Seanbaby rants about dating sims (Interwebs says "huh?")

In the September 08 issue of EGM, a magazine geared toward serious action gamers (aka "not geared towards casual fans or niche fans"), there's a new piece from mostly-profane humorist Seanbaby. He's discussed a variety of topics in previous issues, from licensed games to Atari 2600 porn. This particular issue is his take on H games and dating sims. Not sure if the content is on his blog -- which is NSFW -- but it's near the back of the magazine.

I know better than to take Seanbaby's discussions seriously. But it got me thinking. I sense that only a dedicated insiders know that dating simulations can have thoughtful stories and sometimes interesting gameplay. Outside this forum and a few others like it, I feel that only a few people on "teh intarwebs" know that there's something besides raunch and Newgrounds fan-made games out there. Not many individuals have experienced fan translations. A tiny number of people know about all-ages ren'ai games, BL games, or otome games.

So I guess the point I'm getting to is asking the following questions...

- "Do you 'evangelize' your favorite VNs and games? Or do you keep them to yourselves?" (As for me, I occasionally discuss a few personal favorite games in relevant forums.)

- "Have you ever been confronted by hostile individuals who have been convinced that all dating sims are raunchy, mindless porn?" (Back when I used Livejournal, I tried convincing someone who'd only read Something Awful that this wasn't true. It took a while, as well as discussing the shoujo-esque games which I knew at the time.)

- "Would you want your fandom to become more mainstream? If so, what steps would you take?" (My answer: I wouldn't be opposed to a few simulations and RPGs which reached out to a wider audience. After playing Summer Session from Hanako Games, I thought, "that's a step in a good direction." I'd welcome more pure love games which reached out to mainstream fanboys and fangirls. Likewise, I'd be glad to see something like Dream Generation. Even though the one English FAQ for that game didn't describe it in glowing terms, I thought it had some neat ideas.)