importing is too expensive. Can we send you donations to make up for it?
The english bit is pretty straightforward I think. Also, I felt the "joking around" thing was a clever joke since it implies I am not aware that Drake had me say that I want to bear ZUN's children.
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A massive multimillion-dollar drink company is on no conceiveable level with a single guy hammering out code in his free time.
Another point you're missing is that there are avenues where you CAN legally acquire his games and therefore support his work. If the games really were worth more than $15 to you, then you wouldn't mind paying the extra shipping fees or whatever.
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なんつーか（ｒｙ
えっと、大丈夫だ。謝罪としてありがとう。母語話者に伴ったら、拠所ないね。
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Well screw you then for making me translate so much :(
拝啓ZUN、
私は東方ファンに西部を住んでいる。言いまでもなく、大部分私たちはゲームをダウンロードするでも、上海アリスを貢ぐためにゲームを買えればいい。
おりあしく、舶来ゲームは高直。三倍価だ。だからブログに賽銭を貰ってはどうですか？
?
そうすると、私たちは払い戻すをあからさまの海賊する～
敬具、お前様のファン
Although the Japanese is bad, this gives a better explanation of the situation than just "Dear ZUN! I pirate all your games, but I hope to pay you back. We cool now?"
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I'm interested in seeing where this goes, though I can see ZUN possibly preferring using the export groups. Especally since Paletweb being a small group exporting themselves, or last I heard that's how Paletweb worked...
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To be honest I'll be a little surprised if he responds at all, I'm sure he gets at least a hundred emails a day.
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Buying a 15$ game is not that much, and it's much more convenient to just buy it than email ZUN about a donation box for western fans. I bought all the windows games and it didn't cost me that much, probably as much as two normal retail games(excluding the less cheap fighters, but I still got those).
Maybe it's just me but I'd rather put money towards buying the disk than giving money for free and getting nothing, the games are still pirate copies.
Still, good luck on contacting ZUN and I hope your plans succeed.
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I would gladly pay ZUN for every game I've downloaded...except for PoFV and the fighting games. :V
(http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9218/akumagonnadie.jpg)
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Dear ZUN
Do you have a Stickam account? Because all my friends do and so we could totally get all of us together and you could watch us play Touhou live, on webcam. Also I own a cat who likes to eat cantaloupe. That's crazy, right? What cat does that? Mine does, and you can watch him do it on cam. Anyway. So if I went to Rite-Aid and got a MoneyGram order for 15 bucks, do I just put "ZUN" as the name? They have MoneyGram in Japan; I checked. I don't do PayPal because it's like a conspiracy of international bankers to get the whole world dependent on their system. Google Ron Paul.
Yours in Christ,
[your name here]
--------------------------------------------
(PS: Seriously, good on you for writing to ZUN - would be interesting to see what he says, if anything.)
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Well screw you then for making me translate so much :(
拝啓ZUN、
私は東方ファンに西部を住んでいる。言いまでもなく、大部分私たちはゲームをダウンロードするでも、上海アリスを貢ぐためにゲームを買えればいい。
おりあしく、舶来ゲームは高直。三倍価だ。だからブログに賽銭を貰ってはどうですか？
?
そうすると、私たちは払い戻すをあからさまの海賊する～
敬具、お前様のファン
Did you seriously just say "omae-sama"? Seriously?
BTW if at any point you see yourself typing を住む there is something very wrong.
Also fix your user title, the ' should go after the n, if anywhere - certainly not before it.
Are you just looking up random phrases in EDICT and not worrying about the details of how to use them in a sentence? PROTIP: Before you ever use a word you don't know, check for example sentences in some corpus (http://eow.alc.co.jp/insert word here), or google the word (http://google.co.jp/search?q=insert+word+here) to see how it is used, etc.
Good luck. And try not to embarrass yourself too much by writing random unreadable nonsense to people. Putting in a modicum of effort is not something unreasonable to ask of a language learner.
