Introduction
On the evening of May 4th, 2024, the mini exhibition on Japanese romance games opened in the Finnish Museum of Games in Tampere. I have had the pleasure of being the curator of this exhibition.
The background of this exhibition stems from my own research. I research how video games facilitate emotional and monetary investment in game characters. This means that I basically wonder how games encourage players to like – or even fall in love with — game characters so that players spend money on these beings. As a Japanologist, I am especially interested in how games from Japan influence video games globally. Many well-known game franchises come from Japan, like Mario Super Smash. Bros and The Legend of Zelda from Nintendo or the Final Fantasy series from Square Enix. Japanese game characters, like Link, Zelda, Maria, Pacman, or Cloud, have become global household characters. Almost everyone will have heard of them.
When I started my research, I wanted to study Japanese romance games (ren’ai gēmu), because Japan has a big market of romance games that let players create romantic relationships with characters, most of which are rarely ever translated outside of East Asia. The focus of my research switched a bit over the years but the idea of Japanese romance games persisted: two years ago, I approached Niklas Nylund, researcher at the Finnish Museum of Games in Tampere, with the idea to make a temporary exhibition on Japanese romance games. From then on, we collaborated on the making of the exhibition, with Niklas as the producer and me as the curator.
Why an exhibition on Japanese romance games?
One reason why I find it so important to look at Japanese romance games is that they represent a different kind of game than what is commonly associated with video games. Even those who do not play games might know Minecraft, Fortnite, or Fifa. Some might even know certain Japanese game series like The Legend of Zelda or The Final Fantasy series, but rarely will people be familiar with titles such as Hātoful Boyfriend, Tokimeki Memorial, or Angelique. I wished to put these games in the spotlight, because they show that gaming also includes romantic story games with simple gameplay and lots of text.
The exhibition is divided into three themes: otome games (romance games for women), bishōjo games (romance games for men), and transcultural influences. The otome and bishōjo themes will tell you how Japanese romance games work, the history and cultural relevance of the genres, and their role in Japan’s larger media mix franchises. The theme of transcultural influences will tell you about how Japanese games have influenced games in the other East Asian and Western game industries, such as queer indie dating simulators like Dream Daddy, the gacha game Genshin Impact from China, or the hit game of the year 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3.
Research inspiration
Something I like to point out specifically is that the exhibition is inspired by prior research. In academic works, it is required that we cite those whose work we borrow for our research, but for the format of an exhibition in a museum, readability takes precedence over proper citations so that the public can easily understand the topic. That meant I was not able to cite those academics whose work consciously inspired the Japanese romance games exhibition. Therefore, I wish to give a proper shout-out here to Sarah Christina Ganzon (2018), Leticia Andlauer (2019), Nicolle Lamerichs (2014), and Susana Tosca and Lisbeth Klastrup (2019) whose works have informed the texts that visitors read on the walls. If you have become curious about the academic side of Japanese romance games, check out some of their works listed below.
I also did research on the topic myself, which is visible in my book Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling (2023). In this book, I stress the importance of researching game characters, because I consider them the reason why consumers are so invested in popular culture nowadays. Especially relationships with (game) characters – whether they be romantic or platonic — have become increasingly important for players to engage with video games. Romance games, like the ones from Japan, are important ways to create such relationships because the games themselves often acknowledge the relationship. Based on their in-game choices, players might see their favourite characters in different ways depending on how the games’ stories play out, and thus, these games are often very meaningful to a small, but dedicated player community. If you are interested, the digital version of the book is freely available on the website of the Amsterdam University Press.
Are people interested?
I had no doubts that the exhibition’s topic would gain traction; people who like games –especially video games — are often interested in Japanese popular culture as well. We know that in Finland 65,1% of the population actively plays digital games on a regular basis (Kinnunen, Tuomela and Mäyrä 2022). Tampere alone is home to several (board) game- and Japan-related stores, and the city regularly houses several conferences on (Japanese) popular culture. For example, Kotae Expo, Comic Con, or Gingacon either were or are going to be hosted in Tampere in 2024. That is to say, I knew there would be public interest.
It was therefore a pleasure to be approached by Viktoria Murskaja from Animelehti, the Finnish magazine on anime and manga, for an interview. She, and others, were surprised by the sudden appearance of an exhibition such as this one, because although Japanese popular culture is nowadays globally well spread, romance games from Japan are such a niche that still not many are familiar with them. Viktora was interested to know how and why the mini exhibition on Japanese romance games suddenly appeared and approached me. The interview was conducted in English and then translated by Viktoria to Finnish. For those who are curious, it can be read online.
The Japanese Romance Games exhibition will be open until November 10th, 2024.
Bio and contact
Dr. Joleen Blom is a University Lecturer at the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies and at the Game Research Lab at Tampere University. She is the author of Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling published by the Amsterdam University Press. Her research interests include transmedia storytelling, Japanese games and culture, characters, and para-social relationships and intimacy through technology and media.
Contact: johanna.blom@tuni.fi
Photo credit: Elina Koskinen
References
Andlauer, L. (2019). Pursuing One’s Own Prince: Love’s Fantasy in Otome Game Contents and Fan Practice. Mechademia Second Arc: Childhood 11(1): 166–83. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/mech.11.1.0166
Blom, J. (2023). Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling: The Dynamic Game Character. Amsterdam University Press. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/76516
Ganzon, S. C. (2018). Investing Time for Your In-Game Boyfriends and BFFs: Time as Commodity and the Simulation of Emotional Labor in Mystic Messenger. Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media 14(2): 139–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412018793068
Kinnunen, J., Tuomela, M. & Mäyrä, F. (2022). Pelaajabarometri 2022 [The Finnish Player Barometer 2022]: Kohti Uutta Normaalia. 31. TRIM Research Reports. Tampere University. https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/144376
Lamerichs, N. (2014). Romancing Pigeons: The Deconstruction of the Dating-Sim in Hatoful Boyfriend. Well-Played: A Journal on Video Games, Value and Meaning 3(2): 43–61. https://nicollelamerichs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2014-lamerichs.pdf
Tosca, S. & Klastrup, L. (2019). Transmedial Worlds in Everyday Life: Networked Reception, Social Media and Fictional Worlds. Routledge.