Forbes reports.
Super Seducer is a dating advice game that barely qualifies as a video game to begin with. The game is the product of 'dating guru' and author, Richard La Ruina, and is more a series of choose-your-response live-action vignettes than an actual video game. Super Seducer has been widely panned both for its sleaziness and, well, just for being a bad game....
I'm not saying we should censor pick-up artist blogs or burn their books or anything like that, but I do think bad ideas should be roundly and routinely mocked. But the PSN doesn't have to be home to games like this, or to porn games or any other games that Sony isn't comfortable having on its console. Ultimately, I guess it's hard for me to sympathize much with someone who makes a living exploiting women and lonely men. But I'm generally suspicious of 'self-help' gurus and motivational speakers to begin with, and dating gurus even more....
IN THE COMMENTS: themightypuck said:
In Japan, where Sony hails from, there are tons of creepy dating simulator games.
They pander to the Japanese and they pander to us. So they're not hypocrites. They're merchants.
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Why I love Althouse:
"...but I do think bad ideas should be roundly and routinely mocked."
Tell these PS4 computer geeks to get off the couch, drop their memory sticks, and go find real live women!
There used to be a game, back in the 1990s, called "Leisure Suit Larry." It sounded pretty similar.
In Japan, where Sony hails from, there are tons of creepy dating simulator games.
Why are they afraid of a computer game?
Suppose that, due to government regulation, the distribution of books through the web and physical stores, was an oligopoly of three privately own firms. Suppose that all three of them made a business decision not to sell certain books. Would that be censorship?
"Why I love Althouse: '...but I do think bad ideas should be roundly and routinely mocked.'"
That is like something I'd write, but I'm only quoting the article. Please don't miss the significance of the block and indent (or I'm in big trouble, maybe not here, but in sooo many places).
BAG: Tell these PS4 computer geeks to get off the couch, drop their memory sticks, and go find real live women!
Or at least go cull some wild boar.
Leisure Suit Larry was tongue-in-cheek and kinda funny. Emotionally handicapped guys who need pickup artist practice, however, won't suffer from having to look further than Sony to get it. Neither, of course, do people who have to shop around for their particular types of wedding cakes or whatever. Businesses too should have freedom of associaton. And as Althouse says, we have freedom to mock and scorn those whose choices call for it.
There are a couple videos at the link that make fun of the game. I was going to embed them, but go over and check them out if you want to laugh at the game.
I do have some empathy for men who just don't know how to appeal to women, but surely there are simply written articles with some good tips that aren't encouraging men to become "pickup artists."
I hear that “Affirmative Consent 2.0” will be released soon for Xbox. But it doesn’t have quite the following or popularity of the other games.
Richard La Ruina? Richard of the Ruin? Rick Rubble? Dick Wreck?
I think my favorite creepy Japanese dating simulator is Hatoful Boyfriend. It involves dating mutated pigeons. No, really.
“They pander to the Japanese and they pander to us. So they're not hypocrites. They're merchants.”
Do they pander to “us”, or the neo-Puritans among us? Certainly they’re not hypocrites, more probably just bad merchants who don’t know who their customers are. The numbers tend to support the thesis that neo-Puritans don’t buy much entertainment.
The world is filled with entertainment options that are not for me. However, I’m not autocratic enough to believe those options shouldn’t exist for others who do appreciate them.
"Do they pander to “us”, or the neo-Puritans among us?"
You can please everyone, but I'm sure they have their market research and are doing their best to make money. Doesn't mean they're making the best choices. I'm just assuming that they are trying. I think feminism is different -- arguably more advanced -- in the U.S. and we have stronger norms about avoiding misogyny.
we have stronger norms about avoiding misogyny.
If only we gave a shit about misandry.
Aw, who am I kidding..who cares about a bunch of splooge stooges.
Why do we equate success in dating women (pick up artists) with misogyny?
Isn't the whole point of being a successful PUA figuring out and giving women what they really desire?
PUAs treat dating like stamp collecting.
PUAs treat dating like stamp collecting.
In other words, they have different goals for dating from women, so they must be evil and wrong.
Men, as most male animals, evolved a drive to spread their genes as widely as possible.
Pretty sure most PUAs not looking to spread their genes around. Although if Trump administration birth control policies take effect maybe that will happen.
Pretty sure most PUAs not looking to spread their genes around
Women have been avoiding the consequences of sex lately also..so what?
Although if Trump administration birth control policies take effect maybe that will happen.
How would making birth control otc cause birth rates to go up?
Pretty sure most PUAs not looking to spread their genes around
PUAs are looking to satisfy their drive to have sex as often as possible with as many men as possible. The biological purpose of this drive is to spread your genes. Modern man has made it possible to have sex without dealing with pregnancy.
Static Ping said...
I think my favorite creepy Japanese dating simulator is Hatoful Boyfriend.
It involves dating mutated pigeons. No, really
If you're sufficiently woke, you play Katawa Shoujo. Literally "crippled girls"; all your choices are disabled or disfigured in some way. Your in-game character is as well, of course.
"Dating Sims" are a rich trove of Rule 34 compliance.
Has the author not been to Japan, or knows little to nothing of their culture, or the term hentai? Given his gender and age I find it difficult to believe that he hasn't at least sampled hentai online.
Sony isn't uncomfortable with sexual content, sex is ubiquitous in all its manifestations in Japan, from daytime soap operas, movies, classic artwork and literature, weird dating games, bodice-ripping romance to hard core erotic Manga and Anime. Printed in colored tabloid format and very cheap, erotic Manga is an immensely popular form and the Japanese read it everywhere...and of course thanks to the hapless Kurt Eichenwald, the now famous classic “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” by Hokusai has, ahem, penetrated American popular culture. [NSFW]
If I had to hazard a guess it is that Sony fears that a video game prohibition may be in the offering and are removing the low hanging fruit from their US platforms.
Given Japan's declining birth rate, and reported legions of unwed young adults who have sworn off the opposite sex, maybe seduction lessons is exactly what they need.
Ann Althouse said...
"You can please everyone..."
I'm pretty sure you meant "You can pleasure everyone". Or maybe "can't".
in the U.S. and we have stronger norms about avoiding misogyny.
it’s like Elizabethan England was on issues of social class here now on the issue of “avoiding misogyny.” In those days, if a person of “noble” birth ran into someone on the street who offended him, he could beat him with a cane on the spot.
I do have some empathy for men who just don’t know how to appeal to women,
Instead, we got to learn about women and what women want through feminist texts like “Fear of Flying.”
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