日本女性迷上“白馬王子”愛情游戲

Japanese women enamored of "Mr Right" love game apps

中國日報網 2012-12-19 08:56

The "love games", which can be played on smart phones, are especially popular with working single women in their 30s who feel they don't have the time or energy for a real relationship due to their demanding work schedule.

After being saved from kidnapping, you discover you're the daughter of the prime minister and your life is in imminent danger. You are introduced to a handful of handsome bodyguards, and must decide who you want to protect you 24 hours a day.

That's the scenario for one of several role-playing "love games" currently popular in Japan, allowing women to safely spend time with their choice of Mr. Right without actually dealing with a live person - even as marriage rates in Japan fall.

"In the game, you're the lone woman, and the attention of all the guys is on you," said "han-kura," a 37-year-old office worker who uses that alias on a blog dedicated to these games.

The role-playing games are based on characters typical of Japanese manga comics, with all the men slender and elegant. The player becomes the heroine and chooses an ideal mate from several "knight in shining armor" characters, developing a relationship through the choices they make in the storyline.

The games, which can be played on smart phones, are especially popular with working single women in their 30s who feel they don't have the time or energy for a real relationship due to their demanding work schedule, said Kana Shimada, a novelist who writes about modern women and relationships.

"It may be virtual, but if it's ‘a boyfriend from a game,' then you can enjoy it whenever you want," said Shimada. "The games that make you feel the ups and downs of a real relationship have all the elements to get women hooked."

The video game industry has always had a strong male following, but it seems to have found a way to finally capitalize on female users. The sector based on such love simulation games grew by 30.4% with 14.6 billion yen ($177.3 million) in sales in 2011, according to Yano Research Institute.

The games come in several episodes, each costing around 500 yen ($5.98).

The growth of smart phones has had a hand in this popularity through their portability and privacy, said Nozomi Wada, an editor at AppBank, a website that reviews apps.

"The biggest reason for its popularity is that users like myself can play it secretly in the palm of our hands without other people noticing it," said "han-kura."

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(Agencies)

在被從綁匪手中救出來后，你發現你居然是首相的女兒，而你的生命岌岌可危。你經介紹認識了幾個英俊的保鏢，你必須決定自己想讓誰一天24小時保護你。

這是日本當前流行的角色扮演“愛情游戲”設定的其中一個情境。該游戲讓女性能和自己選擇的白馬王子安全地共度時光，而不用和活生生的真人打交道。盡管日本結婚率一直在下降，但是這一游戲卻很受歡迎。

一位在游戲博客中化名為han-kura的37歲的辦公室職員說：“在游戲中，你是唯一一個女人，所有男人的目光都在你身上?！?/p>

這種角色扮演游戲基于日本漫畫典型人物，所有的男人都身材修長、風度翩翩。玩家成為女主角，從幾個“身穿閃亮盔甲的騎士”中選擇一個理想對象，然后按自己選擇的故事情節發展出一段感情關系。

一位以現代女性和情感關系為題材的小說家島田加奈說，這個游戲可以在智能手機上玩，在那些因為工作日程緊張覺得自己沒有時間或精力談一場真正戀愛的三十多歲的單身職業女性當中特別受歡迎。

島田說：“這也許是虛擬的，但如果是‘游戲里的男友’，那么你隨時都可以讓他陪你談戀愛。這個游戲會讓你感受到一段真實的戀愛關系中的起起伏伏，擁有所有讓女人著迷的戀愛要素?！?/p>

電子游戲產業總是有強大的男性粉絲群，但它似乎終于找到了從女用戶身上吸金的方法。根據矢野經濟研究所的數據，基于這種愛情模擬游戲的產業領域2011年的銷售額增加了30.4%，即146億日元（合1.773億美元）。

這種游戲有幾個系列，每個系列價格約為500日元（合5.98美元）。

給應用程序作評論的AppBank網站的編輯和田希說，日益普及的智能手機因其便攜性和隱私性也助長了這種電子游戲的流行。

Han-kura說：“這種電子游戲流行的最大原因是像我這樣的用戶可以偷偷地在我們的掌心玩，不讓其他人注意到?！?/p>