Which country do you prefer otome games to take place in?

[MomoiroGirl]

I've been trying to sort a story out for a first otome vn, and one of the things I'm trying to figure out is where it should take place. It's not supposed to be fantasy, so it has to be a real place. I've been most inclined to have it take place either in the USA or in Japan, as those are the two countries I know most about. However as I have never actually been to either place I thought, what about having it take place in my own country?

However, I happen to live in Denmark, which is probably the most boring country you will ever find despite having been popularized as "the happiest country in the world". I have never met a single Dane who agrees with this (that's not to say we aren't a lot better off, we're just not happy lol) But at the same time, I started thinking that maybe some people would actually find it interesting to see it from a different perspective, but it's just not really that much of a special or complex society. To give a very few insights in comparison to what I have understood as normally seen in American and Japanese culture/otome games (focusing on high-school life that is, and I'm not 100% sure about the laws, but this is how it's basically understood), I can start off by saying that we don't wear uniforms in out public schools, and as far as I know not in private schools either.

We don't have an official minimum age for drinking, only for buying alcohol, and the age of consent for sex is 15. Since we are a very small country, even our celebrities aren't that much of celebrities, but we still manage to get starstruck. However, since we are such a small country, you can almost bet on either you, or someone close to you knows a celebrity, or a celebrity's relative. We are actually such a small country, that we commonly refer to it as "Familien-Danmark", basically translating to "The Family of Denmark (or the Denmarks, if you will XD"

The otome vn I have in mind is supposed to be a slightly more serious portrayal of how you might interact with your boyfriend as a couple, or how you fall in love, or what goes through your mind when you like someone, and there are problems you have to deal with. I don't have that much experience myself in love, but I feel like I could be able to grasp how these things might/should play out in real-life relationships. But this would probably also change quite a bit depending on what country the story takes place in, but all in all, I still want to have that feeling of a main character who's capable of being rational and wise in her decisions, and less of the whole typical ditzy and completely oblivious protagonist that you might see in a lot of shoujo-related media. There are of course exceptions, but I want her to feel like she is more well-rounded and complicated than just "do I, or don't I like him?" if that makes sense.

Now, I went a bit off track here, so basically what I want to know is, considering where I want to go with the style of the vn, should I maybe rule out certain countries it could take place in, and might there be a lot of people interested in seeing an otome vn taking place in Denmark, and also what country you typically prefer otome games to be set in?

Please excuse any typos, I'm typing late at night before going to bed

[Mad Harlequin]

Storytelling is universal. A story will resonate with everyone if it's told well, regardless of setting. So if you want the game to be set in Denmark, go for it!

[Hijiri]

Writer's often set things in places they know well. So don't be afraid to use your home country as a setting.

[kitsubasa]

You should definitely set it in Denmark! I think there's a bit of oversaturation of games set in the US/Japan, and I love it when people talk about their own countries in games. Like Mad Harlequin says, a good story will resonate regardless of setting, provided it's well-told. Set something close to home, tell us about your country, and tell us a great story while you're at it! : D

[TheOnlyKieran]

Yep, write what you know. It'll be real, and a fun insight into Denmark and Danish culture for people not from there.

As an example, my latest work is set in Canada and England, as that's what I know!

[gekiganwing]

Overall, I'd say that setting isn't all that important. Some stories depend quite a bit on when/where they take place. Others stories can work equally well no matter if they occur in the distant past, a science fiction world, or last year.

... But at the same time, I started thinking that maybe some people would actually find it interesting to see it from a different perspective, but it's just not really that much of a special or complex society.

I don't know much about Denmark, and I have not yet traveled there. However, I would be interested in learning about the nation. I'm also curious as to what you have to say about life in Denmark today through your story. For example, what if your main character starts out bored, and is uncertain about the city where they currently live?

For what it's worth, I don't know much about contemporary Korea, or its recent history. Tears 9, 10 occurs there, and the story doesn't place much emphasis on its setting. However, when I read it in the recent past, I cared about what the story said about the nation. It talked about problems regarding poverty and immigration, without becoming a documentary.

