Ask John: Why Aren’t Japanese Dating Sim Games Popular in America?

Question:
Whether it be hentai, or clean, dating sims, from what I’ve heard, are quite popular in Japan, and amongst otaku. People like the character development, the realism, the connection they feel to the show. It’s just like how people get addicted to MMORPGs. With the exception of hentai dating sims, you never see any real dating sims coming out in America, or at least they aren’t that popular. Why do Americans generally not like dating sims?

Answer:
I may be totally wrong with my theory, but I believe that the popularity of dating and love simulation games in Japan is a result of the unique attributes of Japanese culture. Likewise, life sim games are not popular in America specifically because the priorities and psyche of American culture is entirely opposite of Japan’s. Unlike in America, where anything animated is considered suitable primarily for children, Japanese culture adheres to a more open minded attitude that fantasy represents fictional characters in a fictional world but doesn’t intrinsically mandate a suitable target age. So while in America comic books are for children, in Japan comic books are fiction just as suitable for grown adults as novels or film. Also, in American culture the development of individual personality is valued and encouraged. In Japanese culture, the individual is a part of the whole so individual expression is limited by social pressure. Furthermore the American educational system is loosely seen as an environment that cultivates interpersonal relationships and social communication skills. Japan’s rigid educational system emphasises academic education over social education and relationship development.

The result of these characteristics of Japanese culture are citizens not always adept at social interaction living in a society that has few taboos about fictional substitutes for real life social interaction. The literate nature of linear developing character and story in role playing games and life simulations appeals to the Japanese obsession with reading and immersing the self in fictional, textual relationships. For some Japanese natives, dating simulations offer a genuine alternative to real life dating. A dating simulation video game is safe and reassuring and idealized, unlike the uncertainty of dealing with another living human. For other Japanese gamers, dating simulation games offer a distracting and entertaining interactive luxury. Life sims are engaging and involving like a novel, but interactive in a way books are not.

On the other hand, American culture doesn’t generally acknowledge the comforting, relaxing and entertaining possibilities of love simulation games. For Americans, dating sim anime are discounted as just a crutch for the socially inept. Furthermore, Americans used to kinetic and frenetic video games are likely to find the static images and plodding pace of life sim games rather dull because they don’t offer the instant gratification or visual/aural stimulation that other types of video games do. For Japanese love simulation games to become successful and popular in America, they not only have to overcome the tremendous number of sales video games in America need to achieve to be financially viable, they have to overcome American perceptions that such games aren’t necessarily a dispensation for introverts who fear socialization, and counteract the American presumption that socializing should only be done between real, living people and not between humans and inanimate objects.