Virtual girlfriends

Virtual romance is an interesting phenomenon. News last year of a man marrying his virtual girlfriend in Japan was very bizarre to me and probably to most people.

However Love Plus, Japan’s popular dating game is catching on since its release last September. It is a dating game which enables players to already be in a relationship with a virtual girl with the goal of building a long-term relationship with her. It is particularly different from other games as one fan comments “it’s fun because the relationship continues forever”.

Players communicate with their virtual girlfriends through voice recognition technology with attempts to make players feel they are sharing their lives with a girlfriend.

Last month in MX, there was some news about encouraging Love Plus players to visit Atami (which is near Tokyo) and go on a holiday with their virtual girlfriends. According to Yahoo News, Atami had a campaign from July to August with specially barcoded areas which enabled men to take photos with their smartphones and bring their virtual girlfriends to life. The local hotel also had barcoded areas which allowed men to see their virtual girlfriends in kimonos.

This is a really bizarre game as it attempts to blur the line between fantasy and reality. Although Love Plus is only available in Japan, it may be mainstream a few years down the track and it raises a lot of questions regarding its feasibility and morality. What it clearly does prove however is that there is the possibility in Japan of replacing romance with technology.