Legality of depicting characters under 18 in adult visual novels(US)

[T-Daw]

FOR STORY TELLING PURPOSES ONLY(No lewd acts or scenes involving someone depicted under 18) For fear of doing too much searching on this subject online I would like to see if anyone has any knowledge(with sources preferably) to what the laws are in the US for depicting underage character in adult novels.

 

[Catwashere]

You can have kids in games just no sex acts at all even if it is not against the law it is against site rules. You can use kids though like i said but to be safe and to follow site rules no sex an no nudity, and why would you want to do that anyway?

 

[Thrownaway13]

I will put it to you this way, if you are questioning it. Don’t do it.


To answer your question it depends on your states law along with federal law. The law can be a little broad but generally as long as you don’t depict an actual person, like a celebrity for example you are in the clear.

You seem hesitant so again I will just suggest make your characters 18. If you don’t want the party van showing up that is the safest way.

 

[GuyFreely]

You would have to refer to the wording of any law to be absolutely safe. In a general sense, you can't depict minors #1 nude and #2 engaging in sexual activity. If they are background characters, I think you are fine. I would steer clear of having them anywhere near the sexual parts of the story. Again, as long as they aren't involved in the act, you are probably safe, but why risk it?

[edit]
I don't think children often appear in legal porn, but they are in movies that include nudity and sex. You might want to refer to a (recent) movie which has both explicit nudity/sex and minors (man that sounds bad). See how they handle it.

 

[whiskeyrose]

The legality of having minors in games/stories is perfectly fine, but in regards to erotic content it gets fuzzy. Lolicon in general is...well I'm hesitant to even say legal in the US but in most places it's not illegal. It's basically waiting for a defining case to set the precedent. But it also is a case where a charge might as well be a guilty verdict. Even with an aquittal, any google of your name will turn up the words "**********" and you'll probably lose most all friends and family in the process.

And then to go a step further and make a game with such content. The biggest question aside from the moral standpoint is the benifits. You're risking a felony which might as well be a death sentence for what? To make a smut game with minors for idiots on the internet? No amount of patreon money is worth that.

 

[RAMW]

All i can say is that, in the US at least, any sexually explicit image(s) involving anyone under the age of 18 is illegal but also the

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of 2003 which helped target simulated depictions of people under 18yo Prohibits any CGIs "that is, or appears virtually indistinguishable from that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct". So as far as legality goes having a 17yo in your game involved in any sexual acts would be illegal, but as far as the morality of it and whether or not you're hurting anyone it's a real grey area and as for the site a few people above have already stated the guidelines.

You should be fine as long as the character in question is not involved in any of the erotic scenes at all like not even being in the same room as the characters who are getting it on.

 

[T-Daw]

why would you want to do that anyway?

Strictly for character building, there would be no lewd content surrounding that character at all. I think it could just be a different take rather than just "bone all people in household"(which don't get me wrong I have enjoyed a lot of those games).. Could also be totally wrong!

 

[thecardinal]

I would just avoid it, that's my take. I would like to think better of people, but some would still want to "bone all people in household" if you catch my drift.

If I felt it was necessary to my game, I would consider replacing with a dog.

 

[T-Daw]

I would just avoid it, that's my take. I would like to think better of people, but some would still want to "bone all people in household" if you catch my drift.

If I felt it was necessary to my game, I would consider replacing with a dog.

Unfortunately you are probably right, far better safe than sorry.

 

[eosar]

Part of the problem is also the self-ingrained idea a lot of people have that if a character is in a porn game, there will be a sex scene involving them.

I am guilty of this misunderstanding, but specifically in regards to other male characters in the game. I can't help but wonder if the game is secretly NTR and I didn't see it in the description.

And frankly, in the land of lawsuits and hypersensitivity, this mistaken belief is enough for anyone to drag you down to the depths of legal hell for all eternity just because.

So unless you want to be the shining beacon that lights the way to all to see, don't. Just don't.

 

[TCMS]

tl;dr don't make the kids near any scenario that can be sexual and you're good. If the point of the kids is just for advancing plot in terms of story and not part of the sex scenes you're gucci

 

[ravenhawk]

You may be able to get away with the minor spying. I'm basing this on a scene from an early episode of Game of Thrones where one of the younger chars stumbles upon a prince having sex with another char (it's been awhile since I watched any of them, so I do not remember the names of the characters involved). It was obvious from the different cameras used that the actor never actually saw what was happening, but from the stories POV, he got an eyeful.

 

[wemacount]

You may be able to get away with the minor spying. I'm basing this on a scene from an early episode of Game of Thrones where one of the younger chars stumbles upon a prince having sex with another char (it's been awhile since I watched any of them, so I do not remember the names of the characters involved). It was obvious from the different cameras used that the actor never actually saw what was happening, but from the stories POV, he got an eyeful.

Context.