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By the way, where are you guys getting $15 as the normal price? I recall ZUN's blog saying the games go for 1000 yen which is almost exactly ten bucks. They're $22 on Paletweb though, plus however much shipping is, that's a pretty gnarly markup. Are you guys finding them somewhere cheaper?
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Did you seriously just say "omae-sama"? Seriously?
BTW if at any point you see yourself typing を住む there is something very wrong.
Also fix your user title, the ' should go after the n, if anywhere - certainly not before it.
Are you just looking up random phrases in EDICT and not worrying about the details of how to use them in a sentence? PROTIP: Before you ever use a word you don't know, check for example sentences in some corpus (http://eow.alc.co.jp/insert word here), or google the word (http://google.co.jp/search?q=insert+word+here) to see how it is used, etc.
Good luck. And try not to embarrass yourself too much by writing random unreadable nonsense to people. Putting in a modicum of effort is not something unreasonable to ask of a language learner.
OH HAI SOCKPUPPET
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They're 1000 yen at conventions, but in stores they are closer to $15. But at least you don't have to wait in line for 6 hours to save $5.
Also what on earth is going on in this thread I can't tell who is serious anymore.
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OH HAI SOCKPUPPET
Incorrect. 7hs can verify this, if you wish.
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OH HAI SOCKPUPPET
Incorrect. 7hs can verify this, if you wish.
Not really interested. But it is pretty funny that a brand-new user registers a few hours ago and that's the very first comment posted.
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It is pretty funny to have people coming out of the woodwork to rail on Drake. I wouldn't care if someone sent me an email in broken english plus spanish or whatever, I wouldn't have a hard time figuring out what it said one way or the other.
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No no, it's good. Keep it coming, really. But if you're going to wail on something, wail on the first one I did. The second one was badly done, I admit heartily.
Although my user title's a joke, don't worry about it.
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OH HAI SOCKPUPPET
Incorrect. 7hs can verify this, if you wish.
Not really interested. But it is pretty funny that a brand-new user registers a few hours ago and that's the very first comment posted.
Dude, google is pretty cool (http://google.com/search?q=flamingspinach)
ps I've been lurking in #shrinemaiden for like a year or more, gj
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OH HAI SOCKPUPPET
Incorrect. 7hs can verify this, if you wish.
Not really interested. But it is pretty funny that a brand-new user registers a few hours ago and that's the very first comment posted.
Dude, google is pretty cool (http://google.com/search?q=flamingspinach)
ps I've been lurking in #shrinemaiden for like a year or more, gj
That's nice.
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OH HAI SOCKPUPPET
Incorrect. 7hs can verify this, if you wish.
Not really interested. But it is pretty funny that a brand-new user registers a few hours ago and that's the very first comment posted.
Dude, google is pretty cool (http://google.com/search?q=flamingspinach)
ps I've been lurking in #shrinemaiden for like a year or more, gj
That's nice.
You're nice, wanna be friends? :3
No no, it's good. Keep it coming, really. But if you're going to wail on something, wail on the first one I did. The second one was badly done, I admit heartily.
Although my user title's a joke, don't worry about it.
You may find this (http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/wail.html) edifying. And whatever went into the final email is totally incomprehensible.
お前様の子供を生みたい。 "omae-sama", weird use of 生む
でも、西洋に住むのです。 uh, okay I guess
だって、私は気が済む円を贈る！ nonsensical "だって", and I have no clue what 気が済む円を贈る is supposed to mean
私ばかりか、西ファンダムさえ贈っている nonsensical use of ばかり, か, and さえ, and I still have no idea what you're doing with 贈る
どうしたら？ uh, yeah, this needs to be less of a sentence fragment
敬具、お前様のファン～ "omae-sama"
btw 拝啓 and 敬具 are not commonly used in emails afaik.
