I should begin with saying I do not want my current wip in the adult section where it was moved to. It was not intended to be adult, and I have nothing against adult category as a whole (and may very well post a different WiP there later) but it is a point of frustration with me. There isn’t a publication path for works that turn out to be explicit, and per the guidelines of the Adult category, it feels, at least to me and my understanding, that works moved there are considered explicit. I’m not particularly fussed about that ‘stigma’ or not, but that there’s a certain expectation of what your work will hold without giving merit to the rest of it. And finding out after it’s in the queue or not means I’ve already lost a portion of potential testers because it is locked behind a wall–and if I thought my content warranted that, I would be all for it.
When I first posted any scenes that could be considered intimate, I had a conversation about it with a mod to try and ensure I was not crossing into anything that could be considered explicit. That was not quite a year ago, but I wanted to be sure that what I was posting would be acceptable for the community as a whole. I even added toggles just in case–the potentially questionable content is optional and not a mandatory part of the story. I based what I wrote on published games. I referred constantly to what has been published by CoG and is not in the Adult Content category before posting (Heart of the House and Werewolves of Haven for example).
And then my game was moved without an even “Hey, heads up.” I understand it is the company’s prerogative to move as they see fit, but I specifically took steps to avoid this. Even now I’m awaiting a response (going on three weeks of waiting) to determine if I need to axe some content.
I stated in the first post of my thread that I considered my game Mature, based more on the ESRB rating board–I do not consider it Adult. I do not consider it explicit either, which is the implication of moving it to the adult category. It is not an implication I appreciate nor want associated with this particular work.
I have also been frustrated because, yes, visibility is a problem. I have had multiple people contact me (outside of the forum, so whether or not they are members I cannot say) asking about where my thread went, if it got taken down, etc.
So while no, it hasn’t been, people have been having difficulty finding it. I like that there is an adult content category, but my WiP has existed for three years outside of it and one year with any potentially problematic content (and again, I am not of the opinion that it is based on my comparisons but I have yet to get an official verdict) so to have it moved suddenly like this felt a bit like a slap in the face, especially after working to avoid this very thing.