If you're making a pornographic game, leave the minors out. No minors. None. Ever. If a grand portion of your dialog relates to sex, contains innuendo, or refers to/includes storylines leading to/from sex. No minors. This type of work is meant to entice and arouse. Minors are not a tool in that shed.

If you're making an erotic game, where people are people instead of big sex-scene pinatas you're whacking for content, and there's a legitimate, story-related reason to include a child, and there's a legitimate story-related reason for that child to observe a sexual act, and you're confident in your dedication to artistic merit over vomiting out wank-material, I would think long and hard about how necessary this particular inclusion is to your work.

Game of Thrones is a novel. A colossal portion of the book's storylines converged around this singular scene and it was the catalyst for most of the inter-familial drama in the series. Your characters fucking and a kid seeing the fucking, end of? No. Leave that shit the hell out.

Edit: I could see something like 16/17 year olds, being entirely legal in much of the western world, as something of a gray area. But I'd tread carefully.

 

[Lunas]

It is only "legal" because there is no precedent in the us for prosecuting someone for an animated depiction of a fictional character. There are some games that to be safe state that a person is 18 example off the top of my head is the sagara family the youngest of 4 daughters looks young and her scenario plays out like she is very young to the point she is almost too underdeveloped. And the manual for the game states her age is 18 however in game they do a time skip so to get around that and have a underage loli in the game they took her post time skip age (I think 6 months or 3 years) with the exception of that final post time skip scene all of her sexual scenes are prior...

I believe in the original Japanese release she was 13 or 14 and they time skipped her to 16. Overseas they just added out right age statements for the girls being 18 at youngest in the manual.

 

[polywog]

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actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea

 

[jensrosk]

The answer to the question depends on what country you are in. If there are different criminal codes for any subdivisions of said country (i.e., the states in the USA, India or Brazil), it depends on the criminal code of said state. In Denmark, where I live, it is not illegal to draw or paint pictures ((or create computer generated animations etc.) of minors engaging in sexual activity (provided you're not doing it from live models, of course!), nor to write about it, but is is highly illegal to make videos or photos (and esp. distribute them) of minors (i.e. real persons) engaging in sexual activity.

The reason for this is that the law protects minors from actual abuse, but it doesn't punish "dirty thoughts" that are not carried out into action; you can't be punished for your thoughts or for expressing them (this is a result of there being freedom of speech and expression...).
In the same way, it's ok to write about, or make a cartoon or a computer animation which depicts or shows people being robbed, assaulted, murdered or tortured , while actually robbing, assaulting, murdering or torturing people is of course, a criminal and punishable act.

So it depends on what country/state you're in, and if your server is hosted in say, Denmark, your artwork accessed there would only be subject to Danish law.

Edit: I am constantly baffled by US laws. Why is it that everything in the US regarding weapons and violence is legal, while everything pertaining to sex is illegal? What happened to "make love, not war"?

 

[shark_inna_hat]

Take a look at Game of Thrones, in the book Daenerys learns she is pregnant on her fourteenth birthday, and there's quite a bit of spicy details about how she got that way. Maybe I missed the news when FBI busted GRR Martin for that, so it can't be all that illegal, but if you're just looking for a way to sneak in some CP images in a game - Don't, just don't.

 

[Gambitf95]

Damn! It explains why we are style waiting for "The Winds of Winter"...

 

[Lunas]

The answer ...

The answer to why shit is the way things are is Karen's In this country unless it is profitable or a group makes a big enough public stink of it nobody gives a shit. And even if a shit is given it will only be given if it can advance someone's personal agenda or make money.

For the most part words and non real life images are protected under the free speech defense so that is how games of thrones and the like don't get punished.

 

[FeropsisFenarue]

If you are talking flashback scenes without sex, its fine. Even if you play the game as a child for a while and establish characters who grow up, thats fine too. In fact, that adds a lot to the story if done, but as others have stated, could be risky once people start assuming the kids are going to bang in the game.

Summertime Saga has a few pics of younger kids in it who have nothing to do with anything remotely sexual, as does Sunshine Love (which at the same time has those young kids parents getting it on)

Legally as long as there are no 'acts' with minors you are fine, and in any western court you'd come out fine as long as you don't mind your reputation being smeared. You'd also have a pretty strong case to counter sue for damages as long as you don't mind putting up a large chunk of money up front. The US court system especially in recent years does not like being used as a tool for moral censorship, and unless you live in a super conservative district, most DA's probably wouldn't try to charge you because they know they wouldn't win. That doesn't stop someone from going on Fox News and ranting about you however.

From a realism standpoint, I think its fair to say a lot of stories might NEED some hook from when the characters are younger, especially the most common scenario in all of VNs the 'Childhood Friend'. These stories quite often don't ever provide much in the way of them actually being your friend, or what good times you actually had in the past, and its hard for me to buy the fact that I should be interested in that character.