What factors attract people to play romantic video games?

Abstract

People in romantic relationships often benefit from improved mental and physical health and well-being. Today, these relationships can be recreated using virtual agents. For instance, some people anthropomorphize and fall in love with a virtual partner in a romantic video game. Although previous psychological research has examined anthropomorphized agents, it has neglected virtual romantic relationships. This study aims to examine the desire to play underlying playing romantic video games (RVGs). In Study 1, 43 Japanese participants completed a survey about their desire to play RVGs and their current romantic relationship status. The research revealed that a human-like voice and the use of touch were perceived as important factors in anthropomorphized relationships. In Study 2, an independent sample of 281 Japanese participants replicated the results of Study 1 regarding the importance of voice and touch in RVGs. Moreover, we found that a desire to develop social skills and alleviate negative emotions independently desire to play RVG use. As an important first step, these findings reveal several factors which might contribute to developing a romantic relationship with a virtual agent.

Virtually in love: The role of anthropomorphism in virtual romantic relationships

“…If anthropomorphism is attractive to people who lack platonic connections (Epley et al, 2007) and helps alleviate loneliness (e.g., Jakobek, 2019), might it also help us understand romantic experiences with a virtual agent? Preliminary evidence supports this general idea; Koike et al (2020) found that RVGs were particularly attractive to lonely individuals.…”

“…Jakobek, 2019), might it also help us understand romantic experiences with a virtual agent? Preliminary evidence supports this general idea; Koike et al (2020) found that RVGs were particularly attractive to lonely individuals. Understanding romantic relationship experiences with non‐human entities likely requires investigating a domain‐specific experience of anthropomorphism.…”

“…The role of sociality motivation in determining when people anthropomorphise has been robustly examined in recent years. Feeling a lack of social connection leads people to anthropomorphize non-human agents more (Im Shin & Kim, 2018;Eyssel & Reich, 2013) and chronically lonely individuals are more likely to anthropomorphize (Epley, Akalis, Waytz, & Cacioppo, 2008;Koike, Loughnan, Stanton, & Ban, 2020). Loneliness, however, is not the only social motivator of anthropomorphism.…”

“…Based on previous findings from the anthropomorphism and romantic relationships literatures (e.g. Birnbaum et al, 2016; Epley et al, 2008; Koike et al, 2020; Nowak & Rauh, 2005; Selcuk et al, 2016; Wickham, 2013), in all three studies we hypothesized that after playing an RVG greater romantic anthropomorphism would predict stronger relationship authenticity which, in turn, would predict greater desire for a real‐world relationship with the virtual agent, as well as higher positive and lower negative mood (Hypothesis 1). In Study 2, we further hypothesized that greater anthropomorphism would predict stronger relationship authenticity, which would then be associated with more flirtatious behaviour towards a male confederate via greater desire for real‐world relationship with a virtual agent and higher positive mood (Hypothesis 2).…”

Virtual relationships: Anthropomorphism in the digital age

“…One important direction has been to examine the extent to which people think about objects as if they were human—the extent to which they anthropomorphize them. Contemporary social psychological models of anthropomorphism focus exclusively on the motivations underlying why we anthropomorphize (e.g., Bartz et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2017; Epley, Akalis et al., 2008; Gardner et al., 2005) and can help us understand why people might start anthropomorphizing VAs (e.g., Brown et al., 2004; Epley, Waytz et al., 2008; Koike et al., 2020; Morris et al., 2007; Tam, 2014; Waytz et al., 2010). This focus on why we anthropomorphize is coupled with a relative neglect of the more dynamic, social elements of how we anthropomorphize.…”