Part 3 of Selfie Assignment - Digital self-representation in Otome game - Siyao Chen

Welcome! Fellow gamers! Today, we will talk about the Otome game, which is a collision of romance, adventure, and self-expression.

For those new to the scene, Otome game, also called Maiden's Game, is a story-based video game developed and targeted for the female player in which the player as the heroine establishes romantic relationships with male characters (Kim, 2009; Nouvanty et al., 2023).

Angelique is the first Otome game published by Koei in 1994

Although most of the Otome games have a fixed image for the main character (MC), we can still regard the MC as an important part of digital self-representation for players. MC works as an avatar for players whose choices and actions can decide the plots in the game world. Further, when gamers contribute time and energy to the game, and make choices depending on their own experiences, their increasing involvement and immersion can effectively boost identification and gamification (Kim, 2009).

But wait, there is a twist!

In this article, we will not focus on traditional 2D narratives anymore. With the development of AI technology, a new era of customization has arrived, which brings a new way of creating digital self-representation in Otome games.On January 18, 2024, a mobile Otome game called Love and Deep Space was released by Papergames worldwide; Unlike traditional 2D Otome games, Love and Deep Space uses a 3D narrative and allows players to customize their appearance and voice: players can even upload their selfies and let AI to create their personal game character as MC (Love and Deep Space website, 2024).

Check the PV from Love and Deep Space if you want.

How to understand AI creation of customized 3D MC for digital-self representation in Otome games?In this article, we will walk into the fascinating world of AI-customizable avatars, exploring the intersection of identity, culture, and ethnicity. Using Love and Deep Space as our case study, we will find the methodology of creating a 3D avatar, and then analyze the 3D character in the Otome game relevant context.

Methodology

Love and Deep Space allows players to import their photos and let AI generate the MC. AI created my 3D character based on my photo. I can play the game directly with this image, or manually adjust skin colour, details of the features, and makeup for this character. Differing from male players, female players may tend to have a higher interest in escapism, connections, and immersion in the game-playing process (Gong & Huang, 2024). Compared with a fixed MC image created by the manufacturer, an AI-generated, selfie-based avatar can dramatically increase the immersion of players.

My selfie and AI character based on my selfie

In the world of the Otome game, we can immerse ourselves in romantic relationships.

But how does the AI character affect our sense of self? Let's talk about it from symbolic interactionism...

Symbolic interactionism is how people understand social life and construct identity through their engagements with others (Rohall, 2014). Mead (1934) proposes that internal dialogue occurs through the interplay between the "I" and the "Me". The "I" is the active self, which also represents the subjective aspect of the self; while the "Me" is established on the perspectives of others and is the object aspect of the self (Rohall, 2014). According to Chen (2020), in the Otome game, "I" is the female player who has game instincts and uses MC as an avatar to experience the virtual world; while "Me" generates from the interaction with others.

This video may help you to better understand The "I" and the "Me".

AI Character as Subject identity

The AI character in the Otome game contributes to establishing the player's subject identity by creating a virtual image closer to the player, increasing the player's identification with their digital self in the Otome game. The traditional main female protagonists in Asian Otome games are more likely to be likable and less aggressive.

MC from Mr. Love: Queen's Choice

Such as the MC from Mr. Love: Queen's Choice, another Otome game also from Papergames. In this game, the MC design--demure hairstyle with cute bangs, white face and red lips-- can express innocence and kindness, which is a type of typical women portraits from Asian male perspectives (Wagner & Liang, 2021). However, this MC may bring a kind of identity conflict to the players who do not have or do not expect to have similar attributes: although the game character can become the player's digital-self representation in the game, the player lacks the ability to put their own preferences or appearances onto the MC, especially when they have different racial or cultural backgrounds.

In this situation, AI can ease identity conflict by eliminating the character’s predefined visual attributes, providing players more agency over the game character. For example, in my selfie, I have a darker skin tone with black contacts and makeup emphasizing my eyeliner. These are not the typical physical traits that an MC in Otome games would have, but AI captures these and creates a character that more closely resembles me based on those traits. When I play the game with this avatar as my digital self, it is easier for me to immerse, identify more with the choices the MC makes, and combine personal experiences with the plot. In this way, my digital "I" and my real "I" can also receive a type of convergence.

AI Character as Object of Identity

During the interaction with other Otome game players, the AI character also becomes the "me". The research from Vermeulen et al. (2017) shows that female players are less likely to regard themselves as "game players" if they experience discrimination from male players. In the Otome game, males become the objects to be selected by females, which may lead to males' dissatisfaction. "They think that this kind of virtual boyfriend is depriving them of their right to choose a partner, which leads to immeasurable negative emotions about this kind of simulated love game, and denigrates this kind of game and even the whole female group."(Wang, 2023, p.77). Female Otome game players risk of suffering the stigma from male discrimination, and those interactions can bring negative influences to the establishment of "Me". Female gamers may be ashamed to admit their status as an Otome gamer because of caring about the male's opinions, and may even devalue themselves as a result.

