The bad news firstĭating sims have often been stigmatised due to generalisations and assumptions about who plays them and why. But we have to first acknowledge how it’s not all smooth sailing for everyone. Visual novels have helped me grow as a person, place more value in my own worth - and most significantly had a hand in easing me into functioning as a seemingly normal human being around others.

While my choices of first visual novel experiences were questionable considering my age at the time ( Dramatical Murder and Song of Saya were too hard to resist), the benefits of the genre are plentiful. A lot of this comes down to how visual novels are presented the often gorgeous visuals alongside their original soundtracks and voice acting make it so very easy to immerse yourself into their stories and world. I can count how many books I have read by myself on nothing more than my pair of hands (and out of them, In The Miso Soup and Kitchen are my favourites if you want some random recommendations) - and I am still proud of reading all those books to this day.Īnd yet, I have been a massive fan of visual novels since my teenage years. As someone who has struggled with dyslexia from an early age, reading was never that attractive of a hobby for me to ever consider. We’ll be discussing many genres of the medium, such as dating sims, otomes, and eroge - and much of what we’ll talk about here applies more broadly to gaming in general, not just visual novels. Then it got me thinking - how exactly do I benefit from how much time I put into all of these dating sims? The reasons for playing them are worth understanding, so let’s discuss how they impact and affect the people who play them - for both better and for worse.

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