No need to choose who’s the best girl when you can let brain activity sensors make the selection for you.
Whether it’s openly stated or not, one of the big appeals of dating simulators is that they make it a lot easier to find a romantic partner. Load up the game, and you can be sure of meeting a host of attractive singles; all that you have to do is choose which one to pursue.
Actually, you won’t even have to worry about that last step if you’re playing a new dating simulator that’s scheduled to be exhibited at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. That’s because the video game plays one-to-one matchmaker by reading your mind.
In Noha Love Checker (“Brainwave Love Checker”), players don a VR headset, attached to which are sensors that measure your brainwaves. After being introduced to the cast of eligible female characters, the game analyzes your mental activity to determine who you’re most interested in, whether consciously or not, and sets you up on a virtual date with her.
If you’re inclined to take an optimistic view of the concept, you could argue that the game has potential benefits in helping players determine the true nature of their wants and needs in a relationship. By taking the direct decision out of your hands it ostensibly makes the pairing based only on your thoughts and feelings, thus removing social stigmas or pressures from the process. On the other hand, detractors might say that removing anything resembling effort from the proceedings encourages unhealthy, unrealistic expectations about being owed the girlfriend of your dreams. And in the extreme case, should the algorithm prove less than effective in measuring one’s preferences, a player could end up trapped on a date with a virtual girlfriend he has no actual desire to spend any time with, driving home how unpleasant swimming in the dating pool can be and driving him further away from real-world companionship.
Whether it’s any of those, or just be an offbeat application of developing technology, is something attendees will be able to decide for themselves at the Dentsu Science Jam booth at the Tokyo Game Show, which runs from September 15 to 18.
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s wondering if the dinosaur from Dactyl Nightmare will be one of the available routes in Noha Love Checker.
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