The Warmth of Virtual Lovers: Why Are Women Willing to Pay for "Fake Love"? Psychologists Reveal the Emotional Healing Code of Otome Games

The Otome Game Phenomenon: Emotional Attraction of Virtual Lovers

Mention names like Xu Mo, Li Zeyan, and Bai Qi, and many women's eyes will light up. Otome games have been continuously popular in recent years. These romance-themed games designed for women allow players to experience romantic relationships in virtual worlds. But as involvement deepens, pure online interactions can no longer satisfy emotional needs, leading to the unique phenomenon of cosplay commissions.

Cosplay Commission Revealed: Emotional Transfer from Online to Offline

More and more players are starting to find professional cosplayers on social platforms, paying them to portray their beloved virtual lover characters for offline dates. From watching movies together and visiting exhibitions to holding hands and hugging, this behavior of transferring virtual emotions to reality breaks the traditional psychological boundaries of understanding virtual intimacy.

Quasi-Virtual Intimacy: The Birth of a New Psychological Concept

Through interviews with domestic otome game players, researchers have proposed the new concept of "quasi-virtual intimacy." This relationship is neither purely virtual intimacy nor completely real intimacy, but a special emotional connection that intertwines virtual and reality through cosplay commissions.

The Healing Function of Virtual Characters

Characters in otome games often possess characteristics like respecting women, gentle personalities, and outstanding appearance, which can satisfy players' emotional needs. More interestingly, some players discover that virtual characters can heal childhood trauma, supplementing the care and warmth missing in reality through sweet virtual romance.

The Warm Experience of Offline Dating

In offline dates, players and cosplayers agree in advance on fees, physical contact boundaries, and activity content. Most players hope for physical contact because "there's no real warmth in games, but offline cosplayers' hugs are warm." After the date ends, cosplayers continue accompanying online for a few days as emotional buffers.

Three-Party Interaction Mechanism: The Emotional Triangle of Players, Virtual Characters, and Cosplayers

The core of quasi-virtual intimacy is the three-party interaction between players, virtual characters, and cosplayers:

- **Virtual level**: Players develop emotional needs for virtual characters - **Reality level**: Cosplayers provide emotional value through role-playing - **Exchange relationship**: Includes both emotional exchange and material exchange

This triangular relationship allows players to realize the emotional value of virtual characters in reality through cosplayers as intermediaries.

Three Major Characteristics of Quasi-Virtual Intimacy

1. Offline Attribute: Realization of Emotional Value in Reality

Through interactive experiences between real people, it achieves emotional satisfaction that pure online interactions cannot reach.

2. Idealized Realization Path: Compensating for Real Emotional Deficiencies

Players don't want to develop real relationships with cosplayers, but use cosplayers to turn the ideal of virtual dating into reality.

3. Real Role-Playing: Conscious Performance and Real Satisfaction

Both parties know this is performance, yet still gain genuine emotional satisfaction from it.

Emotional Healing Function: Compensating Trauma and Social Practice

Quasi-virtual intimacy is not escaping reality, but a way for players to actively improve reality:

- **Compensate childhood regrets**: Supplement care missing in reality through virtual romance - **Alleviate current stress**: Gain emotional support and relaxation in virtual worlds - **Practice social skills**: Reduce social anxiety through role-playing

Practical Emotional Guide: Rational Consumption and Self-Care

Suggestions for Otome Game Players

1. **Clarify emotional needs**: Distinguish whether you want emotional continuation from virtual characters or real-life companionship 2. **View commissions rationally**: The warmth of commissioned dates can recharge you, but shouldn't become the only way to escape reality 3. **Practice social skills**: Use role-playing to reduce social anxiety and apply skills to real social situations

Suggestions for Friends and Family

- **Avoid arbitrary judgments**: Don't simply think it's "paying for fake love" - **Provide understanding support**: Listen more and understand their real needs - **Respect emotional consumption**: Emotional consumption is a normal form of self-care

Rationality of Emotional Consumption

Spending money to satisfy emotional needs within one's means and without affecting normal life is mature self-care behavior. Like buying healing merchandise or receiving psychological counseling, it's a normal way for modern people to care for their emotional needs.

Quasi-virtual intimacy reflects the complexity of emotional needs in the digital age and provides new perspectives for psychological research. Understanding this relationship not only helps us better understand contemporary young people's emotional world but also offers new possibilities for emotional health.