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I guess the reason for people to act tight and bitchy is the fear of making "us" western people look like idiots when trying to attempt such things. Especially concerning the Japanese language.
Though I understand that a good, clean e-mail with less mistakes as possible makes a better impression though I also have to agree that bitching about it, without helping or atleast pointing out the mistakes does not make one a better person.
These kind of situations occur alot on ze interwab, especially when it is about the Japanese language. Kind of cliche.
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I support this movement and would happily donate to ZUN...if the chance every presents itself.
Just a thought...does ZUN work on his games while he is sober or drunk?
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Just a thought...does ZUN work on his games while he is sober or drunk?
Isn't the awnser too obvious? :V
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Just a thought...does ZUN work on his games while he is sober or drunk?
Isn't the awnser too obvious? :V
Dwunk! *hiccup*
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Just a thought...does ZUN work on his games while he is sober or drunk?
Isn't the awnser too obvious? :V
Dwunk! *hiccup*
I'd like to think that he's drunk during the planning sessions, and sober when he's coding it all.
Hence how the games are seriously epic, and they work just as damn well. (Seriously, it takes some serious skill to make the games play as awesome as they do. ZUN deserves a freaking award.)
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If I remember, in his blog he stated that he had to move to a larger house because he couldn't hold all of his fan's stuff...if you know the property price in japan I don't think a buck donation will make thing move for westerner, a big business plan for oversea would be better (something like...bigfish or steam?)
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If I remember, in his blog he stated that he had to move to a larger house because he couldn't hold all of his fan's stuff...if you know the property price in japan I don't think a buck donation will make thing move for westerner, a big business plan for oversea would be better (something like...bigfish or steam?)
Maybe, but it doesn't mean we can't show our appreciation for the series he puts his time and effort into; perhaps a buck now and then isn't going to have a terribly large impact, but it still shows that the fans care.
Plus, something tells me that this 'donation box' is not going to be as bereft of tribute as Reimu's is.
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In that case, maybe we could all chip in to rent him storage space.
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I'd like to add in to that language, with my experiences and other shipmates in Japan, unless you ignorantly speak the language in a mockingly manner (KAWAII DESU NE?), I don't think it'll offend them. I know people who try to speak in Japanese, and they'll actually try to help you out with it... Taking effort to atleast attempt to speak a foreign language speaks volumes to people.
So I'd like to disagree with hammerin Drake so hard, pretty unnecessary. :/
Oh, and I'm pretty poor when it comes to Japanese, even more so since I haven't attempted the language in two years. I'm not a good source for help, as much as I'd love to be...
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A million times, yes. Making a sincere effort to speak/write a person's mother tongue is always appreciated. Of course it helps to learn if someone corrects your mistakes. "lol u suk moran" isn't that.
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お前様の子供を生みたい。 "omae-sama", weird use of 生む
I realize the omae-sama thing, but if 生む isn't used, what verb would I use for conceiving?
でも、西洋に住むのです。 uh, okay I guess
西洋に住んでいる would be better, I guess?
だって、私は気が済む円を贈る！ nonsensical "だって", and I have no clue what 気が済む円を贈る is supposed to mean
あなたにお金を贈ったらいい, maybe. It would be fine if I could send you money.
私ばかりか、西ファンダムさえ贈っている nonsensical use of ばかり, か, and さえ, and I still have no idea what you're doing with 贈る
I was under the impression ばかりか acts as something like "not only". Although I worded the rest funny and I'm not sure how I would fix it.
どうしたら？ uh, yeah, this needs to be less of a sentence fragment
Yeah, got it.
btw 拝啓 and 敬具 are not commonly used in emails afaik.
I know that, but it just sounded sillier that way which is kind of what I was going for.
If you couldn't tell people I'm being totally srs here so
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Zun is a freaking God, he needs his offerings for the blessings that pirate downloads give
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I'd prefer make a derivative work with his name credited as inspiration than giving him "a few bucks" from the original price. I just hope the Aki Anthology to be a success at C76, it would be the best way to thank him from international fans.
