Just a thread where I express my thoughts

[buskerdog]

Whatever comes of this DMCA, I just really hope the forum doesn't get shut down because of it. At first I thought it was just some troll but more and more it now seems to be ZUN's legal team. I have no idea what the future of this site will be without the downloads, no one will have a reason to come here anymore, but I don't want the whole site to get destroyed because it means a lot to me.

I knew something like this would come eventually but I was not prepared for it right now. I've visited this site nearly every day for 3 years now. Things are awful in my personal life right now and knowing I could come back here and talk with other Touhou fans on the forum has been an important escape for me. That's not to mention how important Moriya has been for making Touhou accessible. Without it, my life literally wouldn't be the same right now. I hope this isn't the end for Moriya Shrine.

[Ken Hisuag]

FTR, I have no current intentions of going anywhere. While I may have arrived looking for soundtrack downloads, it has never been my primary interest in this site. So long as there are people willing to continue activities, Lord willing I will be available to participate and encourage.

[TheM3ds]

This may be my second week here but I've already grown to like this site and some users here are pretty chill, though with recent DMCA strikes I can't help but wonder where everything would go from here, I mean sure it brought some people here both new and old and the site has more activity for who knows how long, but we don't know how long this would last.

Pessimism aside I do hope the moriya shrine staff figures something out and if it doesn't work out then who can say what will happen next?

[vlad07]

I agree, without this site i would not have any Touhou game except 9.5 and 6.

There was a nice polish (my country's only good) site/forum with downloads, but they took these down after their servers got overloaded once. The site is working again but yea no downloads from there anymore :/

[Macbeth]

Hey guys I just wanted to say I managed to get ahold of Zun’s email address and maybe hopefully he will reply to me. I have a Japanese friend who can translate everything to Japanese for me if he cannot read my first email.

 

I understand that he did this, but to be honest, he should make the game more accessible and affordable to everyone because its pretty difficult for foreigners to find the original versions anywhere. Even steam makes it a bit difficult in the first place.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Macbeth

[sodaodaoda]

I started coming here more after I heard about the DMCA news, mostly for updates, but I noticed how kinda "comfy" this site feels to me, it's really nice. I think (and I hope) that it won't be going anywhere.

[CountVonNumenor]

I've been a member of the forum for less of a month. Despite the fact forums are becoming more and more a relic of the past, I really like this place. It just feels so chill, and the classic forum thread formula is my absolute favorite in terms of how to create a thread + chain of replies. So I am not planning to leave this place any time soon, especially as long as I have other forum buddies to chat with about a game series I like. 

 

Even if this place will repurpose itself as a storehouse for fan-made content (making it easier to find fan projects, especially with newer games, would be something wonderful) or just completely stops providing games, at least the forum will still stand, I hope. I feel a bit sad I only managed to get Touhou 7, but at least I have one game that I still need to finish - I suck quite a bit at bullet hell, and need a lot of practice . 

 

Hope I will just get to see you still around, no matter what 

[StrongDrunkenChild]

I really thought it would be a troll too. It's so surprising to me that it's ZUN. I always figured he would be really lax about this kind of thing. Especially for the western fanbase which still don't have easy access to all the games officially translated.

[Macbeth]

Well lets be fair bros, worst case scenario at least we still have the fanbased touhous here. Touhou Rhythm carnival is pretty fun

[CountVonNumenor]

So, it was officially ZUN/ZUN's legal team who pulled this action off? 

At least of we are to shift our focus on fan-made stuff, maybe I could ask for a couple games? Those two might be Mystia's Izakaya and YuuYuu Jiteki no Yuukarin. If there's anything else perhaps I should mention it here too? I would have asked for more music, but now that I think about it, my favorite groups are on Spotify, and I fear we might get into trouble if getting their music on here (still amazed you have the Demetori music here, and nobody complained, sent a DMCA or anything) 

[2huplayer]

Yuuyuu Jiteki no Yuukarin IS here. 

There we go.

[Drunken_Flower]

9 hours ago, Macbeth said:

Hey guys I just wanted to say I managed to get ahold of Zun’s email address and maybe hopefully he will reply to me. I have a Japanese friend who can translate everything to Japanese for me if he cannot read my first email.

