Raising Sims consist of applying schedules for a game to process, which in turn affects characters in the game, who then develop "on their own" without constant user interference.
Other times the target being raised is a single character such as a pet or monster. The player determines what actions are relevant for building what stats, with multiple potential end products, often to be pitted against players.
Occasionally it's a human being being raised to adulthood to be a good adult — or for other sketchy purposes — and the endings are concerned with multiple variations of futures.
A subgenre of Simulation Game and Life Simulation Game. Compare to Mons, where raising sim and RPG Elements are combined, usually with the raising sim element taking a back seat. Related to Farm Life Sim and Breeding Sim.
There are so many of these in Japan, they've been documented here.
- Alter Ego (1986) - It takes your character from infancy to old-age, has a focus on making smart decisions and getting the most out of life.
- Angel Profile (Japanese)
- Babyz
- BitLife
- Chobits Chii Dake no Hito. Based on the anime you can take time to raise Chii.
- Ciel Fledge: A Daughter Raising Simulator is a game about raising an adopted daughter in a future world that still has hope.
- Cute Knight is a clear Spiritual Successor to Princess Maker, although the focal character is slightly older and the player is no longer explicitly acting as a parent, but more as the girl herself.
- CV: Casting Voice
- Dear My Sun!! (Japanese)
- Fantastic Fetus
- Growing Up
- Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life has a lot of focus on the farmer's child compared to other games of the series. In addition to being one of the few games in which the child grows beyond early childhood, it gives the child their own set of statistics that are influenced by the identity of their Non-Player Character parent and things they see the farmer doing. Those statistics affect the job the child gets at the end of the game's last chapter.
- Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection is a spin-off of the Neptunia series that's inspired by ''The iDOLM@STER, and has you manage the life of an anthropomorphic video game console who wants to become an idol.
- Idol Manager: The carreer of each idol involves managing her skills, stress levels and relationship with other idols. They all eventually graduate from the agency, with the last piece of information about them being their post-idol job.
- The Idolmaster, a Japan-exclusive arcade and Xbox game, is a massively multiplayer online raising sim that has players guide the career of their chosen Idol Singer, with competitive auditions against other players of the game.
- The iDOLM@STER 2
- Similarly, the fan-game Idolcraft puts you in charge of raising up to six girls to be idols.
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist has the player in control of the Player Character from ages 10 to 19. Its core gameplay involves raising stats and making various choices that impact their future adult life.
- Jack Jeanne: The game has a stat raising system to improve Kisa's abilities as an actor and for the success of the play. Maxing at least one of the stats is required to get to the romance route with one of the love interests.
- Kosodate Quiz My Angel, an unusual child-raising game series played with answering the questions given by the daughter and/or son in a form of quizzes.
- Lair Land Story, a fantasy game where a war veteran teaches an adolescent but amnesiac girl about life.
- Long Live the Queen, which takes place in a Decadent Court that will kill your character if you screw up (which will happen often).
- A Mind Forever Voyaging (an Interactive Fiction game) does not feature this as gameplay, but as a plot element. The player controls an artificial intelligence who has been raised as a simulated human being.
- Minotaur Hotel: Although the person you "raise" isn't a child, you do decide what he wears and what he does during the day and you do see him "grow up".
- My Child Lebensborn has the Player Character raise an adopted Lebensborn child, who is either the son or daughter of a Nazi Germany soldier and a Norwegian woman, as a means of depicting the circumstances in which many such children grew up.
- My Lovely Daughter is a fairly dark variant, as the protagonist raises homunculi in order to later sacrifice them and bring his actual daughter back to life.
- My Lovely Wife is the sequel to My Lovely Daughter, and has a similar tone, replacing the sacrifice of homunculi with the sacrifice of demonesses to bring back a man's wife.
- My Pet Protector 1 and 2 (raising a young man) and Project Princess (putting the player in the parental role).
- The My Virtual X games created by Satire Games.
- NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD is a subversive take on the "idol raising" subgenre popularized by The iDOLM@STER, and has the player manage the account of a girl who wants to be internet famous... despite her having severe mental issues and a preexisting drug habit. Unlike other idol raising games, this one goes out of its way to show the dark sides of stardom and how it can potentially drive someone to a breakdown.
- Pocket God
- Prince Maker - Braveness
- Princess Maker (child version)
- Real Lives
- Shinji Ikari Raising Project, Raising Ayanami (child version) — Gainax milking Neon Genesis Evangelion for everything they can.
- The Sims
- Slavemaker is a Flash game where, well, you train a girl to become a proper slave.
- Sotsugyou (Graduation)
- Spirited Heart
- Star Dream is about raising idols - the second game gets positively meta with this, as the main character (who is working towards super-stardom himself) can meet the protagonist of the original series and become her manager.
- Summer Lesson
- Teaching Feeling about raising an slave girl.
- Tokimeki Memorial and Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side
- Trillion: God of Destruction has you raise an overlord to try and defeat the eponymous Big Bad of the game. Keyword is "try".
- Uma Musume Pretty Derby
- void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium
- Volcano Princess
- Wonder Project J (robot/child version)
- Your amazing T-Gotchi!
- Black & White and its sequel (pet version as well as population version)
- ClanGen (also "Pets", as you manage a clan of cats)
- Dwarf Fortress, with a fortress full of alcoholic midgets. The military fit the definition for 'people' as well, using standing monthly orders to schedule training, patrolling routes, taking downtime to do their civilian jobs, and more.
- Godus
- The Last Federation: With the the entire solar system... and five species in it.
- Millennia: Altered Destinies
- Populous
- Reus
- SimCity (with cities)
- SimTower
- Tiny Life
- Tinytopia
- Tiny Tower
- Puppy Love, the Ur-Example game on the Commodore Amiga.
- Can Your Pet? - A Darker and Edgier, Parodic take on the genre.
- Cap'n Crunch had a PC game called Cap'n Crunch's Crunchling Adventure, where the player raised a Crunchling to be strong enough to defeat the Crunchium Thief.
- One Hundred And One Dino Pets
- 101 Shark Pets
- Aabs Animals
- Adopt Me
- Akachan Doubutsuen
- The Amazing Virtual Sea Monkeys
- Animal Acres
- Animal Shelter Simulator
- APICO
- ARK: Survival Evolved
- Aywas
- Azure Dreams
- Beat Niks
- Best Friend Forever
- BitBuddy
- Boo The Worlds Cutest Dog Game
- Bratz Ponyz
- Brilliant Hamsters
- Bubbaruka!
- Calico
- Catgotchi
- Cat Cove Inn
- Celestial Vale
- The Chao Gardens from Sonic Pinball Party, Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2.
- Chillquarium
- ClanGen
- Cloud Meadow
- Club Pony Pals
- Cookie: O Bichinho Virtual
- Coromon
- Creature Breeder
- Creature Keeper
- Creatures and sequels have the player breed cute little creatures (Norns) with whom they can interact. Each creature has a unique genetic makeup that affects its behavior and development.
- Dappervolk
- Daylight Pets
- Desktop Dinosaurs
- Digimon World and several of its more recent sequels, based on the Spear Counterpart to Tamagotchi.
- Digital Partner Digimon
- Digivice Project
- Dog Dayzz
- The Dog Happy Life
- Dogotchi
- Doko Demo Issyo
- Dragon Cave
- Dragon Creek
- Dragon Mania Legends
- Dragon Seeds
- Duck Life
- Eliyo
- Equiverse
- Exhibited
- EyePet
- Fantastic Pets
- Fantasy Aquarium
- Fantasy Friends
- Felisfire
- A Chocobo Raising mini-game is present in Final Fantasy XI.