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Guys you're doing it wrong. If you appreciate Touhou and want to give something to ZUN just send him a box of beer! Local beer of your country, he ought to appreciate it a lot more than money. [/2c]
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It's much more difficult to ship stuff than send electronic money tbh.
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All his games were on sale at Otakon, btw.
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How much were they going for?
No response BTW, wishful thinking I guess. Maybe I'll get around to buying PCB one of these days at least, since it's my favorite and I'd be willing to pay a bit extra for it.
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How much were they going for?
From $25 to $35, depending. By the time I got to the booth, only PoFV was left - I was told the others sold out. So I bought it anyway just on general principle.
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Touhou games cost about ten bucks in Japan. That is a very good value. Importing Touhou games is considerably more expensive, about twice as much. That is not a very good value.
The idea of digital distribution to negate the cost of importing crossed my mind, but then it occured to me that this is silly because everyone always downloads the games the day they become available anyway, and the point is to support ZUN, not to have legit copies of the game.
Therefore, ZUN should get himself a Paypal box or something for donations so westerners can send a couple bucks his way, clear our consciences, and merrily torrent his games as we always have. I would gladly pay about fifty bucks for all the touhou crap I have. ZUN gets free money, western fanbase looks better, nobody has to jump through any distribution-related hoops. Everyone wins.
Discuss.
It's great that you want to support the developer and I commend you for it. However, I think you're not looking at the picture as a whole. Having legitimate copies of the game supports Zun and the distributors who buy the game from him. It also respects the fact that he's developing commercial software. I can understand wanting to cut out the middleman if possible because it makes the prices more reasonable, but it limits his selling potential to not have said distributors to buy the games in bulk. Additionally, the idea of mutual unofficial piracy support is probably a bad idea fiscally. They'll only give what they think the games are worth and feel that's enough, instead of giving Zun what he wants for them.
The first idea of making them shareware I can mostly agree with. It would probably benefit his business model by increasing his customer base exponentially, eliminating packaging and allowing him to sell year 'round. It wouldn't make much extra effort on his part either. The second idea is closer to donationware, which usually isn't a commercial viability. Either way, I think there's one nagging problem that I believe was already mentioned; the foreign exchange rate. I doubt he's equipped to handle it himself directly and thus, it wouldn't even worthwhile for him to go to the bank and receive the money after all of the fees. As things are now, this isn't a problem for him.
Also, I don't think the importers are ripping us off. 30 dollars isn't a bad price for a rare quality 2d computer game to be delivered all the way from japan. It's actually a lot cheaper than the 50 or so dollars we pay for iffy new games and comparable to the price of most used classics we see in local retail stores. Let's not be bothered about it just when we don't get the direct manufacturer's price: As I see it, we're actually getting a comparatively good deal. Middlemen exist in virtually all industries and they need to make money too, when offering their services.
A massive multimillion-dollar drink company is on no conceiveable level with a single guy hammering out code in his free time.
Another point you're missing is that there are avenues where you CAN legally acquire his games and therefore support his work. If the games really were worth more than $15 to you, then you wouldn't mind paying the extra shipping fees or whatever.
While I agree with your second point as shown above, I disagree with your first. Big bad Coca~Cola? and lil' ol' Team Shanghai Alice are comparable, because they both offer their product in return for money. The only difference is that Coke is lots more people producing much more product in an organized and efficient manner, so they end up earning more. Let's not confuse great success with low humanity now. Big companies get a lot of work done and do so to profit. The people behind said companies are important to the process, as well as a heavy amount of responsibility and big demanding choices. Just because they make more doesn't mean they're not hard working people like the rest of us and as such, they deserve proportionate compensation for their effort. I think all of us would rather be richer than poorer if we could legitimately chose, so let's not be so quick to judge. Wether entities are big or small doesn't matter as regardless, there are people with aspirations and needs making efforts behind them. To put a new perspective on the manner, if Touhou became as big a name as Coke, would you think any less of it?
