DLSite, a major download sales site for doujinshi and doujin games, has become an uproar over its decision to effectively restrict expression under pressure from some credit card company.
According to DLsite's explanation, ``Credit card payments account for more than half of all payments, and in consideration of the impact on the user circle, we have decided to comply with the request from the credit card company.''
Recently, a barbaric act known as economic censorship has become widespread, with credit card companies threatening to withdraw from the market and suppressing expression.
Recently, the incident where Niconico Douga and MasterCard parted ways is still fresh in my memory.
Since then, I have continued to be a premium member of NicoNico, and my MasterCard has been sleeping in the back of the store without using it at all.
If you repent and fight together for freedom of expression, we will do nothing to free you from the dark prison.
There are pros and cons about DLSite's response, and some think that they have protected the creators' place of business by using a workaround that uses slang, but I have a different opinion.
I understand that since it is a for-profit company, there are circumstances in which they have to make ``adult choices'' in order to feed their employees.
Actually, I'm not a creator who sells content on DLSite, and I only buy voice synthesis software such as CeVIO and Synthesizer V, and I don't buy adult content.
Therefore, there is no actual harm in this case.
But I don't think that regulating adult content doesn't matter to me.
It is a common tactic of those who want to control expression to eliminate the minorities that are easier to regulate, and if they can have a successful experience here, they may eventually start making inroads into content for the general public, like in Hollywood.
Why do they do that?
There may be various motivations, such as wanting to maintain their own brand image, wanting to create a beautiful society (in order to do that, we must eliminate filthy adult content), or simply making money or performing as a vote-gatherer.
Censorship and suppression of expression by private companies must not be allowed.
The root of all evil is credit card companies, but we will also take firm action against companies that go along with it.
I will not be shopping at DLSite again unless they reverse their policy.
If new Vocaloid, CeVIO, or Synthesizer V sound sources come out in the future, I will buy them from other sites even if they are a little more expensive.
There's only so much a common man can do on his own, and even if I boycott card brands and mail-order sites, it won't do much damage to them, and the current situation won't change at all.
It's just self-satisfaction.
However, if there is someone who reads this article who is as angry about the suppression of expression as I am, and even one person practices modest resistance to the extent that they can, then that will not be the case. .
If you love Japanese anime, manga, games, etc. culture, and don't want it to decline due to political correctness like Hollywood, why not join us in the fight?
Expressing your intention to protest and boycott credit card companies and mail-order sites on the Internet, actually stop using your credit card or making purchases, collect signatures to protect freedom of expression, campaign to support politicians, and credit card companies like Niconico and DMM. We buy and support companies that have fought and broken up with them, and so on.
Any resistance, no matter how small, that an individual can make is fine.
Although their individual power may be small, when their numbers increase, they become a voice and may become the power to change something.
DLSite may change its mind if more users declare that they will support their purchases with other cards or payment methods even if some credit card company withdraws.
However, if things like this keep happening, a cashless society will be nothing but hell.
A black market like Comiket, where cash payments are the mainstay...In a sense, spot sales may be the last bastion of creators.
A rare occurrence in which a piece of potato chip suddenly sticks inside the mouth and causes bleeding.
Is it the compensation for the depravity of sitting on the blessings of civilization and becoming insensitive to the risks of receiving life?
By the way, as the title suggests, I decided to attend a singing class to seriously improve my singing ability.
Since it's one-on-one, it's not cheap at over 10,000 yen for twice a month, but when I went to the trial lesson, my voice changed dramatically in just one hour, so the return more than worth the price. perhaps.
Actually, this is not the first time I have attended a vocal class; in fact, several years ago, I went to another class with a friend to improve my karaoke skills.
At that time, I just thought it would be fun if I could sing well at karaoke, but I didn't have a habit of composing songs, so I stopped singing after a few months.
I was planning to leave the vocals to Miku and the others and focus on composing, but recently I've changed my mind and started wanting to sing with them.
I almost forgot because I haven't done karaoke for a while, but singing is fun.
Also, the teacher in the vocal class is really good at playing the piano.
I haven't been using a MIDI keyboard much lately for composing music, but after using it for a while, I found it really fun to play sounds.
I was thinking that it would be nice to be able to check the sound of my compositions, but it would be fun if I could play my own songs.
So in addition to practicing singing, I'm thinking of practicing the MIDI keyboard as well.
With DTM, you can practice with various sounds other than piano, such as organ and synth, which is interesting.
Let's start with Hanon.
Akira Toriyama, a great creator who brought many masterpieces such as Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest to the world, and the origin of my creativity, passed away suddenly.
My father was a big fan of Toriyama Sensei, and he bought Jump every week and watched the anime without fail, and I also became addicted to Dragon Ball.I imitated Toriyama Sensei's drawings, forgot to eat and sleep, and kept copying them on drawing paper until I was able to create originals. I started drawing characters and learned the joy of creating things.
Without Toriyama-sensei, creator Enin may not have existed.
He was such a big presence.
Please rest in peace.
In order to mourn for a while, the site's color scheme will be set to dark mode only.