I don't have that much experience myself in love, but I feel like I could be able to grasp how these things might/should play out in real-life relationships.

One place to start is TVTropes' article Write a Love Story.

[E-night]

Yes you should place it in Denmark.
At least if you don't want to do a lot of research on amercian/japanese/another countries school system.
By placing it in a system you know, you can focus on the characters, and the story.

[Katta]

They can go to Tivoli, it's a very beautiful place!
And I haven't seen cows that big anywhere else)
Another interesting feature of Danmark is it's focus on social activities, like newspapers (there are lots of small ones), social work and politics - I'm not sure how the schools are in this aspect though, but it can make your game pretty unique imo.
You can also make some of your characters immigrants.

Many people actually share the idea that their home country/school is the most boring in the world, because it's what they're accustomed to, but even if something wasn't interesting to you in reality, it doesn't mean you can't write it in an interesting way, you just need to find the interesting aspects to focus on.

[Kato]

I think it would be a prefect setting for this kind of story go for it! One of these days I would like to make a VN set in my home of Western Australia. I think it would be awesome fun playing on the stereotypes that come with my Aussie badge.

[xiaomao]

I would love to read a VN set in Denmark, and the story idea sounds great, too!

In my own experience, you may come to appreciate the setting more than you used to just from having thought about it so much. For instance, I didn't want to set one of my stories in Oregon, where I was living at the time, because I thought it was a very boring place. But by the time I had worked on the project a couple years, taken tons of photos and thought about which details were unique, I came away thinking that actually Oregon is pretty interesting after all! Maybe the same thing can happen to you.

[curry nochi rice]

The Netherlands please.

So much flower fields, wetlands, canals, rivers, windmills ~

[MomoiroGirl]

I think I'll just kinda answer everyone at once XD

Yeah I know, it's just that if I set it in Denmark, it'll have to have a completely different vibe from what I imagined when thinking about this story, and I know a lot of people might feel uncomfortable seeing a bunch of 15-16 year-olds getting drunk (at school parties even, legally even more so) and having sex and being jaded by boredom. I mean, yes, you can spin it in your own way to make it more suiting to your story, but high school in Denmark is literally mostly just about getting drunk and doing homework, and the way people regard relationships and sex etc. here is so different from what I've had in my mind with this story.

Originally I'd planned for it to take place in Japan, since that's how I had certain scenes thought out, so if i convert to having it in Denmark I'll have to change a lot. It could work of course, but I know just as little about the school system in Danish high schools as in American and Japanese high schools, so that's not the issue, I was mostly thinking about if I ended up, like, accidentally ignoring something important in Japanese culture that wouldn't make sense in the VN. It's not that I'm trying to be talked into having it set in Denmark, I just completely objectively want to know which of the three countries that I have pretty much the same amount of knowledge of I should choose. Also, if it were to be set in Denmark, it wouldn't even take place in Copenhagen, as I know pretty much zero about Copenhagen regarding living there etc.

I appreciate all of your answers, and I do agree with what you're saying, but as I just said, it's not necessarily that I WANT it to be set in Denmark. I just wondered if maybe I'd miss certain social cues in for example Japan, that I on the other hand might know about in Denmark, or if you don't think I should worry about making a cultural blunder at all? And if you do still insist that you'd like to see it set in Denmark, I do have to warn that it could possibly end up containing lots of profanity, jaded sex-lives(not necessarily full-nlown sex), drinking 'til passing out (yes, even at schools, as it is legal to drink at school parties) and other than that pretty mundane social activities. Sorry if I missed a point, but I appreciate you rfeedback very much, thank you!

A last note:
@curry nochi rice: Yes, it is beautiful, but that would ruin my whole point of asking if it should take place in Denmark to begin with, as the purpose of doing that would be that I probably know most about Denmark (having grown up here), while I know nothing about The Netherlands :/ But still, thanks for your feedback!

