The Most Dangerous Game

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

AIDS is no game -- except in Japan. Medic, an Osaka-based software company, is selling a popular video game in which players simulate the experience of AIDS from HIV infection until death. The name of the game: Jinai Seijin, which means "Saint of Godly Love" (the manufacturers wanted an upbeat title). The plot of the game centers on a 25-year-old who strays into a red-light district and later suspects he's become infected with HIV. Players then have several choices, including promiscuity, suicide or a life with a girlfriend who also has AIDS. The game, developed by an ex-medical student, is meant to be educational and entertaining.