Dating Sims Get Real

[Alterego-X]

As for dating games all tending towards harems, that seems true enough. Though this also seems to extend to wider aspects of Japanese culture, since there's also a lot of harem animes around too.

Actually, games are significantly less harem-ish than anime. After all, in games, you normally START by picking a route, and then you are locked into the story of that girl.

Harem anime are mostly adaptations from the Light Novel genre (short book series), or manga, where the original linear story is intentionally written with multiple love interests at the same time. Or when they are based on games, they are done by mixing all the originally separate plotlines, to create a new one where the girls appear in the same plot.

 

[Jjkaybomb]

It is really, really hard to find someone on the internet who can talk intelligently about sexual topics, or at least approach them with an open and inquisitive mind. I enjoyed the read, though I probably wont play the game.

 

[mdqp]

This one "game", though, is ridiculous. I can't seriously believe the author was presenting this as an example of anything. If you take 3 minutes (it's all it takes to get two endings. I don't know if there are any more of them, but I doubt it) to play it, you will realize that this is really a bad piece of fiction, one without any aim, no plot whatsoever, no gameplay and not even a good "role-playing-sex-related-thing". And it has this in it, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina_dentata

While one might try to attach some symbolism to it, the way the whole "story" (I can't find a better term) starts begins and ends feels cheesy and quite frankly, executed poorly.
I mean, it's depressing to even recognize its existance. What's really bad, is that there is a game on the same site (maybe the same author, too?) that depicts better a dominant/submissive relationship through the gameplay, with only an handful of words: Mighty Jill Off. this one isn't as explicit, given the nature of the game (a platform), but surely is a nice idea well executed, while Encyclopedia Fuck Me barely qualifies as a sexual fantasy. It feels like a novel gone bad, with some interaction tacked on at the end.

 

[fgdfgdgd]

This one "game", though, is ridiculous. I can't seriously believe the author was presenting this as an example of anything. If you take 3 minutes (it's all it takes to get two endings. I don't know if there are any more of them, but I doubt it) to play it, you will realize that this is really a bad piece of fiction, one without any aim, no plot whatsoever, no gameplay and not even a good "role-playing-sex-related-thing". And it has this in it, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina_dentata

While one might try to attach some symbolism to it, the way the whole "story" (I can't find a better term) starts begins and ends feels cheesy and quite frankly, executed poorly.
I mean, it's depressing to even recognize its existance. What's really bad, is that there is a game on the same site (maybe the same author, too?) that depicts better a dominant/submissive relationship through the gameplay, with only an handful of words: Mighty Jill Off. this one isn't as explicit, given the nature of the game (a platform), but surely is a nice idea well executed, while Encyclopedia Fuck Me barely qualifies as a sexual fantasy. It feels like a novel gone bad, with some interaction tacked on at the end.

I felt quite the same, as I was reading along it's story lines my eyes kept rolling in horror and in utter disgust, no, not at what was happening or the sexual acts there in, hell no, kinky stuff is great, but this was nothing but a poorly written, self-serving play for attention in a genre that is as wide spanning and immeasurable as the internet itself, this writer, if you can call her that, has done nothing for the genre and then throws a hissy fit in game form, putting herself as the all-powerful-goddess antagonist talking a good game and never delivering, this isn't meta, this isn't even indie, this is just a pride project that got too much coverage.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

What the hell did I just read. That game is just what?

Psychotic lesbians stabbing each other to death and fucking? What?

Dating sim how? It sounded more like I was reading the Squad Broken fan fiction.

 

[poleboy]

That's not a game, it's just a pick-your own path lesbian slasher short story. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But don't call it a game, when it's just a bunch of text with a few predictable multiple choice options.

 

[Hat Man]

I don't know what most people call dating sims. But I call them a game that simulates building a relationship with another character, hence the words "dating simulator" They don't have to be eroge, but they shouldn't be nothing but sex. By the end of it if it's a good game I should have strong feelings towards my chosen mate, actually care about them a bit more then an unnamed NPC that's sole purpose in life is to be a human lampshade.

I've played visual novels, build your own girl eroges and mainstream RPGs that fit this description.

This game is not a dating sim. All it is is a piece of smut that looks like it was written by a juvenile that's trying way to hard to be edgy. They are more dating sim elements to the erotic text game Corruption of Champions, which has be specifically designed to involve the kinkiest and most varied sex that the human mind can possibly conceive.

 

[AquaAscension]

This isn't a dating sim. Having grown a pair of balls large enough to click the link, they immediately retreated into my body upon clicking past the first couple pages. If this "game" is aiming to tell the truth about female sexuality, then it seems that females think about sex about as much as a man does with incredibly vulgar words to boot.

2nd "page" of the game: "The point of a little wet tongue traces her lip. God. Your knees wobble like someone held a magnet to a TV set. 'Why don't you escort that wine to the kitchen, little lady,' she says with a slap on your ass that makes your pussy yelp."

Options for the next page:
1.) "Where do you want me? On my knees? On the chair? In your bed? Bent over the table? Under your feet?"
2.) "WAIT A SECOND. My c*** may have this condition called HOT but my belly has this condition called HUNGRY, and it's terminal."