 

I understand that he did this, but to be honest, he should make the game more accessible and affordable to everyone because its pretty difficult for foreigners to find the original versions anywhere. Even steam makes it a bit difficult in the first place.

ey ey dont bother ZUN with random emails

let the admin handle this, the lesser the spam the more chance we have

 

8 hours ago, StrongDrunkenChild said:

I really thought it would be a troll too. It's so surprising to me that it's ZUN. I always figured he would be really lax about this kind of thing. Especially for the western fanbase which still don't have easy access to all the games officially translated.

eyy a suika
hi

[Drunken_Flower]

also as the announcement says
the site and forum will still be up

whether we get traffic or not, idk

good thing about this drama is, it bring some people here
hopefully some of them will stay

[Dippidip]

Yeah, it looks like ZUN has changed his mind about western piracy. But at the cost of it basically crippling the community.

All I just hope is that ZUN himself releases his games on easily accessible storefronts... If he's able to, the source codes for some of his games are lost

[Drunken_Flower]

25 minutes ago, Dippidip said:

But at the cost of it basically crippling the community.

tbh in my opinion the impact is not that great great
people just shocked about this
it wont put much of a dent to the touhou community overall

they'll find a way themself

[Hannibalism]

I must say I didn't think it was Zun or anyone related to him either, feels like it was more of his legal team rather than him personally caring but oh well.

I've been using the site for a long long time all though I never made an account until now.

It's sad but the community will always find a way, I don't think the site is going anywhere anytime soon and I will most likely be more active on the forum side of things now as well instead of just lurking and downloading.

[AMT]

59 minutes ago, Dippidip said:

Yeah, it looks like ZUN has changed his mind about western piracy. But at the cost of it basically crippling the community.

All I just hope is that ZUN himself releases his games on easily accessible storefronts... If he's able to, the source codes for some of his games are lost

It's not nearly as dramatic as you're saying it is, the people that WANT the games are still going to get them one way or another, at most this'll deflect some less dedicated people.

[Shionne Imeris]

i don't really feel like going anywhere either. it's been a while since i started using this site and i grew rather fond of it
and it's somewhat same as Ken for me, 2hu games were never my priority there and i'm pretty sure that i actually downloaded more fangames here than official ones
however as i said i'm not planning to move anywhere unless circumstances call for it.

[Cosmic]

I only got here a few days before the DMCA (only created this account yesterday) and I don't think I'll be going anywhere any time soon, this whole website has a really nice vibe that I quite enjoy

[NyanKItzz]

I always had the impression that ZUN didn't mind piracy, has he DMCA'd other websites before?

[Nitorium]

Oh, trust me y'all. This is NOT the end of this place. 

If anything, this whole has given me more of a reason to make this place even better. 

 

 

[Nitorium]

Also, @buskerdog

I am glad this place means more to you than just the games. 

thank you for your kind words. 

[houraisan]

23 hours ago, NyanKItzz said:

I always had the impression that ZUN didn't mind piracy, has he DMCA'd other websites before?

actually, yes. i have a friend that said the place he downloaded touhou games from got taken down by dmca complaint.

[CountVonNumenor]

(Even if some of you might still be on April 1 - for me it is the 2nd already - this is not a joke) Honestly, I am starting to feel a bit challenged by what is going on. What was initially just a shock, has actually made me reconsider why I actually like this series. Even if I did not finish any of the official games (stuck at Stage 4 Easy with 3 Continues in PCB), I still somehow feel this is quite a big loss. I might sound like a jerk right now, but what am I supposed to do? Actually buy the games? It is not like Touhou 1-5 are abandonware, and the games from 6 to 9 cannot be obtained unless ordering a physical copy. Also, even if 12 Euro (60 RON in local currency) does not seem so much for a game on Steam, I am not very sure I am willing to pay unless I am 100% sure I will enjoy the game, and it has replay-ability (aka I will come back to play it later as well). Therefore, I think I only ever bought like 3-4 games I was fully sure I will play again and again, and still play them now, years later. Therefore, I am feeling quite hesitant to pay for a bullet hell game, given how rarely I actually open my PCB I got from here (thank you, guys so much for it), nor am I fully sure I actually want to invest time in actually getting good at the game, or just finish it. Plus, 12 Euro is a bit too much over how much I can pay with a PaySafe coupon, where I can put at most 10 Euro.

Anyway, I was really thinking how and why I got in this community to begin with. I had no prior experience or interest in general for bullet hell games, but somehow got to love a series that is just as such at its core. Maybe I am just another one of those fakers, more of an anime fan than an actual Touhou fan, only here for the girls and fan art/fan music. Ever since the late of 2019, something switched in my brain that made me like stuff with cute girls in it (maybe as a coping mechanism in response to being alone?), which really started after reading some graphic novels. 

