Personal pronouns are written in katakana?

[fixelbrumpf]

I sometimes come across this in video games. At first I thought this was only done for emphasis, but I just found a game where ore, omae, kimi, etc. are always written in katakana. What's the meaning of this? Does anyone know? Plural inflections like -ra, or -tachi are always written in hiragana in the game, though.
Thanks in advance. :?

 

[Elizabeth]

I have this way of writing with very intimate friends, boku and kimi, but not sure what it means in your game, except maybe to appear flashy or cool. Aren't video makers always trying to coin new slang terms by putting characters together or inserting stops in uncommon ways ?

 

[rokken]

Hello
I guess it has no mean.
Japanese are familier to read such katakana pronouns in mangas or novels.
I don't know the true reason.
Sorry.

 

[Maciamo]

It might also be because it7s easier to read and these games or manga are destined to a younger audience that may not yet have learn these kanji. Actually I was surprised how Japanese children are slow to learn kanji. I have taught 12 year-old kids a few times and I wrote some relatively easy kanji on the board and they couldn't read them because they hadn't studied them yet. I mean, children are supposed to learn faster than adults and my kanji level is more like a 16 year-old (which means they have studied kanji for 10 years) after 2 years of learning Japanese by myself. And as I work and manage this site, I have little time to study Japanese, contrarily to full-time students/pupils...

 

[kara]

Some cases come to my mind.

1)
to emphasize that person. Not others but I(Ore), you(Omae, Kimi)....

2)
to express the intimacy between the subject and the object.

3)
to describe the subject's unique character.

Ore:vivid, unsophisticated, simple, flashy, rude etc...personality of the subject.
Omae:masculine, unsophisticated, rude etc...personality of the subject.
Kimi:snob, arrogant, ironic etc...personality of the subject.

4)
used when the subject is a foreigner and speaks "foreign-accent" Japanese.

 

[PaulTB]

Some cases come to my mind.

[...]

5.) Words that have kanji are outside of the 常用漢字 (e.g. 俺) when used in manga are often represented in katakana as 'policy'.

I haven't been able to find any official confirmation of this, so it should probably be filed under 'hearsay'.