Slashdot Mirror
Resort Attracts Men With Virtual Girlfriends
disco_tracy writes "Long a favorite of lovers and honeymooners, a Japanese beach town with fading sparkle has found a new tourism niche in the wired age. A resort based on a game called 'Love Plus,' encourages players to develop long-term relationships with virtual women. From the article: 'Local souvenir shops in the resort town have caught on and capitalized on the love-struck new clientele, selling Love Plus-themed souvenirs, from good-luck charms to steamed buns and fish sausages. The local Ohnoya hotel even offers traditional rooms to the unusual couples, which feature two sets of futon beds and another barcode panel that allows the men to visualize their girlfriends in a flattering summer kimono.'"
That's just the problem. A Japanese wife is too good for the target audience of this game. Just like us, Japan has no shortage of pudgy, sweaty, repugnant turbo nerds who repel any decent girl with their offensive BO and even more offensive sexual proclivities. Hence the need for a virtual girlfriend, a computer entity which always reacts in the same sweet way and doesn't care what kind of pig you are.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Like most things, I think it would depend on the woman. I've met more than a few women that get extremely upset when they realize their man has a porn collection and the willingness to use it ("What, am I not good enough for you?!"). I've also met more than a few women that just write it off as "boys will be boys", and a subset of those that watch and enjoy the porn with the guys.
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd assume that those that get upset about porn would get extremely upset about the robot sex slave, those that write porn off as "boys will be boys" might get a bit uncomfortable about the robot (there's a fine line between "porn's on the TV" and "my guy is with a robotic sex toy") but may or may not keep their discomfort to themselves, and those that watch and enjoy the porn will be arranging robotic threesomes, assuming they don't already have matching male sex robots to play with.
Who mods this crap up? Japan's colonization of neighbouring countries and wars of aggression were not about venting - what they were about is far too long to get into in a slashdot post. Japanese culture is no more boring or hive-like than American culture.