From "Anya's Ghost" by Vera Brosgol; really thought at the time the protagonist was looking cute

 

Anyway, back on topic. As I was explaining in the first year of Touhou experience thread, I got hooked by ZUN's series purely by chance. It was chance first that that I saw what looked like a cool and cute looking blonde girl with weird, Christmas-tree branches like wings (later I found out that was Flandre Scarlet) in a Rhythm Heaven custom remix. Second instance of chance, and what actually brought me into Touhou, was seeing Flandre again in a random Discord conversation related to RichaadEB's Bullet Hell 1 music album (Flan appeared on the album cover). 

 

The album cover that brought me into Touhou

 

As I asked the person who mentioned this album who the character was, I was give a name (Flandre Scarlet), the name of a game series (Touhou) and the name of a song cove to listen to (RichaadEB and his Bad Apple cover, voiced by Christina Vee). Following that, it was short until I fell down the rabbit hole of Touhou content. Initially through the fanon, then slowly through official materials as well.

Now, after more than a year, I really am honestly questioning my place in here, even if most likely I will stick around. I have been quite affected by recent events, and probably, in all honesty, am just being way too bothered by anything going on in this fandom. That, and probably a mood ruined by reading a very good shitpost (classic April 1st joke), but which sounded scarily real given the context of the past week (and months) with the western fandom in all media. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/ttja2a/meta_emergency_new_rules_for_rtouhou_important/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
And to quote:
 

Quote

 

[Meta] Emergency New Rules For /r/touhou [Important]

 

Hello, r/Touhou!

Due to the recent events that occurred in the last few weeks, such as the official DMCA notice against the piracy site, the Touhou Wikipedia drama, as well as some other phenomenons we have observed, the moderator team has decided to implement new rules from here on out.

Effective to “Found Fanart” posts exclusively from dead sources: An image rehost is no longer acceptable, where you must post the Danbooru link as the main post together with a link to the artist.

Effective to “Found Fanart” posts exclusively from the same artists or albums: A temporary blacklist will be issued to forbid particular artists’ artworks from being posted for a short period, in the case of their artworks being milked by multiple users.

ZUN and his legal team have made clear their stance regarding piracy. Any posts and comments that violate Rule 3 will remain in the public’s view. You are entitled to act morally superior and gatekeep against any pirates, as long as your reply does not violate Reddiquette. However, any offenders will receive a ban from r/Touhou, as well as a message notifying you that you will need to hire a lawyer to dispute the DMCA claim from ZUN and his legal team. To appeal the ban, please show concrete evidence that your copies of Touhou games are from legitimate sites together with your purchasing receipt.

Notes regarding “Game Discussion”, “Book Discussion”, “Fan Discussion” posts: All statements or arguments must be written in an objective and neutral manner accompanied by proper citations from official media if possible. You are legally allowed to tell others to “shut the fuck up” if they are found making subjective, biased or otherwise inaccurate statements. To have an opinion, *please verify yourself as an experienced player.

*required evidence may include perfect Lunatic clear of multiple stages, captures of “Pristine Danmaku Hell”/ “Yin-Yang Divine Orbs” etc as Marisa, or, full completion of Violet Detector.

Unless prior confirmed artists do not mind rehosting their work, Rule 9 will now be extended to cover Doujinshi. Safe-for-work images extracted from the H-sites will be banned since most works have the phrase “無断転載” on their last few pages.

Team Shanghai Alice has already taken down the shrine, and we will expect further actions targetting sites that pirate official Touhou doujins. As such, Rule 3 will now be extended to cover official printed works. ^Any mentions of “Mangadex”, “Free PDF download from the Wiki” or others will be treated the same as mentions of “Moriya Shrine” or other pirating statements.

^free pass will be granted if you can provide your own legal copies and require a scanlated version.

Sorry for the mild inconvenience caused by the new sets of rules. We, the moderation team, will continue to monitor every activity within r/Touhou, and make changes accordingly. Here is a quick tutorial on how to follow the rules. We hope to find a way to make a balance between artists’ rights and user conveniences.

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by CountVonNumenor

[Tenkko]

Regardless of anything I'm glad the site will keep going, always seemed like a great place to discover Touhou and just hang out in general.

I had the impression that downloads end up doing more good than harm in the end, although I guess it must look a bit weird from the other side. But coming from a country where buying stuff from outside even digitally is more expensive than others (except on Steam now, thank God for regional prices), this always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I wouldn't even know about videogames in the first place if it wasn't for places like this.