Where Do You Take Your Virtual Girlfriend on a Romantic Getaway?
According to this WSJ article, you head to the Hotel Ohnoya in the resort town of Atami, Japan where men playing the Japanese dating simulation game, LovePlus+, can check in without discrimination or jokes about their girlfriend not being real.
LovePlus+ allows the men who play it to choose from three girls to be their steady girlfriends but just like a real relationship, this dating simulation requires lots of work. Played on the Nintendo DS, the men make sure they walk their girlfriend to school, send her flirtatious text messages and even carry on conversations using the device's microphone.
The boyfriend then earns "boyfriend power" points and if he earns enough, he and his lady can take a virtual trip to the resort town of Atami, once very popular with honeymooners.
Yet, it's this virtual trip that some "boyfriends" have been yearning to recreate in real life. And since Atami has been losing business in recent decades, they decided, "What the heck? Yes, let Japanese men and their virtual girlfriends come to visit us!" And it's working, frighteningly so.
At the real Hotel Ohnoya, which opened its doors in 1937, the staff is trained to check in Love Plus+ customers as couples even if there is only one actual guest. Says Atsurou Ohno, the hotel's managing director, "We try not to ask too many questions because we want them to be able to remain immersed in that game world."
Some devoted fans will go so far as to pay twice the rate—most hotels in Japan charge per guest not per room—to indulge the fantasy that they are not there alone. A night's stay, at most, can cost $500 though many rooms are cheaper.
However, the boyfriends may not have much time left to take their virtual girls on a trip to Atami. School is starting soon and the girls need to get their studies started! Oh well, there's always in-room train sets.
[Photo: HK-DMZ]
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