#games as a medium and date sims especially require certain degree of immersion and self-inserting

[mynameisemma]

Gonna add my two cents on the cursed Amen discourse: "he's not a bad person because he's a fictional character" is ridiculous. Characters act and make decisions within a moral compass set in a story. And readers' moral compass might not always align with the one set in the story or the characters' actions — there's a reason why there's a disclaimer telling that the author doesn't support the characters' certain actions and stances but is simply telling a story when you start reading Psi.

Amen is a bad person because he poses an existential threat to Evthys, the main character of the story, and her colleagues (and before you pull the "but it's his job" argument, the story shows and tells us that ordinary shesmu's services actually help people that's why they turn to shesmu in the first place), because in the beginning of season 2 Amen is specifically presented as cruel and cold blooded through the torture and execution episodes (and "but he's said to dislike tortures because they're boring to him!" doesn't work here — people who dislike tortures don't have favourite torturing tools), because even alleged feelings for Eva aren't enough for him to be more human with her (except for the episode that simply requires basic human decency — the aftermath of Isman's death) or question his stance and beliefs about shesmu.

No one judges you for your choice of fave and route in a silly datesim game. Liking a problematic LI doesn't mean you're a bad person. After all, SCN very premise implies the witch hunter x witch dynamic with Enemies to Lovers trope (the question is how well Amen's route exploits this dynamic and trope and oh boy)

Yes, characters aren't real people, they're imitations of people, and what matters is how compelling and persuasive these imitations are