- Finch
- Fin Fin On Teo The Magic Planet
- Fish Game
- Fish Tycoon
- Fishkeeper
- Flewberry
- Flight Rising
- Flutter
- Foo Pets
- Furry Paws
- Go Pets Vacation Island
- Gragyriss, Captor of Princesses
- Gryffs
- Grophland
- Hamster Academy
- Hamsterz Life
- Harvest Moon: Animal Parade
- Hatchi
- Homegrown Pet
- Horse Club Adventures
- Horse Eden
- Horse Isle
- Horseland
- Horse Life Adventures
- Horses 3 D
- Horse Tales Emerald Valley Ranch
- Hotel For Dogs
- House Flipper Pets VR
- Howrse
- How to Raise a Dragon
- Hunt And Jump
- The My Fairy mode in Hyrule Warriors.
- Ice Pets
- Ichumon
- I Love Horses
- I Love My Dogs
- Insaniquarium
- Jade Cocoon
- Jurassic Park Builder
- Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
- Kawaii Koneko
- Kinectimals
- Kitty Luv
- Kukumushi
- Leporidae
- Let's Build a Zoo
- Lets Ride
- Leviathan Myth
- Lioden
- Little Dragons Café
- Little Friends: Dogs & Cats
- Littlest Pet Shop
- Lorwolf
- Mara Pets
- Me And My Dogs Friends Forever
- Megaquarium
- Mewgenics: Raise your cats and breed them to be the perfect cat food scavengers.
- Mistic Pets
- Monster Rancher
- Monster Sanctuary
- Monster Tale
- Mopy Fish
- Moshi Monsters
- Mothkeeper
- Mweor
- My Aquarium
- My Horse 3 D Best Friends
- My Little Pony: Friendship Gardens
- My Om Nom
- My Pet Chimp
- My Pet Puppy 3 D
- My Pet Shop
- My Riding Stable Life With Horses
- My Stable
- My Talking Angela
- My Talking Tom
- Neko Atsume
- Neopets
- Nintendogs
- Oddballz
- Ooblets
- Oshare Wanko
- OviPets
- Paleo Pines
- Pawly Pets
- Paws And Claws
- Peridot
- Pet In TV
- Pet Mission Monogatari
- Pet Pals
- Petri
- Pet Society
- Pet Ville
- The Petz games mostly simulate real creatures.
- Pet Zombies: Raise your own pet undead.
- Pillow Pets
- Pipa Funnell
- Pixel Cat's End
- Pixel Petz
- PixPet
- Pocket Kitten
- Pocket Pets
- Pocket Puma Pets
- PokéFarm
- Pokémon
- Pocket Frogs
- Pony Box
- Pony Friends
- Pony Island
- Post Pet 3 D
- Pou
- Power Pets
- PS Vita Pets
- Puppet Nightmares
- Puppies 3 D
- Puppy Luv
- Puppy Palace
- Puppy Room
- Pure Felinity
- Purr Pals
- Reef Aquarium
- Rescreatu
- Riding Star 3 D
- River King
- Robopon 64
- Sandbox Farm
- Seaman
- Show Dog
- Sim Animals
- Sim Dog
- Slime Rancher
- Star Stable
- Subeta
- Sulkyland
- Survive! Mola mola!
- Sylestia
- Tail And Trails
- Tamagotchi:
- The Tamagotchi virtual pet toys, a low-tech version of this.
- Tamagotchi (GB), a video game adaptation of the Tamagotchi toys for the Game Boy.
- Tamingio
- Tap Tap Froggy
- Tea Dog DS
- Teddy Together
- Tiny Bird Garden
- Valenth
- Vilmonic
- Virtualbark
- Virtual Horse Ranch
- Viva Piñata series
- Viva Piñata
- Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
- Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise
- Wajas
- Wappy Dog
- War Dragons
- Webkinz
- White Oak Stables
- Wildagotchi
- The Wild Thornberrys: Australia Wildlife Rescue
- Windstorm
- Wobbledogs
- Yo-kai Watch
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule Breed and Battle, a Capsule Monster raising sim where you train them for tournaments.
- Zhu Zhu Pets
- Zoo Tycoon