I would absolutely perceive my friend differently. I wouldn’t even being doing this intentionally–I just don’t think I could control my judgement about the situation. I feel that I understand why some people would choose to have a virtual girlfriend; some might be anti-social and just don’t know where to turn. If I think about it critically, I have sympathy for people that need virtual girlfriends, but if it’s someone that I know I can’t control my opinions.
I also don’t like the fact that they actually do have games that allow you to have a virtual girlfriend. I especially don’t like the fact that they only have these games for men. For instance, the game Love Plus is solely for men. It allows men to view women as objects–something they can control. In the game Love Plus, men can even set preferences to how they would like to be addressed, treated, etc. They can also choose what their “girlfriend” is wearing. Even if this “game” could help anti-social men learn how to interact with other people, it’s giving them a VERY wrong impression of the real world. These preference options do not exist. A huge part of being in a relationship is facing challenges. Relationships are not meant to be your perfect, ideal scenario that you alone control.
If my friend decided to get a virtual girlfriend, I would probably have a talk with him/her. Not a condescending conversation of any sorts, but a meaningful one about why he/she feel they need a virtual girlfriend. If anything, maybe this would even help me understand the need for a virtual girlfriend–or at least understand the other side of the argument. I just know that I hope the best for my friends, and I don’t think virtual girlfriends will ever be the best option. Real human interaction is necessary. Even if a computer can simulate significant conversation, it’s still a computer! I’d like to think that I am unique enough not to be replicated by a computer.
I feel as though having a virtual girlfriend is like giving up. Giving up on humanity, and yourself. Everyone deserves to form real bonds in the real world, but if we hide behind computers we are just inhibiting ourselves–making excuses. Maybe you’re lonely and don’t know where to turn, but virtual girlfriends are a copout. Go out there and be brave! Face your fears!
But hey maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the film Bicentennial Man will really happen and this post will be seen as ignorant 50 years from now. We’ll see.
A Perpetual State of Media 
The fact that virtual girlfriends exist and that some men like to play with this idea seems to point to people’s desires (not all men, certainly, and not only men, –although probably in the realm of sex, mainly men) to control others. A virtual girlfriend’s role is only to please; to look pleasing, behave pleasingly and so on. Of course, in real life, people are fully-dimensional and have their own lives, wants and needs, and rich, textural subjective experiences; they feel pride, pain, love, hate, rage and all the range of emotions. Without oppressive methods, we can’t control others (and if we’re healthy, we don’t really want to: we appreciate actual people for much more than their ability to obey and please us).
A virtual friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, and so on may be no different than a doll. As kids, many girls and some boys play with dolls, inanimate objects into which one can put one’s own story and with whom one can create any sort of relationship. Usually, with dolls, we completely dominate them: we make, of them, the character and role we wish them to play. This is why horror movies, where the doll has its own agenda, frighten us so much!
I’d guess that healthy guys might be amused by virtual girls, but probably don’t sustain much interest in developing a pretend, or parasocial, relationship with one. I’d also suppose that guys with impoverished social lives, or interpersonal difficulties, or disabilities that impact their chances of meeting or engaging successfully with real, live women may get all kinds of rewards from a virtual girlfriend. And, I imagine misogynistic men and women find all kinds of creepy pleasures in making an imaginary woman do whatever they want “her” to “do.”
Reblogged this on COM424 New Communication Technologies.