User:Chpena
Love Plus
Love Plus is a bishōjo (beautiful girl), or "dating simulator", type game of the Erogẽ (erotic game) video game genre [1]. It was released in Japan in 2009, [2]with several updates and sequels that followed. Love Plus released for the portable Nintendo DS game console, and is now available in the Apple App Store.
The Gaming Bias
Erogẽ games are predominately focused toward males. Over 400 brands exist, creating gaming content exclusively designed for the heterosexual male gamer. Arguments have been made in support that Erogẽ games are designed to encourage or fortify 'masculine' traits, sometimes even by violent means [3]. A smaller movement has emerged to cater to a more diverse audience, and are usually available only as mobile apps.
Privacy
While face and voice recognition [4] is adopted for the game, no evidence of recording or information sharing has been found.
The virtual girlfriend
The premise of Love Plus is to court one of three characters in the game [5]. Unlike most reward-based games (collecting items, defeating enemies, powering-up weapons, etc.), the object is to have the chosen character proclaim her love for you, and initiate dating. The game endures after this ultimate goal by continuing to 'date' the virtual girlfriend. Players of Love Plus have taken the objective literally [6] and began exclusively dating their virtual girlfriend. One man decided to ultimately marry [7] his virtual girlfriend.
The current legality of marrying a virtual character is uncertain, but it also questions what a relationship can actually mean. The progressive meshing of humans and artificial intelligence can bring about numerous possibilities, and emotional relationships with machines may be one of them. This may not seem taboo in the context of people doing whatever brings them happiness so long as it's not harming or affecting other people. It may however contribute to the population concern of Japan, where the game is most popular. Japan's population growth has been in decline since 1978, and as of 2011 been in negative growth according The World Bank.
References
- ↑ Bishōjo Games: ‘Techno-Intimacy’ and the Virtually Human in Japan, May 2011, http://gamestudies.org/1102/articles/galbraith
- ↑ LovePlus, December 2009, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LovePlus
- ↑ Bishōjo Games: ‘Techno-Intimacy’ and the Virtually Human in Japan, May 2011, http://gamestudies.org/1102/articles/galbraith
- ↑ Nintendo 3DS dating sim has facial recognition, December 2010, https://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/nintendo-3ds-dating-sim-has-facial-recognition-918245
- ↑ Meet the Lonely Japanese Men in Love With Virtual Girlfriends, September 15, 2015, https://time.com/3998563/virtual-love-japan/
- ↑ The Japanese Gamers Who Prefer to Date Videogame Characters, October 28, 2015, https://www.wired.com/2015/10/loulou-daki-playing-for-love/
- ↑ SAL 9000 and Nene Anegasaki, December 21, 2009, https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/sal9000-nene-anegasaki
