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

[khumak]

I think where most devs who are trying to thread this needle run into trouble is they plaster a big disclaimer on their game that says all characters are 18+ and then you look at the actual renders and everyone looks like they're 10 years old. Sorry but if she looks 10, she's 10. I don't care if you say she's 18. I think that's the angle most of the people enforcing policy take as well.

I have zero interest in that sort of game anyway but I see it a lot in some of the games I've tried. DMD for instance I dropped for exactly that reason. The characters looked young enough that it just felt wrong.

 

[morphnet]

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[E$DRHUIJ:]

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"?

It's just tough for a political campaign to be rallied around the championing of [I'm not writing out this phrase explicitly]

Just like how Japan still has weird censorship rules because it's hard to tell your father that your political campaign is based around uncensoring porn

 

[blackroses90]

if you don't show them fucking then it should be fine if you have them just about or in flashbacks like Deviant Anomalies has it then it should be good maybe

 

[Vanderer]

The MC in my game has a kid, from what I gathered it is fine legally where I live. (Belgium)

Note that not only she is not in any sex scene, she's not even near it and I made a point of having the MC and his wife talk about avoiding her stumble into it, just to be sure.

One point is that several devs wrote about steam banning game with kids in it even if they are not sexualized. Even a picture with them as a background character will get you booted. Now, that second hand information, I did not look into more since I use Honey Select and as such cannot publish on Steam.