This is not a dating sim. It is a BDSM sim written from the perspective of a submissive woman, i.e. this is not a game which can even remotely apply to the sexual desires of every single woman.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what it is that this person wants to do. If we take her claim at face value that she's "trying to reinvent the idea of a digital game about sex and dating as something hot and fun and written by someone who is happy with her sexual identity and lifestyle," then in a way I suppose she's succeeded, but the audience of people who will enjoy fantasies about domination, violence, extreme sexuality seems absurdly limited or, possibly more frightening, is a facet of humanity that I'm not completely comfortable acknowledging. Point is that I don't believe this woman can claim that this dating sim is "more realistic" than other games. It's just as absurd, just as poorly written, and portrays the protagonist's sexuality in such stark, violent, excessive, and submissive terms that it is difficult to believe the text was based on anyone who is real.

 

[Alterego-X]

This is not a dating sim. It is a BDSM sim written from the perspective of a submissive woman, i.e. this is not a game which can even remotely apply to the sexual desires of every single woman.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what it is that this person wants to do. If we take her claim at face value that she's "trying to reinvent the idea of a digital game about sex and dating as something hot and fun and written by someone who is happy with her sexual identity and lifestyle," then in a way I suppose she's succeeded.

The funny thing is, that no, she didn't even do that. vndb.org lists 74 eroges with BDSM themes, and 364 with lesbian sex, not to mention every other fetish, sexual theme, gender combination, that you can imagine, from guro to bestiality, and from pregger incest to adult male/female missionary position.

It's been done. All of it. It's just plain arrogance to think that the writer's vague stereotypical assumptions about how all other eroge are just generic harem fantasies are accurate.

It's like as if an old man, vaguely aware that video games exists, would see a kid playing with CoD for 30 seconds, and so he would decide to reinvent gaming, and make something that isn't only about senselessly murdering everyone to gain points and reach a high score. ("Because that's what they are about, right?"). Then he would proceed to "invent" a crappy RPG.

 

[CrystalShadow]

As for dating games all tending towards harems, that seems true enough. Though this also seems to extend to wider aspects of Japanese culture, since there's also a lot of harem animes around too.

Actually, games are significantly less harem-ish than anime. After all, in games, you normally START by picking a route, and then you are locked into the story of that girl.

Harem anime are mostly adaptations from the Light Novel genre (short book series), or manga, where the original linear story is intentionally written with multiple love interests at the same time. Or when they are based on games, they are done by mixing all the originally separate plotlines, to create a new one where the girls appear in the same plot.

I don't know what you've played, but that doesn't seem consistent with the handful of dating sims I've tried.

You are literally thrown into a situation where you meet a dozen or so potential partners, then interact with all of them at the same time.

Which you end up with tends to depend on what choices you make when you interact with that specific person.

Which... Is otherwise pretty much EXACTLY like harem animes and manga, if you make a basic allowance for player choice.



Then again, maybe what you've been playing is quite a bit different from what I have. Which wouldn't be difficult, because I haven't played many games of this nature, and there are an incredibly huge number of them.

 

[DarkSpectre]

I don't see this as inventive nor bold at all. It is the same as the dating sims she describes. Only it is from her personal sexual fantasy perspective. She sounds like somebody who is insecure about herself and has to loudly push her perspective to gain acceptance. Like that loud obnoxious kid in the back of the classroom who won't shut up because he needs attention. This whole thing just strikes me as the a big "Oh look at me! Look how edgy and cool I am. I can be shocking and say smart things." It takes little skill to be shocking and her "game" reflects that. Her "game" doesn't have any more a realistic reflection to relationships than the other dating sims. Her relationship game doesn't a reflect healthy relationship or an approach to it. It is just as sexually focused as the male centric games which is no way to build a stable lasting relationship.

 

[-|-]

It just reminds me of this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxzCupLAsfo

 

[DarkSpectre]

-snip

I laughed so hard at that. Right on the spot.

Also this statement here is really disturbing. Sounds like she has a real sick mind.
"I like to externalize my desires and fantasies in my games"
If this game reflects her fantasies then she has some serious issues. They put people in mental wards for fantasizing about murdering people. These are the kinds of people that cops keep an eye on. Because eventually fantasizing isn't enough.

 

[-|-]

Also this statement here is really disturbing. Sounds like she has a real sick mind.
"I like to externalize my desires and fantasies in my games"
If this game reflects her fantasies then she has some serious issues. They put people in mental wards for fantasizing about murdering people. These are the kinds of people that cops keep an eye on. Because eventually fantasizing isn't enough.

Nobody really thinks like that. She just so desperately wants attention and thinks this will shock people into giving her it. Maybe she's right and she'll get it, but it's all far too pathetically try hard to be (as you put it) cool or edgy.

 

[DarkSpectre]

It is true the vast majority of people don't think like this and would piss themselves if faced with actually life threatening situations, but that leaves us with either regarding her as a pretentious wanker or a severally sick person. I figure she is just trying to get attention, but still you shouldn't say things you don't mean.

