Tokyo man marries video game character

Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- Nene Anegasaki is a witty, doe-eyed beauty. She looks
perfectly perky in sexy skirts, doesn't pick fights and is always at one Tokyo
man's beck and call -- that is why the 27-year-old decided to marry her.
The
only complication: She is a videogame character in the Nintendo DS game called
"Love Plus."
Still, that didn't stop Sal 9000 -- the only name the groom
would give -- from marrying Nene in a ceremony witnessed live by thousands on
the Web.
When asked if Nene is his dream woman, Sal replied, "Yes, she is.
Her character changes to my liking as we talk and travel to different
places."
Japan's Internet community has witnessed relationships and marriages
to avatars, though it's typically been within the confines of the virtual world.
Last month, Sal decided to be the first human-to-avatar union. Clad in a white
tux, Sal married Nene in front of some friends and Web users watching the
ceremony live online.
The wedding, while not legally binding, was Sal's way of expressing his
devotion to his avatar girlfriend.
"I love this character, not a machine,"
said Sal, when asked about whether he can love an electronic device. "I
understand 100 percent that this is a game. I understand very well that I cannot
marry her physically or legally."
The courtship began in September when he
started playing the game, in which players nurture a deeper relationship through
game play. Sal started carrying Nene around the streets of Tokyo and taking her
to Disneyland and to a beach resort in Guam.
Sal says Nene is better than a
human girlfriend. "She doesn't get angry if I'm late in replying to her. Well,
she gets angry, but she forgives me quickly."
Asked if he's courtesy addicted
to the game, he says, "If addiction is playing this every single day, then you
might call me addicted." With Nene, Sal doesn't feel the need to find a human
girlfriend, he added.
Hiroshi Ashizaki, an author who writes about Internet
and game addiction, doesn't think Sal 9000 is an extreme case. What is healthy
about Sal is that he can communicate with people enough to do an interview on
CNN and webcast a half-serious wedding, Ashizaki said.
"There are many others
who can't express themselves like Sal can, and those are the cases we worry
about," says Ashizaki. What's important to note, Ashizaki says, is that Sal is a
representative of many of Japan's young gamers.
"Today's Japanese youth can't
express their true feelings in reality. They can only do it in the virtual
world," Ashizaki said. "It's the reverse of reality that they can only talk
about what they feel to a friend in the virtual world."

source CNN news