Party Ghosts and Queer Teen Wolves: Monster Prom and Resisting Heteronormativity in Dating Simulators

Abstract

Visual novels occupy a space on the fringes of gaming. While many are sold on Steam, and several have been released on gaming platforms, most visual novels are promoted to enthusiasts or fans of connected properties (primarily anime). In this paper, we focus on the Western iterations of the queer dating simulator, a visual novel subgenre. The introduction of queer romances into a framework built for heteronormativity does not itself subvert that heteronormativity. Instead, it might simply enforce the same transactional mechanics and assumptions of queer relationships. The idea of monstrous romance is somewhat undermined by the skinny avatars and anime aesthetic that dominates Monster Prom’s visual experience. However, underneath that superficial resemblance to other dating simulators a more meaningful queering of play exists outside the limitations of the subgenre. The representational limitations of dating simulators are both mechanical and aesthetic: the visual expectations of anime, and the warping of bodies in favor of the hyperfeminine and super-skinny, create a space ill-suited to monsters or Other-marked bodies, broadly construed.