日本的戀愛游戲應用越來越受女性青睞。有人甚至已經把游戲當成了一種“戀愛替代品”，她們在游戲中不僅能夠填補前任離去所帶來的空虛，還能夠“獲得”現實中很難得到的完美情人。

When Ayumi Saito was 22 she broke up with her boyfriend.
來自東京的亞由美西戶22歲時和男朋友分手了。

But the Tokyo resident found an easy way to fill the void left by her ex lover's departure.
但她發現了一個簡單方法，能填補前任離開后的空虛感。

She downloaded a romance gaming app onto her phone, and became one of the millions of women in Japan to swap real life intimacy for a fantasy.
她下載了一款戀愛手游，成為數百萬日本女性玩家中的一員，用幻想替代現實親密關系。

"I felt lonely," says Ito, now 31. "Japanese men are shy and not good at flattering women. But girls want to hear 'I love you'."
今年31歲的亞由美西戶說：“我感到孤獨，日本男人很靦腆，也不會對女生說甜言蜜語。但女生想聽到‘我愛你’?！?/p>

The virtual boyfriends she found in games like "Metro PD: Close To You" -- which sees a female detective discover a life-changing romance while fighting crime -- did all the things her former partner hadn't.
在戀愛游戲《Metro PD: Close To You》中，一位女偵探在探案時收獲了一段改變人生的戀情。亞由美西戶在這個游戲中找到了自己的虛擬男友，他能做所有她前任不會做的事。

"When I was tired at the end of the day, before going to sleep, I was so relieved to hear his sweet and gentle words," she tells CNN.
她對CNN表示，“辛苦了一整天后，在睡前聽到他溫柔的甜言蜜語，我感覺疲勞一掃而空?！?/p>

Saito is by no means unusual.
像西戶小姐這樣的女性不在少數。

In 2014, the romance gaming industry in Japan was worth $130 million.
2014年，日本戀愛游戲產業的市值為1.3億美元。

In a society where 44.2% of women - almost half of Japan's millennial singles aged between 18 and 34 - are virgins, this industry has seemingly tapped into a deep desire for simulated intimacy in Japan.
在日本，18至34歲的千禧一代單身人士中有44.2%的女性是處女，這幾乎占了半數。戀愛游戲行業似乎正是利用了這一人群對虛擬親密關系的強烈需求。

The birth of romance gaming
浪漫游戲的誕生

Dating simulation apps first appeared in Japan in the 1980s. Known as "bishoujo" they would generally focus on a male protagonist pursuing pretty anime-style female characters.
20世紀80年代，虛擬約會游戲首次在日本出現。這種“美少女游戲”的內容一般都圍繞著一個男主人公對動漫美女角色的追求。

In 1994, a team of female coders at Japanese gaming company Koei broke with tradition, launching the first romance game for women, "Angelique". Based on the quest of a blonde teenage girl, who is a candidate to be the next "Queen of the Universe", to choose her perfect suitor, it was wildly successful.
1994年，日本光榮公司的一群女程序員打破常規，推出了首款針對女性的戀愛游戲《伯爵夫人》。這款游戲是為一名金發碧眼的少女尋找完美戀人，她是下一任“宇宙女王”的候選人。游戲大獲成功。

Japanese businesswoman Nanako Higashi and her husband, Yuzi Tsutani, saw a niche in this lucrative sector. So, in the mid-2000s the duo pivoted their punk gaming business, Voltage, to cater to the female audience, debuting their first dating app for women "My Lover is The No.1 Host" in 2006.
日本女商人菜菜子和她的老公津谷從這個有利可圖的行業看到了商機。因此，這對夫婦在2005年前后成立了Voltage公司，以迎合女性受眾的另類游戲為其核心業務，并于2006年發布了其首款虛擬約會應用《我的愛人是第一男公關》。

Today, Voltage is a world leader in female romance simulation apps, catering to female "otaku" -- intense fans of popular culture, such as anime and manga -- and other curious women.
如今，Voltage成了女性向戀愛游戲的全球領先企業，為女性御宅族（動漫等流行文化的發燒友）和其他對此感興趣的女性服務。

"It doesn't matter what your type of male would be, you'll find a man that you'll really like (in these games)," says Kukhee Choo, assistant professor of comparative culture at Sophia University, in Tokyo.
東京索菲亞大學的比較文化學助理教授Kukhee Choo稱，“不論你是何種口味，都可以在這些游戲中找到自己喜歡的類型?！?/p>

"What's unique about the female romance genre is that there are so many men in each game," says Choo, noting that few female characters aside from the protagonist are introduced.
“女性向戀愛游戲的獨特之處就在于每款游戲中都有很多的男性角色，”他說，除了女主角，游戲中很少會加入其他女性角色。

"The strong and selfish men are the most popular," says Higashi. "The most popular characters are strong on the outside and only sometimes sweet for you."
菜菜子發現，“強勢自私的男人是最受歡迎的，他們外表強悍，只會偶爾對你溫柔。”

Vocabulary

void: 空虛感
pivot: 以……為核心
protagonist: 主人公

英文來源：CNN
翻譯：董靜
編審：丹妮