[trooper6]

What makes you think there aren't 15-16 year olds drinking and having sex in high school in the US? (A Place I know well) Or in Japan? (A place I don't know well).

Your post seems to have a "familiarity breeds contempt" sort of vibe to it. In other words, you seem quite disdainful of Denmark and imagine that Japan or the US would be somehow more interesting. Those countries might only be more interesting to you because you don't live there and you are imagining them through some sort of unrealistic media depictions. You also are making Denmark a monolith...and I can't imagine that's true. I can't imagine the *every* teenager in Denmark acts exactly the same way. That every single teenager in Denmark drinks all the time and has lots of sex and is jaded. Were you just like that in high school? Was there no one in your high school who might have been different?

Anyway, I think you should do whatever you want to do and then face the consequences of your choices.

[SinSisters]

What makes you think there aren't 15-16 year olds drinking and having sex in high school in the US? (A Place I know well) Or in Japan? (A place I don't know well).

Your post seems to have a "familiarity breeds contempt" sort of vibe to it. In other words, you seem quite disdainful of Denmark and imagine that Japan or the US would be somehow more interesting. Those countries might only be more interesting to you because you don't live there and you are imagining them through some sort of unrealistic media depictions. You also are making Denmark a monolith...and I can't imagine that's true. I can't imagine the *every* teenager in Denmark acts exactly the same way. That every single teenager in Denmark drinks all the time and has lots of sex and is jaded. Were you just like that in high school? Was there no one in your high school who might have been different?

Anyway, I think you should do whatever you want to do and then face the consequences of your choices.

I agree with this... I live in Canada, but we're very similar to the US. Our legal age of consent is 16 (with your partner being with 4 years, I think, with other exceptions) and 18 for no-rules-have-sex-with-whoever-you-want-who-is-also-18. That doesn't mean that people don't have sex. It depends on the school and the area that the people live in. At my school, about half of my close friends have either had some form of sex. And not to offend you, but the idea of others being shocked at 15/16 year olds having sex and drinking alcohol is laughable, as that's exactly what is always portrayed in American media (not that it's always true, but we're used to it).

I would like to add that if teens can legally drink without having legal consequences (or have sex, but it's not like the cops are busting in on teens in Canada/US having sex), there are still the other consequences that are portrayed just as much in American media, even more so, than the legal ones. What about hangovers? What about that stupid thing you said/did? Those are the most important ones, and the ones that come up in any culture (although I suspect in countries where being drunk is considered really embarrassing or distasteful, it would be different).

Personally, I've grown up reading, watching, and hearing North American literature and TV, and I can tell you that the everyday life of a North American is just as boring as the everyday life of a Danish person.

We are individual people, and we all have our own opinions and thoughts. These differ from person to person rather than country to country (though, of course, little things like greetings, what is considered rude, etc. are more of a cultural thing).

Because of this, I would recommend that you write placed in Denmark. If the story is boring, it won't be because of the setting. It'll be easier for you to write about a place that you're familiar with, and reading books and visual novels that are set in places other than Canada, USA, and England will be of interest for English-speaking people!

Good luck, with whatever place you choose!

-Nat

[Zootower]

Yeah, teen sex is pretty mainstreamed here, especially in the cities. When I moved to New York City, I was considered a late bloomer because I was just getting involved in the usual teen party racket of booze-and-MDMA-fueled-sex-romps at the ripe old age of seventeen. And I know it's not exactly Denmark, but I've visited Lund right across the Oresund from Copenhagen, and the Scanians struck me as pretty liberal people. I don't think it'd blindside my Swedish friends to see someone sexually active at 16.

Really, I think you're going to find that there's a certain level of street-smarts and early onset sexual knowledge in any urban area, anywhere in the Western World. If you're setting it in a rural area, you might be able to get away with a bit more naïveté. I always end up at looking at Atlus's Persona series for these sort of cues, especially 3&4. The city-slicker teens in Persona 3 make a sharp contrast to the rural attitudes of the teenagers in Persona 4. Speech patterns, textual diction, and even voice acting go a long way towards highlighting those essential differences.