Korean Job Discussion Forums

[madoka]

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/man-marries-a-videogame/1376577

I now pronounce you husband and what?!

In another sign that the world is about to collapse, multiple blogs are reporting that a fan of the Nintendo DS dating sim Love Plus (you know, the really creepy one) liked his virtual lady so much that he decided to marry her. For real.

Apparently, a Japanese gamer known as 'Sal9000' was officially wed to Nene Anegasaki, one of the game's three virtual girlfriends, in what must have been the weirdest ceremony in the history of ceremonies. We can only assume that Ms. Pac-Man was the maid of honor.

While the two aren't planning a honeymoon -- after all, one of them is a VIDEO GAME -- they did hold a small 'reception' in Japan for friends, family and the media, indicating that this is most likely little more than the looniest video game publicity stunt we've seen in some time.

[Tundra_Creature]

I'm surprised it wasn't done earlier! Either way, that's pretty... weird. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy video games, and I've (embaressingly enough) played dating sims for girls before, but honestly? If I got THAT obbsessed? Feel free to label me a freak.

That being said, at least there is something humanistic about this computer program and not the Eiffel Tower as some of you may remember.

[Fox]

Someday, I hope the charming yet capable Ms. Samus Aran will consent to be my wife.

[Kaypea]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

These zany kids with their wacky modern ways. In my day men married Jessica Rabbit, and we liked it!

[Tundra_Creature]

[Deep Thirteen]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME JAPAN??

[bixlerscott]

He married a Nintendo game! LMAO! What next? A pvc vinyl skirt suit clad size 2W robot bride? RLMAO! Yes, they are making them for real.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=091ugdiojEM Pretty hawt tech gear.

These dayz a video game character can have a real person operating it's behavior with the online gaming though I don't have the time to devote to games like Dragon Age and World of Warcraft. This is why some of your elementary students say terrible things in perfect English, but don't seem to know what they are saying. It's possible you could meat someone in a game just as people often do via the internet.

As a teen I used to devote entire weekends to gaming that took me as far from reality of the present time in a boring small rural town. I too got married to video game characters a countless number of times only for my newly wedded brides to be stolen and held hostage by evil bad guys I ended up hunting down and beating each time.

[Jeonmunka]

Yeah, and when they split up the husband has to give half his assets and wealth to, Sony.

[Sergio Stefanuto]

I've always really fancied Lilli from Tekken 6

[madoka]

[.38 Special]

Ah, I'm totally going to marry Tifa. Go fork yourself, Cloud. I'm gonna get pixel freakeh

[Goku]

[Tundra_Creature]

[madoka]

Oh those wacky Japanese:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26FOB-2DLove-t.html?_r=2&em

Nisan didn�t mean to fall in love with Nemutan. Their first encounter � at a comic-book convention that Nisan�s gaming friends dragged him to in Tokyo � was serendipitous. Nisan was wandering aimlessly around the crowded exhibition hall when he suddenly found himself staring into Nemutan�s bright blue eyes. In the beginning, they were just friends. Then, when Nisan got his driver�s license a few months later, he invited Nemutan for a ride around town in his beat-up Toyota. They went to a beach, not far from the home he shares with his parents in a suburb of Tokyo. It was the first of many road trips they would take together. As they got to know each other, they traveled hundreds of miles west � to Kyoto, Osaka and Nara, sleeping in his car or crashing on friends� couches to save money. They took touristy pictures under cherry trees, frolicked like children on merry-go-rounds and slurped noodles on street corners. Now, after three years together, they are virtually inseparable. �I�ve experienced so many amazing things because of her,� Nisan told me, rubbing Nemutan�s leg warmly. �She has really changed my life.�

Nemutan doesn�t really have a leg. She�s a stuffed pillowcase � a 2-D depiction of a character, Nemu, from an X-rated version of a PC video game called Da Capo, printed on synthetic fabric. In the game, which is less a game than an interactive visual novel about a schoolyard romance, Nemu is the loudmouthed little sister of the main character, whom she calls nisan, or �big brother,� a nickname Nisan adopted as his own when he met Nemu. When I joined the couple for lunch at their favorite all-you-can-eat salad bar in the Tokyo suburb of Hachioji, he insisted on being called only by this new nickname, addressing his body-pillow girlfriend using the suffix �tan� to show how much he adored her. Nemutan is a teenager and wears a little blue bikini and gold ribbons in her hair. Nisan knows she�s not real, but that hasn�t stopped him from loving her just the same. �Of course she�s my girlfriend,� he said, widening his eyes as if shocked by the question. �I have real feelings for her.�

He knows it�s weird for a grown man to be so obsessed with a video-game character, but he just can�t imagine life without Nemutan. �When I die, I want to be buried with her in my arms.�

Nisan is part of a thriving subculture of men and women in Japan who indulge in real relationships with imaginary characters. These 2-D lovers, as they are called, are a subset of otaku culture� the obsessive fandom that has surrounded anime, manga and video games in Japan in the last decade. It�s impossible to say exactly what portion of otaku are 2-D lovers, because the distinction between the two can be blurry. Like most otaku, the majority of 2-D lovers go to work, pay rent, hang out with friends (some are even married). Unlike most otaku, though, they have real romantic feelings for their toys. The less extreme might have a hidden collection of figurines based on anime characters that they go on �dates� with during off hours. A more serious 2-D lover, like Nisan, actually believes that a lumpy pillow with a drawing of a prepubescent anime character on it is his girlfriend.

According to many who study the phenomenon, the rise of 2-D love can be attributed in part to the difficulty many young Japanese have in navigating modern romantic life. According to a government survey, more than a quarter of unmarried men and women between the ages of 30 and 34 are virgins; 50 percent of men and women in Japan said they were not �going out with anybody.