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==Dating Sim - Visual Novel==

The two terms are similar yet different, however, the fact that they look and 'feel' the same outweighs the technical differences. For clarification, visual novels are considered a sub-genre of adventure games and the term does not cover simulations. While the two genres often share a common visual presentation, dating sims are sometimes considered to be more statistically based than the "choose your own adventure" style of visual novels; basically, the choices you make might change something else than just the story arc (or your next porn pic). Dating sims can involve several technical elements such as a time limit, several statistics such as looks and charm which can be boosted through exercise, or an "attraction meter" which can increase or decrease depending on one's decisions.

Visual novels are distinguished from other game types by their extremely minimal gameplay. Typically the majority of player interaction is limited to clicking to keep the text, graphics and sound moving (most recent games offer 'play' or 'fast-forward' toggles that make even this unnecessary). Most visual novels have multiple storylines and many endings; the gameplay mechanic in these cases typically consists of intermittent multiple-choice decision points, where the player selects a direction in which to take the game. In Japanese, a distinction is often made between visual novels proper (abbreviated NVL) and adventure games (abbreviated AVG or ADV): the main difference is in the presentation of the text, which is overlaid on the picture in a visual novel, and confined to a window at the bottom of the screen in an "adventure". This distinction is normally lost in English, where adventure game refers to a different genre.

Overall they're both read-the-dialog-and-click-next type of games. It's not needed to distinguish between a visual novel and a dating sim as this category covers them both, but there still is the need to distinguish between a visual novel and an adventure game and that can be a bit confusing for normal people. A useful fact: about 98% of the anime adaptions from a visual novel or a dating sim are also erotic games.