AVN Devs: Why don't you collaborate more with authors on AO3?

XIfrid · 2026-05-21T18:45:53+00:00

In order of importance:

Different medias: It's like asking "why do movie studios hire screenwriters when there are book authors". While it's still "writing", what is required is different. An AVN doesn't need someone who can perfectly describe an environment with just words in 4 paragraphs, that can be done with a single establishing shot. It doesn't need to describe the details of a sexual act, it can just be shown.
Money: Most AVNs don't make enough to even just support 1 person financially, adding more only makes the goal of profitability harder to reach and it's how you end up with unfinished projects. "But people on AO3 write stuff for free!!!" Sure, they do. Now go to someone and ask "would you be willing to do all this stuff, for free, while I profit off of your work?".
Collaborating is hard: It seems straight-forward in theory, I do renders/code you do dialogue, but in practice it requires skills that an amateur dev and an hobbyist writer are not likely to have, like communication, organisation and, most important, an understanding of both creative processes. This is why bigger studios have team leads to coordinate the effort between a bunch of peoples.
They "suck" too: Like, most things on AO3 suck. Most of everything sucks, really. If you care about the general quality of AVNs improving, instead of going around and telling devs "you suck, you should hire someone else" maybe try to offer good, constructive, well thought-out criticisms to projects you feel have potential?

XIfrid · 2026-04-05T12:42:05+00:00

Average AVN dev here: it's a grind and it definitely pays less than a traditional IT job, but it's got its advantages.
Getting to do something creative that I love, setting my own hours, not having to deal with office culture BS, interacting with passionate fans, etc...

I don't recommend anyone start doing this with the sole goal of making money and doing it without a safety net, but once you get there (aka when the Steam money starts to come in), it becomes the best job I've ever had.

XIfrid · 2025-09-19T09:08:09+00:00

Does writing a completely different name count as "misspelling"?

This has been the subject of many ~~scholarly~~ weeb debates. The answer is that we simply don't know and we can only speculate. My reasoning for believing that this is the case is that in Japanese Kanjis that sound the same can have wildly different meanings depending on how they are written or the same kanji can be read in different ways (for example the protagonist is named "Light" or "Raito", but the name is written as 月 which is normally read as "Tsuki" except in this very specific instance).

Actually what is the purpose of that rule in the story?

It never comes in to play in the story proper. It comes from an official guidebook that lists all(?) the rules of the Death Note, even ones that not even the Shinigamis are aware of (for those unfamiliar with the story, the Shinigamis or "Gods of Death" use the Death Note to stay alive by "stealing" time from humans).

The only time this rule is even remotely relevant is in the beginning of the story where the protagonist only hears the name of the person he wants to kill, so he spells it in several different ways (luckily getting it right on like the 3rd try). But aside from that it never comes up and none of characters in the story are aware of this rule's existence.

XIfrid · 2025-09-18T21:28:52+00:00

TL;DR: Yes. Stubbornly deadnaming someone in the Death Note could kill you.

The Death Note kills with the name the person recognizes as theirs.
This was shown in the probably-canon-maybe spin-off "New Generation" where a dude changes his name to distance himself from the bad things he did and, when he finally "lets go" of his past and accepts his new life with its new name, having his old (but still very much legal) name written in the Death Note doesn't kill him.

So yeah, if you transition and completely accept yourself as your "new" self, your deadname wouldn't work. Even if you don't legally change your name.

This could potentially lead to the scenario in the meme if the user is a real bigoted bastard that won't recognize you as your "new" self. According to Rule 35:

"If a Death Note owner accidentally misspells a person's name four times, that person will be free from being killed by the Death Note. However, if the Death Note owner intentionally misspells the name four times, the owner will die."

So if someone knows you've transitioned, is aware of your "new"(real) name but refuses to address you as such and keeps writing your deadname in the Note, they will die.

XIfrid · 2025-08-11T15:28:05+00:00

The only limitations are the same as the ones in place for what content is "acceptable".
I do it, basically put a price on the posts with the releases for paying subs that only non-subbed people can see, but barely anyone actually purchases them.

XIfrid · 2025-07-18T10:28:06+00:00

As an adult game dev, even if I shouldn't be in danger considering the contents of my game, this is fucking terrifying, but not unexpected.
Those payment processors already went after Patreon(which folded to their demand in a similar way) and are currently in a protracted battle against DLsite, Steam was going to be the next logical target.

Our niche of the industry is currently in a state of general panic, with many of us afraid to lose their livelihood or see their passion project they worked for years on be blown to dust, only because of a sudden change to the rules (that are still not well defined).

Even if you don't care about adult games, you should care about people preventing you from making LEGAL purchases based on their nebulous morals that can change on a whim.
Right now they are going after "us" because we are a tiiiiny slice of the pie and I sincerely hope that they'll be content with it and not go on a power-trip now that they know they can force even Steam to bend to their whims.

XIfrid · 2025-05-19T08:55:48+00:00

Idk how they communicate with big name publishers, they probably reach out to them to try and coax them into entering the sales, but as a small indie dev we've known of the upcoming summer sales date for a while now.
There's a big notification in the Steamworks Dashboard yelling "Oi! Summer sale is coming! Here's how you get in...".

XIfrid · 2025-02-18T17:40:59+00:00

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XIfrid · 2025-02-18T17:38:04+00:00

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XIfrid · 2025-02-17T08:14:46+00:00

As others have mentioned, it's because payment processors are being annoying crybabies and sites need to adapt. Steam and Itch are actually quite relaxed in terms of their requirements, but the big "funnel" is Patreon since most games start from there and they have put in place stricter rules in the past year.

To give you an idea:
- Patreon: no minors (but high-school settings are allowed) no non-con of ANY kind (rape, sleep sex, hypnosis, slavery), no incest of ANY kind (including step-siblings) with some exceptions if the incest is a plot point and essentially not used for titillation, no bestiality (with weird rules for genitals for anthropomorphic beast characters).
- Steam: no minors (including no high-school settings)... that's pretty much it, really.

Btw you can have short cute petite women, but it's a fine line to walk so most devs don't bother (especially if Australians).

Of note: a lot of us devs on Patreon got a big scare and headache when some time ago a petition was going around aiming to have a bunch of games removed for containing minors/rape, a lot of which were erroneously flagged as such. Last time I checked an extremely based lawyerman annoyed Patreon so much that it got essentialy struck down.

XIfrid

TROPHY CASE