Katawa Shoujo ("Disabled Girls") was originally an idea thought up by doujin artist RAITA back in the year 2000 in the back of one of the books he had drawn for. In 2007, a scan of this idea was posted on 4chan's /a/ board, and some users were so intrigued with the idea that they decided to take his idea and make it in their own image.
5 years later, and Katawa Shoujo is released as a free download. Naturally, the fact that this game exists at all has been the spur of many a controversy, and the fact that it started on 4chan hasn't been helping the cause, either. A good amount of people are giving the game some odd looks and asking why even 4chan would try and fetishize limb stumps and burn scars. Others have gone out and said that it's a great thing, putting disabled people into the spotlight, with writing that emphasizes the characters and how their disabilities don't define who they are.
I'm sure at least some of you have heard of the game, and I figured this would be an interesting discussion, given the kinds of opinions that can form on this type of thing. I have an opinion that I'll be sharing later if this gets enough attention. I won't post a download link without Doc's permission, since this is sorta out-there thing.
Here's an article that can explain everything better than I can:
http://kotaku.com/5461619/romance-with-disabled-girls-how-and-maybe-why-an-unusual-video-game-came-to-be
What do you think? Disgusting? Insensitive? A good thing? Perfectly fine?
Edited by TopHat on January 13, 2012 at 18:53:30
Topic: Okay, let's talk about that Disabled Visual Novel