日本女性迷上“白马王子”爱情游戏

After being saved from kidnapping, you discover you're the daughter of the prime minister and your life is in imminent danger. You are introduced to a handful of handsome bodyguards, and must decide who you want to protect you 24 hours a day.

That's the scenario for one of several role-playing "love games" currently popular in Japan, allowing women to safely spend time with their choice of Mr. Right without actually dealing with a live person - even as marriage rates in Japan fall.

"In the game, you're the lone woman, and the attention of all the guys is on you," said "han-kura," a 37-year-old office worker who uses that alias on a blog dedicated to these games.

The role-playing games are based on characters typical of Japanese manga comics, with all the men slender and elegant. The player becomes the heroine and chooses an ideal mate from several "knight in shining armor" characters, developing a relationship through the choices they make in the storyline.

The games, which can be played on smart phones, are especially popular with working single women in their 30s who feel they don't have the time or energy for a real relationship due to their demanding work schedule, said Kana Shimada, a novelist who writes about modern women and relationships.

"It may be virtual, but if it's ‘a boyfriend from a game,' then you can enjoy it whenever you want," said Shimada. "The games that make you feel the ups and downs of a real relationship have all the elements to get women hooked."

The video game industry has always had a strong male following, but it seems to have found a way to finally capitalize on female users. The sector based on such love simulation games grew by 30.4% with 14.6 billion yen ($177.3 million) in sales in 2011, according to Yano Research Institute.

The games come in several episodes, each costing around 500 yen ($5.98).

The growth of smart phones has had a hand in this popularity through their portability and privacy, said Nozomi Wada, an editor at AppBank, a website that reviews apps.

"The biggest reason for its popularity is that users like myself can play it secretly in the palm of our hands without other people noticing it," said "han-kura."

在被从绑匪手中救出来后，你发现你居然是首相的女儿，而你的生命岌岌可危。你经介绍认识了几个英俊的保镖，你必须决定自己想让谁一天24小时保护你。

这是日本当前流行的角色扮演“爱情游戏”设定的其中一个情境。该游戏让女性能和自己选择的白马王子安全地共度时光，而不用和活生生的真人打交道。尽管日本结婚率一直在下降，但是这一游戏却很受欢迎。

一位在游戏博客中化名为han-kura的37岁的办公室职员说：“在游戏中，你是唯一一个女人，所有男人的目光都在你身上。”

这种角色扮演游戏基于日本漫画典型人物，所有的男人都身材修长、风度翩翩。玩家成为女主角，从几个“身穿闪亮盔甲的骑士”中选择一个理想对象，然后按自己选择的故事情节发展出一段感情关系。

一位以现代女性和情感关系为题材的小说家岛田加奈说，这个游戏可以在智能手机上玩，在那些因为工作日程紧张觉得自己没有时间或精力谈一场真正恋爱的三十多岁的单身职业女性当中特别受欢迎。

岛田说：“这也许是虚拟的，但如果是‘游戏里的男友’，那么你随时都可以让他陪你谈恋爱。这个游戏会让你感受到一段真实的恋爱关系中的起起伏伏，拥有所有让女人着迷的恋爱要素。”

电子游戏产业总是有强大的男性粉丝群，但它似乎终于找到了从女用户身上吸金的方法。根据矢野经济研究所的数据，基于这种爱情模拟游戏的产业领域2011年的销售额增加了30.4%，即146亿日元（合1.773亿美元）。

这种游戏有几个系列，每个系列价格约为500日元（合5.98美元）。

给应用程序作评论的AppBank网站的编辑和田希说，日益普及的智能手机因其便携性和隐私性也助长了这种电子游戏的流行。

Han-kura说：“这种电子游戏流行的最大原因是像我这样的用户可以偷偷地在我们的掌心玩，不让其他人注意到。”