The players of the love simulation games are mainly male computer nerds ranging in age from their teens to their 30s. Fans of the games say they can relive their high school days, but with more success than they had back then. Also, rejection is easier to take from a machine. The game characters also tend to be sweeter than real high school girls and will not tell their awkward suitors to get a life. Some say there is a danger that players will never find real relationships satisfying.
Some games have some nudity or suggestions of sex.
There are X-rated games as well, mainly for personal computers. But the games like Tokimeki Memorial and True Love Story that are sold for Nintendo, Sega and Sony game machines are generally tame. The progenitor of the love simulation games was not a dating game at all, but Princess Maker, a child-rearing game that appeared in 1991 and is sold by Gainax . There are now many dating games, like Graduation, Classmates, M and Noel. But the standard-setter has been Konami's Tokimeki Memorial, which came out in 1994 and has sold 1.1 million copies.