**Please keep in mind, while reading this, thatthis was purely a conversation of opinion and idea. Do not assume that anything we say directly will correlate to Yandere Simulator’s development, despite me being on the project.**
Since I voice Yandere-Chan, a lot of friends have asked me how development is coming for Yandere Simulator and, honestly, it’s wonderful to see it come to fruition slowly but surely. Everyone on the team, especially YandereDev himself, works very hard to make sure the game is a success and takes multiple steps to ensure that what they give everyone is what people would want for the game.
However, some have asked me (either to voice him or to understand why he is a concept) about Yandere-KUN. If you are unaware, Yandere-Kun would be the protagonist of Yandere Simulator as a male instead of a female (Ayano Aishi) and, in terms of adding him to the game, it is very much up in the air with no honest way to discern if it will happen or not. Many want it to happen while others do not want him or don’t care.
One friend, however, vocalized her concern during a conversation about him. I had let it known that I was excited for the idea of a male protagonist (Yandere-Kun.), but was responded with, “That sounds like a horrible idea!” I, of course, asked why and was given a surprising reply. “Because, if Yandere-Chan was a man and Senpai was a woman, it would advocate female abuse at the hands of an aggressive man!!” With a grimace, I commented that, if Yandere-chan can get away with it, why can’t Yandere-kun? Of course (and not surprisingly so), I was greeted with “Because video games that show that a woman can be more powerful than a man promote pro-women, so it’s okay.” When I asked why she would want to censor a game like that (denying Yandere-Kun from even being considered an idea), she replied “Because video games can influence players into thinking that men stalking and abusing women is okay when it’s not!”
Allow me to make one thing clear: We are BOTH feminists. We both believe in the equality of women to men and that the stigma of women being inferior to men needs to end. However, in this case, I did not agree and allow me to explain why.
1. Yandere Simulator is not a romance game by any means of the word. It is a stealth social sabotage game where you, the player, destroy any chance for Senpai to be with anyone but you. Regardless of what gender you are, in a romantic setting, this would be abusive all around. As a player, you should understand already that this is game is not about romance, but about sabotage. To shun Yandere-Kun for being abusive as a man and not Yandere-Chan because she is a woman is almost counterproductive to the cause we both chase because we shouldn’t demand that women not be punished for things men do. We (SHOULD) demand equality, not privilege.
2. Senpai could be a man with a Yandere-kun. The situation is still the same; a person stalking and sabotaging a person’s social life and claiming them. There is an unfortunate amount of abuse in LGBT+ relationships, so you cannot focus that “Men abusing women” is a singular issue. If we are to fight on the idea that abuse is wrong, take it on all angles and all sexuality that it revolves around (which is all of them).
3. Video Games, as any fictional story is in the world, are meant to be a form of escapism. We, as human beings, are capable of separating truth from lie, fact and fiction. The simple popularity of Yandere Simulator proves this: We know that Yandere-Chan is a terrible human being. We know that murdering people is wrong. Despite this all, the vocal majority loves the game. In the realm of fiction, the lines of imagination and the extreme are elongated infinitely to where anything can happen. We should not demand to censor things, like a male yandere or gruesome school murder, in afictional setting for the sake of comfort-ability because, as players and consumers, we have and have ALWAYS had the ability to choose not to partake in stuff we do not like. If you are uncomfortable with something, that’s your preference and people should respect you for it, but you cannot demand limitation for everyone else simply because you do not want it. You have to respect, in return, that others do not mind content you do not like.
The conversation quickly ended between us with her believing she was right and me wondering if my own thoughts were correct. After a moment, I confirmed it mentally.
T’was and interesting conversation indeed.
