Posts tagged dating sims

Visual novels are a medium, like literature, film, or games. It is a recent medium, a hybrid of games and literature, but does not stand apart from either one.

Dating sims are a genre, like first person shooters, romantic comedies, or military thrillers. Dating sims can be games, or visual novels. If someone writes a CYOA book on romance, it could probably exist under the medium of literature as well.

Please note that genres and media are orthogonal — that is, they vary independently from each other. The medium is the form that something takes. The genre is the style (or styles) of the content of that something.

Just so we’re clear, visual novels are not necessarily dating sims. In fact, most VNs involving relationships aren’t, seeing as the criteria for a dating sim includes management of relationship statistics. So please, journalists, stop confusing the two.