In my perspective, AI character helps to increase the "gamer" self-concept for female players in the real world, which is also an approach against male discrimination. Vermeulen et al. (2017) research demonstrates that when a woman has higher value in a group membership, she has a higher possibility to regard herself as a gamer and be satisfied with being a female gamer. The picture below shows some examples of players who took selfies through the in-game photo feature. Compared to traditional Otome games, these MCs have distinctive personal characteristics. AI creates MC based on selfies, which are highly similar to players themselves and can greatly increase females' identification with their digital selves. When they share these customized MCs with others, the positive interactions they receive help the formation of "Me". These positive interactions shape the real object identity through their digital identity, making it more likely for female gamers to embrace their Otome gamer identities, rather than hiding them to avoid stigmatization.

Selfies in Love and Deep Space

Now, let's talk about some consideration!

Cultural Considerations

The AI-customized character not only serves as a canvas for personal expression but also mirrors social norms and cultural background. While the customization options may appear extensive, certain aspects remain unchangeable. For example, I can only change the MC's facial features by using AI. The other physical characteristics, such as height, weight, figure, etc., are immutable. Female characters in games often conform to narrow aesthetic standards, characterizing slender figures, youthful appearances, and beautiful faces.

Even if the MC has a similar appearance and voice to me, her build is still constant, which seems to conflict with the extreme immersion and customizable MC image that Love and Deep Space advertises. This rigidity can reflect social expectations for women in a patriarchal society: a standardized height with a perfect body. It can be said that AI-customized character is not only an avatar of players but also a product of society.

Ethical Consideration

In addition, it is also necessary to consider the ethical issues of the AI-generated characters. Compared to previous Otome games with a fixed MC, the MC representation in Love and Deep Space has become more diverse, which contributes to a more inclusive representation across race and ethnicity. However, biases also exist in AI algorithms when creating MC. According to D'lgnazio and Klein (2020), When a specific group's faces are overrepresented in facial detection training data, it will become a problem for AI to detect other group's facial information. As an Otome game released by a Chinese company, Love and Deep Space's AI generates an MC system mainly established based on Asian female faces, which may also inevitably include some Chinese aesthetic preferences. For instance, the skin colour of my characters generated by AI generally tends to have a lighter side when compared to my selfie. This phenomenon results from not only training data bias but also the aesthetic preferences in Chinese culture (a fair complexion female has a higher possibility of being considered as beautiful).

Finally, the story behind this blog!

Incorporation of Feedback

I selectively improved my articles based on feedback. The feedback suggested I expand the scope beyond the Otome game to social media, virtual reality, or other creative fields; however, I believed that my article was primarily exploring the impact of AI-generated characters in the context of the Otome game, which means enlarge the context would blur the focus of my writing. So, instead of broadening my research background, I explored AI more deeply within the context of the Otome game.

In fact, there were a lot of valuable insights in the feedback, providing great help in revising my article. For example, I reinforced the part of cultural and ethical considerations and incorporated more academic essays to strengthen my argument. I used more subheadings to improve the readability and navigability of the article, as well as to make the structure clearer.

Transliteracy

It is essential to consider how to transform academic articles into blog posts. I changed my original essay from three parts: language style, images, and article length.

First, compared with an academic article, the language style in the blog was closer to daily life expressions, which aims to create a sense of intimacy with the readers. Therefore, I changed the language style of my article to make it more friendly and natural.

Second, from the perspective of communication, pictures, videos or other creative content can increase the attractiveness of the blog. Therefore, I included more pictures and videos in it to make my post more vivid and interesting.

Finally, how can I increase the academic nature of my article while keeping it easy to understand? Readers will easily lose interest if the blog post is too long, so I shortened the length of the original post and only focused on the self-identity section.

From these three aspects, I transformed my academic article into this blog post. I hope you have a better understanding of the impact of AI-generated characters on digital self-representation in the Otome game context!

References
Chen, J. (2020). Semiotics, Self, Ritual: Study on Emotional Interaction of Female Gamer in Otome Game.doi:10.27155/d.cnki.ghqiu.2020.000907.

D’Ignazio, C., & Klein, L. F. (2023). Data feminism. Cambridge, MA: The Mit Press.

Gong, A.-D., & Huang, Y.-T. (2023). Finding love in online games: Social Interaction, parasocial phenomenon, and in-game purchase intention of female game players. Computers in Human Behavior, 143, 107681. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2023.107681

Kim, H. (2009). Women’s games in Japan. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(2–3), 165–188. doi:10.1177/0263276409103132

Love and Deep Space website - romance simulation game with 3D intimate interactions. (2024). Retrieved from https://loveanddeepspace.infoldgames.com/en-EN/home

Nouvanty, V., Suryanto, T. L., & Faroqi, A. (2023). Evaluation of uses and gratifications on online Otome games. Teknika, 12(2), 120–128. doi:10.34148/teknika.v12i2.613

Rohall, D. E., Milkie, M. A., & Lucas, J. W. (2014). Social psychology: Sociological perspectives.

Vermeulen, L., Van B.S., & Van L.J. (2017). Tracing female gamer identity. an empirical study into gender and stereotype threat perceptions. Computers in Human Behavior, 71, 90–98. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.01.054

Wagner, K.B., Liang, M. (2021). Love and Producer as East Asian Transmedia: Otome Games, Sexless Polyamory, and Neoliberal Choice for Chinese and South Korean Young Career-Oriented Women. In: Gilardi, F., Lam, C. (eds) Transmedia in Asia and the Pacific. Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7857-1_7

Wang, T. (2023). The attitude and depth of female players in the Otome games and the discussion of current gender issues and future prospects. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media, 7(1), 71–82. doi:10.54254/2753-7048/7/20220732