 

[mfeff]

With Encyclopedia Fuckme, Anna tells me she explicitly aimed to move away from that sort of exploitive, unrealistic portrayal of interpersonal relations and female sexuality in particular.

Could of fooled me. No really, if this is her treatise on the "dating sim" it seems just as unrealistic as any portrayal of interpersonal relations and female sexuality as anything else out there.

As mentioned in the "Catherine" article prior to this, the "simulation" of the "dating sim" is a pretty outlandish stretch of the concept of a simulator and save a few examples are not "sims", this is not a "real sim".

"I like to externalize my desires and fantasies in my games, not just as a cruising mechanism."

No really... you don't say? Most of the bipeds on this planet externalize their desires and fantasies onto everything they encounter in life. It's projection, it's as common as air. Don't like something? Project! Perturbed by something... I got an idea... project! Arguably the digital short story here is "maybe" some form of neurotic coping mechanism, but is it integrated in a meaningful way?

Dunno, maybe in a certain light with enough booze and a dimly lit room... Certainly not to the extent as...

"In a community as desperately inbred as the one that surrounds videogames, I think it's important to confront potentially sheltered players with the fact that identity and sexuality are far broader than they may have assumed," she adds.

...would have me to believe. Videogames like any modern media is as inbred as any other. Movies, books, music, it is all just copies of other stuff... very little in the way of anything "new". The subtle "power" of femininity has been written about for over two thousand years.

...important to confront potentially sheltered players with the fact that identity and sexuality are far broader than they may have assumed?

A big statement maybe even one with a sense of moral or ethical imperative... but so what, if someone wants to dress up a doll and play house with a toy, by all means, be my guest!

This thing (short story) is a knock about, a "taking a piss" on a genre, perhaps more-so on the "people, real or imagined" that are fan's of the genre (as assumed by the author). Is it a mission accomplished? Does it reveal a "fact" about identity and sexuality? Maybe to the author it did, however, the author seems to put a lot of "identity value" in sexuality, and in that, has a sexualized identity.

I guess it works for her but where in that does the license become issued to confront sheltered players with much of anything, nevertheless sexuality and their (assumed) lack of depth on the topic?

Is not a part of the experience of becoming an adult (or sexual being) the experiential process of coming to terms with ones own sexuality in ones own way? To a degree maybe there is "something" here though the sheer weight of the misanthropy relegates this "education" as mere mediocre cynicism.

Perhaps that explains this very article to pick up the short fall of the work (short story) in question?

All things considered equal I would just assume lend a copy of "A Picture of Dorian Grey" than to encourage a play through of "this". 120 some-odd years old... suspiciously devoid of CAPS which, eh, may be a turn off for some folks.

 

[ms_sunlight]

Okay, here is what I say to all the commenters that say Anna Anthropy is a psycho or an attention whore or who say the game is sick.

This game was not written for you. I totally got it and it's fucking hilarious.

That is all.

 

[ms_sunlight]

Okay, here is what I say to all the commenters that say Anna Anthropy is a psycho or an attention whore or who say the game is sick.

This game was not written for you. I totally got it and it's fucking hilarious.

That is all.

The game isn't sick - it's pretentious. If you 'totally got it', then that says more about you than us.

Making it personal, eh? Classy.

What's pretentious about it, then? It's easy to throw that word about, but I'd say, on the contrary, the game is what it is - a schlocky, dirty little choose-your-own-adventure about sex and cannibalism. No pretention at all. If you understand the context and don't get the jokes, maybe it's not for you. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Gigano]

Well, good article, but what it concerns all seem amusingly contemptible. And no, not because it contain lesbian BDSM and gore porn, that aspect is perfectly fine.

What's wrong is that there are copious erotic text adventure games around already, many dealing with sex and sexuality far more controversial and niche than what's on display here, and many of them with excellent stories attached. So she's hardly breaking new ground here, yet seem to think she's revolutionizing what subject matter games have touched upon.

"In a community as desperately inbred as the one that surrounds videogames, I think it's important to confront potentially sheltered players with the fact that identity and sexuality are far broader than they may have assumed," she adds.

And because she's ignorant about the vast range and plurality of gaming culture, she's vilifying gamers as a bunch inbreed ignoramus, whom she - our local saviour and/or verbal dominatrix - have come to enlighten?

...riiiight.

Also, since fanfiction text adventure games tend to suck considerably more ass than your average anilingus aficionado on a particularly lucky night (...unless you're Gen Urobuchi, that is), she might want to reign in the criticism and salvation promises until she's actually combed through the market for sexually progressive text games and visual novels, and held her own creation up against them.

 

[-|-]

Making it personal, eh? Classy.

What's pretentious about it, then? It's easy to throw that word about, but I'd say, on the contrary, the game is what it is - a schlocky, dirty little choose-your-own-adventure about sex and cannibalism. No pretention at all. If you understand the context and don't get the jokes, maybe it's not for you. Nothing wrong with that.

Stop being so passive/aggressively patronizing. The 'game' is clearly pretentious:

"Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed"