SweetieGames

As usual, there’s been debate on social media about visual novels. When isn’t there? Previously on this blog, I discussed the notion that many people don’t consider visual novels to be games at all, and now, as is the norm for female centric games, people are separating otome games from the visual novel genre, dismissing them as they are purely for self inserting fantasies.

Many fans jumped to the defence of the otome game, as many otome players are as passionate about this underrated genre as I am. However, something caught my attention; the way the games were being defended. They’re not all self insert games! Look at this game, look at that game, their main characters are voiced! They’re distinct personalities! Not for self inserting!

It got me thinking about not only otome, but video games as a whole. Is self inserting into a game a bad thing? As the player, we literally have control over the characters we play as; their movements, their choices, their lives, so sometimes it can be difficult to separate the character from ourselves (unless that character does very questionable things without our input!)

Games are a hugely popular form of escapism. We can leave our worries in the real world behind when we get sucked into a game as we enter an entirely different world, whether that be through a character we’ve created or a pre-set character that we play as. Of course, we don’t all truly believe we are these characters, but there’s nothing shameful or embarrassing about admitting that for that time, you’re inserting yourself into that game. I think that’s part of the reason that games exist in the first place! Don’t you want to feel like you’re doing the cool stuff, rather than just watching someone else do it? Because if you weren’t to self insert, you’d just be watching another character doing something cool.

Some visual novels are built specifically for self inserting as you are in the real world, but I don’t think that makes them bad games. We’re all doing it to a degree when we play almost any game; looking for little pieces of ourselves in these characters, while also putting our real life aside to be fully involved in a story. If people dislike a game made for complete self inserting, then that’s fine; we all have our own taste! I personally enjoy putting myself in scenarios and thinking about what I would do in different situations. I don’t think anyone can deny that we don’t all self insert at least a little bit when playing some games. It’s virtually impossible to not bring a part of yourself to your choices and characters!