Author(s)

Yirou Wang ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Guoli Notary Public Office, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China

Corresponding Author

Yirou Wang

ABSTRACT

As a game genre with a theme of simulating love, Otome games (Female dating simulation games) are highly popular worldwide. In China, this type of game is also enjoyed by a large number of female players. This article will explore the expectations and motivations pursued by female players in a mobile game "Love and Producer" launched by Papergames in China, and how these games may meet the needs of Chinese women in games and reality. The Otome game "Love and Producer" provides a new way for female players to entertain, and it reflects their perceptions of love, romance, and gender in subtle ways, becoming a medium for women's voices that may not be heard or expressed in real life.

KEYWORDS

Otome games; Otome game player communities; Chinese female players; Love and Producer; Virtual romantic relationships; Gender

CITE THIS PAPER

Yirou Wang, Virtual Love Experience in Love and Producer: Exploring Perceptions of Love, Romance and Gender in Otome Game Player Communities in China. Media and Communication Research (2023) Vol. 4: 5-11. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/mediacr.2023.041002.

REFERENCES

[1] Newzoo. (2018). China Games Market 2018 | Newzoo. [online] Available at: https://newzoo. com/ insights/ infographics/ china-games-market-2018/ [Accessed 3.09. 2019].
[2] Macdonald, H. (2018), Digital love: Romance and sexuality in games. London, England: Taylor and Francis.
[3] Bury, R. (2005). Cyberspaces of their own: Female fandoms online. Digital Formations. New York: Peter Lang. pp.242.
[4] Kafai, Y. B., Heeter, C., Denner, J., and Sun, J. Y. (2008). Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New perspectives on gender and gaming. MIT Press, New York. pp. 371.
[5] Consalvo, M. et al.(2009). Hardcore casual: Game culture return(s) to Ravenhearst. FDG’09 Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games. pp. 50–54.
[6] Everett, A. (2009) Serious Play: Playing with Race in Contemporary Gaming Culture. Digital Diaspora: A Race for Cyberspace. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
[7] Cassell, J., and Jenkins, H. (1998). Chess for girls? Feminism and computer games. In From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and computer games. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. pp. 380.
[8] Bryce, J. and Rutter, J. (2002). Spectacle of the Deathmatch: Producing Character and Narrative in Multiplayer. In King, G. and Krzywinska, T. (ed.). Screenplay: Cinema video games interfaces, Wallfl ower Press.
[9] De Castell, S. and Jenson, J. (2010). Gender, simulation, and gaming: Research review and redirections. Simulation and Gaming. 41(1), pp. 51-71.
[10] Taylor, E. (2007). Dating-simulation games: Leisure and gaming of Japanese youth culture. Southeast Review of Asian Studies, 29, pp. 192–208.
[11] Liimatainen, H. (2015). How women play mobile games: Studying the consumer culture of mobile games among young adult females. Master. Aalto University. 
[12] Chen, L. C. (2014). What's the cultural difference between the West and the East? The consumption of popular “cute” games in the Taiwanese market. New Media and Society, 16. pp. 1018–1033.
[13] Shamoon, D. (2012). Passionate friendship: the aesthetics of girls' culture in Japan. Holulu: University of Hawaii Press.
[14] Clough, M. (2018). Sexualization, Shirtlessness, and Smoldering Gazes: Desire and the Male Character. In McDonald, H. (2018), Digital love: Romance and sexuality in games. London, England: Taylor and Francis.
[15] McDonald, H. (2012). Writing the Romance-able NPC: ICING the Content Cake. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1016654/ Writing-the-Romance-able-NPC.
[16] Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema screen. 16(3). pp. 6-18.
[17] Miller, L. (2018). Invitation: Granting Emotional Access through Romantic Choice. In Macdonald, H. (2018), Digital love: Romance and sexuality in games. London, England: Taylor and Francis.
[18] Lucas, A. M. (2018). From Smoldering Justicar to Blue-Skinned Space Babe: Asari Sexuality in Mass Effect. In Macdonald, H. (2018), Digital love: Romance and sexuality in games. London, England: Taylor and Francis.
[19] Leonard, D. (2003). "Live in Your World, Play in Ours": Race, Video Games, and Consuming the Other. Studies in Media and Information Literacy Education. Volume 3, Issue 4.pp. 1–9.
[20] Killham, J. E., Osthof, A. and Stadeler, J. (2018). Designing Video Game Characters for Romantic Attachment Practical Application and Design Pitfalls. In Macdonald, H. (2018), Digital love: Romance and sexuality in games. London, England: Taylor and Francis.
[21] Azuma, H. (2009). Otaku: Japan's database animals. Jonathan Abel and Sion Kono, Trans. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
[22] Stein, L. (2015). Millennial fandom: Television audiences in the transmedia age. Iowa: University of Iowa Press.
[23] Thorn, M. (2004). Girls and Women Getting Out of Hand: The Pleasure and Politics of Japan's Amateur Comics Community. in William, W. K. (ed.), Fanning the Fans and Consumer Culture in Contemporary Japan, Albany: State University of New York Press. pp.169-186.
[24] Kim, H. (2007). Women's games: Definition, structure, and aesthetics. Unpublished master's thesis. Seoul National University. Retrieved from http://bk21comm.snu.ac.kr/files/20070607_12.pdf [Accessed 10.06.2019].
[25] Nakamura, K. and Matsuo, H. (2003). Female Masculinity and Fantasy Spaces. London: Routledge Curzon. pp. 128– 161.

Sponsors, Associates, and Links

---

• Journal of Language Testing & Assessment
  
  
• Information and Knowledge Management
  
  
• Military and Armament Science
  
  
• Journal of Human Movement Science
  
  
• Art and Performance Letters
  
  
• Lecture Notes on History
  
  
• Lecture Notes on Language and Literature
  
  
• Philosophy Journal
  
  
• Science of Law Journal
  
  
• Journal of Political Science Research
  
  
• Journal of Sociology and Ethnology
  
  
• Advances in Broadcasting