Uh, by the way, I'm sorry if I'm making the wrong assumption on what you think the difference between big corporations and the little guys is. It's a subject that comes up so often I habitually think "dehumanization". I think the idea of facelessness arises because people usually only see the brand names and the final products, thusly bypassing thoughts about the people behind them.
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It's really really really hard to pirate soft drinks discreetly.
I probably overembellished a tad, but the point I was trying to make isn't that there is a difference between entities or humanity or whatever, but the how the product is handled after purchase due to their physical natures.
Putting that aside, it's all simple supply-and-demand here. If it comes to his attention how much effort people are going through to buy his games, I'm certain that ZUN will begin to accommodate this somehow. I remember reading an article about a company that localizes Japanese indie games, and they're definitely going after him. While ZUN hasn't consented yet for a number of reasons, the guy from the company said they are slowly convincing him. Just keep buying the games, and keep telling friends to do it, and sooner or later it may just very well happen.
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It's much more difficult to ship stuff than send electronic money tbh.
Yes, I agree. I just thought it was an alternative idea which nobody mentioned yet, so I said it.
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WTF donate? If Zun doesn't sell his games overseas clearly he doesn't give a shit about our money. With digital distribution everything is so easy. Bloody STEAM, ffs!
Zun makes this games for himself, we just happen to enjoy it.
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Zun makes this games for himself, we just happen to enjoy it.
This is all it comes down to.
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I think ~500MB games would be ideal for paid DDL, but people will always want the merch - the CD case to display/post for others, or just enjoy themselves. Still, the digital age is here, and I think all mediums are moving gradually in that direction.
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The thing about digital distribution is that by adopting it suddenly half the problems you'd have for distribution are gone. I sure like to OWN physical stuff, but since I mentioned Steam already, I'll say I'm quite satisfied with how convenient and simple everything is. And it's the same thing with what I bought from PSN. But by distributing your game through a platform like this you don't have to print the discs, make the boxes, find retailers...
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> Steam
Because Steam is very well known for it's hosting and distribution of lesser-known doujin games.
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ahahaha Steam.
What's next, Valve get the rights, and sell a TF2 style vs. Touhou game where they promise awesome downloadable content only to make it into a $50 sequel instead. I'm sure ZUN would love that.
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Steam hosts a lot of third party software that has nothing to do with valve and is a big and well know digital distribution platform (and a wannabe that kinda phails at being a community, but that's an entirely unrelated story) hence why I used it as an example. But, even so, make no mistake: start browsing that stuff and you WILL see a lot of low-budget stuff from completely unknown developers. There's no bigger example than Audiosurf for that.
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It's also English.
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Oh I see N-Forza, yeah, less honorable people tend to do things that're easier to get away with more and are less considerate of others. Another difference between software piracy and physical theft is that some people feel they do less wrong for the former because there's no depletion of goods. I feel it's still wrong to take advantage of somebody's work without compensation, be it mental or physical work, though I won't go into details as this isn't really a piracy topic, per se.
The more relevant issue about Zun going international is his reaction to the unofficial anime project. He understandably seemed adverse to losing any creative control and more relevantly to this topic, reluctant to make any big thing of Touhou because it's just something for himself. Now this is just an errant thought but I think if he's reluctant to increase even just the japanese fanbase, he probably doesn't want to make it a worldwide phenomena to be at the center of either by expanding his distribution base either. His answers in the interviews always seem to state that if there's any fanbase to share this with that's nice but the he's really just doing this as a simple little hobby as opposed to trying to strike it big and make lots of money. This sort of humble attitude is great, yet it fares badly for expanding commercial enterprises towards the west. If he really wanted to strike it as a big famous guy with these games, I'm sure he could've done so by now, considering how they're virtually marketing themselves worldwide already.
