Why An Otaku Date Help Game Is A Vital Public Service

We first encountered the Uncanny Valley principle in my interview with otou-san about nothing in particular, which turned out to be insightful and changing of my way of thinking forever. But how does it relate to otome/visual novel games, and other related/more advanced Artificial Intelligence media? Well, it relates a lot, because the Virtual Woman program creeped me out about how realistic it is. By realistic I mean in in terms of “girls don’t like me in real life, just like in this simulator, what a revolutionary discovery in AI!”. Let’s see how Virtual Woman stacks up to a visual novel…

Love Hina Advance is a good favorite of mine, but it’s more of an interactive dating sim than a visual novel or an actual AI human simulator. It also does not creep me out anywhere near as much as Virtual Woman does. Kitsune may get drunk, Naru may beat me up, but they don’t make comments at you like “Would you hug your computer?” like Virtual Woman does. What makes the Uncanny Valley deeper is that each time you create a Virtual Woman with the program, they all have their own different quirks. Unfortunately one Virtual Woman I created in the game had an unhealthy obsession with dentists, and I was afraid she would try to rape me after I claimed I was a dentist in the game, just to break the ice. Another tried to turn me vegetarian, and was offended when I told her that I thought vegetarians were controlling.

Yeah, a video game woman made me feel guilty about offending her. This is what happens when you’re a struggling SNAG (Aussie lingo alert: SNAG means Sensitive New Age Guy, one of the most evil media inventions since Newscorp). Let it be known, throughout heaven, hell, purgatory, limbo, and all the crazy places like Yuggoth where the Outer Gods came from, this game has creeped me out more than Doom 3 and the Resident Evil series combined. But at the same time I see technology that could be used as a greater good for society, if it was adapted in a different form.

This image is stereotypical of otaku visual novel gamers, but I believe this stereotype can change. But hopefully, with change will come a real tsundere supporting the gamer in a healthy relationship.

What society, and the otaku subculture needs, is an Otaku Date Help Game. Not just a simple otome style dating simulator, but an actual Date Help game that blends Virtual Woman’s developed AI with building the social skills of confused young men who don’t know how to talk to a woman by using a cute Anime girl as practice. As the game progresses, a “realistic 3D woman” mode of play could be unlocked once the lessons of basic courtesy to women and manners are learned, as well as respecting her personal space. Instead of the usual moe reactions of shock to ecchi pick up lines, what the modern otaku male needs to learn is that real dating isn’t like that. Women don’t like to be objectified in real life, and neither should they be in a Dating Help game.

I dream of a world where instead of being confused about where to start about seeing a real woman in a relationship, they can combine real world friend’s advice and a Dating Help game which teaches impressionable young men that while you can be happy single, a relationship outside of a 2D Complex with a real woman can be rewarding beyond anything that can be imagined in just a silly Otome game with limited realism and choices. Virtual Woman may be a creepy game, but it’s a start for developers to get on board with a new style of Adult Education games for socially isolated individuals who want something more out of their lives in the world.

But who would design such a game? Will Wright might be up to the task, but he’s busy with Spore right now. A mixed team of male and female game designers and relationship counselors could come together and make this dream a reality. This game wouldn’t just help Otaku, but even ordinary non-geeks who might have a social disability or anxiety about talking to girls (real ones that is), could use the game too. But whether the game would be a hit or not is up to the otaku gamers themselves, would they be willing to have their sometimes unhealthy expectations about women criticised?