One presumably hot day not that long ago, a young Japanese woman sat down at her computer, logged onto a website dedicated to giving advice to women, and sent out a request for help: “I’ve fallen for a video game otaku. How can I get close to him?”

The first-year university student had developed a crush on her classmate, who always seemed to be alone and playing video games. She wanted to know how to best approach him, so she took her inquiry online. It was soon met by a flood of diverging responses, from the straightforward to some shocking advice.

Read on to see what kinds of pointers they gave her, and whether you agree with them or not.

Many of our non-gaming readers, regardless of gender, may have found themselves in a similar situation when their love interest seemed to be in love with nothing but video games. Maybe you asked your gamer friends for advice, or just did what you felt was natural to try to bond a bit with that person. Asking the online community for tips is another strategy, but as the following case illustrates, you should always use discretion and common sense when deciding to try out some of those ideas.

When the above-mentioned Japanese woman saw the comments on her online advice thread, she was surprised to see such a mix of diverse opinions about how to approach her crush, which ranged from the practical to the narrow-minded. Here are just a few:

“If it doesn’t seem like he’s used to women, I think you should just keep going up to him!” “It would be good if you could go with him to game or anime events, but you realistically can’t keep accompanying him if you’re really not into that kind of stuff.” “One trick for women to appeal to men is to have long, straight black hair.” ‘”There’s a big chance that he’s not used to conversing with women, so try to draw him out of his shell by mixing in some questions in your conversation with him.” “It will be troubling if you ask him about his hobby and he starts to give a long-winded lecture, but don’t look bored even if he keeps droning on and on about his infinite knowledge of games.” “There are some video game otaku who go so far as to think, “Is this some kind of punishment?” when a girl approaches them. If you don’t share the same kind of mentality, he may view you as an enemy, so you should lower your eyes to him as much as possible.”

Do you think these people gave some harsh but truthful advice, or is it just plain offensive to male gamers?

From our end, we tend to think that taking a relaxed, open stance and letting the relationship develop naturally is probably the best way to go. What would you advise the woman to do if you were in her shoes?

Source: Niconico News via Hachima Kiko

Image: Mashable