In short, as things are now, I'd think he's quite content just fashioning the games for whomever just so happens to have a natural desire for them. I also doubt he wants to deal with the hassle of anything more. This kinda leaves us out in the cold since international commerce is quite a difficult monster to overcome, especially all by one's self.
By the way, concerning the want-to-be publisher, how do we know they're legit? I vaguely remember in the Cave Story community there was a huge controversy over a similar manner over a potential PSP port of that game. I think the company was called Variant Interactive or something, it sounded like shady business. Also, I believe Shareware is definitely a better model than Steam, considering Zun already has a site you can download demos from 'n such. There's really no need for a silly lil' shell app unless he can't do or have somebody else do the registration code for him.
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Still, I have yet to see anyone adverse to being given free monies. I think that's the main idea here - donations as a show of support/appreciation.
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Still, I have yet to see anyone adverse to being given free monies. I think that's the main idea here - donations as a show of support/appreciation.
Rather than giving him money for free I'd rather have the opportunity to actually buy the games. That would be more interesting and straightforward.
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Still, I have yet to see anyone adverse to being given free monies. I think that's the main idea here - donations as a show of support/appreciation.
Rather than giving him money for free I'd rather have the opportunity to actually buy the games. That would be more interesting and straightforward.
Well he is selling the games and it is possible for us to buy them, just not locally. I think this conundrum brings us all the way back to step 1 doesn't it? I'm not going to mull over the exact same points I already posted before again, it's pointless. XP
If I remember, in his blog he stated that he had to move to a larger house because he couldn't hold all of his fan's stuff...
I remember hearing the same thing elsewhere too, otherwise I'd suggest doing something extra special for him like what the Cave Story community did for StudioPixel (http://community.livejournal.com/doukutsu/104761.html) for the extra insistent. (Cave Story's a freeware game mind you, so there was no other way for them.) It'd be the next most logical method to get him a direct gift, as he wouldn't need to bother with the transfer rate.
The question would be just what to get Zun that wouldn't just be an inconsiderate space waster. I suppose he likes beer and everybody always jokes around that he makes the games better when he's drunk. Lets mail him a thank you note and fuel him with beer so that U.F.O. can be just that much better of a game. XP
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I wouldn't be too sure about mailing beer, unless we have some option to have it mailed and have a guarantee it'd arrive in decent condition. He is a bit of a beer connoisseur, and I don't think beer does good being in a possible hot and shaky air mail service.
Or am I going about this wrong?
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Eheheh, I wasn't really serious about it, as it's a creepy weird idea but beer is imported all the time. This is because even with the same brand, different breweries have different unique tastes due to differences in the brewing process, such as what yeast they use. I hear European Budwiser is better than American Budwiser for example. I'm not sure entirely how it works but I'd assume they use a refrigerated compartment or something. Even if not, alcohol can be stored at room temperature can't it? I'd look for a specialty importer in japan, if possible.
If anybody really wants to send Zun beer for any god forsaken reason, I'd suggest sending the note first to let him know its coming then delivering it direct. Be sure to do some research on what the best beer is though, as it'd be a bit of a waste otherwise. Perhaps a slap in the face even, if he has a truly refined palette. I suggest taste testing for best results.
Edit: Oh hey, here's a slightly relevant topic right here on these forums. (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php?topic=1207.0)
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I was thinking asking if we asked if he was interested in maybe some of the odd-ball specialty beers availible in the US but tricky to get to Japan in good condition like Dogfish Head or Samuel Adams. I'm sure he could be interested in something like that... :)
My understanding about beer-making, and actually cheese making too, to a point, is that they keep their own cultures, which effects the beer. I guess it'd make sense that different breweries would have different tasting beer.
I do agree with contacting him first. I'm sure even the deepest beer head that would have some random 6-pack show up would be alittle suspicious about it. :)
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Dogfishhead 60 minute IPA is amazing. I remember seeing a pic of him with Grolsch. If he likes that, he'd love Dogfishhead.
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Ya know, now I'm interested to see if he'd take us up on the offer. Problem is, I dunno much about beer other than how it's made (yea, Modern Marvels!). I have the problem that alcohol dehydrates me, and that causes some rather nasty headaches for me. I usually drink very little because of that, and never really got to have this "buzz" peeps talk about.
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I'd prefer make a derivative work with his name credited as inspiration than giving him "a few bucks" from the original price. I just hope the Aki Anthology to be a success at C76, it would be the best way to thank him from international fans.
Which is exactly why im making a Touhou fan-game
Zun will appear first and my name will be second to God
That beer-sending idea is pretty good, but exporting will be a pain
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Jesus christ :words:
Just buy the damn games if you really want to support him. I don't see how "yeah I stole all your games but I think they're neat here's 20 bucks we cool?" is even remotely a logical idea.
Hell I haven't even opened my copies of IN and IaMP and hold onto them as collectable items. I think that's the best way to thank him, to go through the amazingly hard effort of logging into paletweb or asking N-Forza for a copy of his shit :V
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Look guys, you are all forgetting to take it easy.
Fact: he ain't a beggar, he ain't gonna take your moneys, or read your emails (rather lightly at that consider you just admitted to pirating to his game, and that it is a foreign IP, ten bucks on him using geoIP network checks)
Fact: what TSO said, I think he appreciates the thought of people playing his games, regardless of the idea, but the fact you pirate his shit and that he lets people 'have free control over what the character are and can be' means he doesn't give a shit or that he needed money desperate or aims anywhere high, like a CEO of ZUN company, managed by TOUHOU.
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I do like the beer gift idea though.
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If we can all like buy him different beers ala regional areas, and such, we can like send him that.
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if we could all coordinate perfectly so that all our beer arrives at his doorstep on the exact same day, ZUN'd jizz in his pants.
... i would like a candid vid of that as well.
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if we could all coordinate perfectly so that all our beer arrives at his doorstep on the exact same day, ZUN'd jizz in his pants.
... i would like a candid vid of that as well.
christ, man, he's a fan of beer. That doesn't mean he's sexually attracted to it. :<
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if we could all coordinate perfectly so that all our beer arrives at his doorstep on the exact same day, ZUN'd jizz in his pants.
... i would like a candid vid of that as well.
christ, man, he's a fan of beer. That doesn't mean he's sexually attracted to it. :<
'jizz their pants' is the hip way of saying 'would be excited', i think
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Yeah the donations thing was a dumb idea, it was just a spur of the moment thing I guess.
I would get behind sending ZUN a case of fine beers, except I don't drink so I don't know anything about what's good or not. Also, how the heck are we supposed to know his address? :V
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Yeah the donations thing was a dumb idea, it was just a spur of the moment thing I guess.
I would get behind sending ZUN a case of fine beers, except I don't drink so I don't know anything about what's good or not. Also, how the heck are we supposed to know his address? :V
I'm sure there's some way to find it, or does he pretty much get everything from cons? And all of a sudden I had this silly image of someone carting around a small fridge filled with beer like a merchant character from Ragnarok Online. :)
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Yeah the donations thing was a dumb idea, it was just a spur of the moment thing I guess.
I would get behind sending ZUN a case of fine beers, except I don't drink so I don't know anything about what's good or not. Also, how the heck are we supposed to know his address? :V
I'm sure there's some way to find it, or does he pretty much get everything from cons? And all of a sudden I had this silly image of someone carting around a small fridge filled with beer like a merchant character from Ragnarok Online. :)
I believe that was in an IOSYS video.
More seriously, I did buy the games, but I'd still love to send ZUN some local beer. Apart from the address problem, though, is import duty on alcohol going to be a factor? Yes, I know you can mark it as a gift, but you never know whether Japanese Customs might get nasty (Customs services all around the world have a way of doing that).