The otome dating simulator Love and Deepspace is becoming wildly popular among women in China. The hype around the game has become so strong that women are creating AI agents of the main characters in ChatGPT and dreaming of their android versions, while men are begging their wives to stop playing and are willing to pay for it.
The otome dating simulator Love and Deepspace is becoming wildly popular among women in China. The hype around the game has become so strong that women are creating AI agents of the main characters in ChatGPT and dreaming of their android versions, while men are begging their wives to stop playing and are willing to pay for it.
Love and Deepspace is a free-to-play mobile game that combines a romantic visual novel and an action-RPG, where players take on the role of a "Deep Space Hunter" with the ability to customize their character's appearance, writes Dexerto.
Besides the gameplay, the main attraction of this project is the five pumped-up handsome men with whom players can have affairs: Xavier, Zane, Raphael, Caleb, and Silas.
In Gamer X, you can find videos with the reactions of bloggers who were amazed by the passionate love scenes when relationships with these guys reach a new level.
Thanks to technological advances, the dreamy characters of Love and Deepspace look more realistic than ever. The Papergames development team used 3D motion capture technology to create natural movements for the main characters. It is reported that the development of one such character takes up to two years.
The developers also added as many “real” romantic moments as possible to keep the audience engaged, and even implemented an AI-powered voice chat feature that allows users to talk to their significant other. And the “companion” mode uses augmented reality to transport characters into the player’s real-life environment, adding custom lighting for even greater immersion.
Some players are going the extra mile to bring these virtual lovers into the real world. Some women (Love and Deepspace’s primary target audience) are using technologies like ChatGPT and the Chinese app Duxiang to create AI agents of these characters that they can communicate with at any time.
Men have started complaining about the game on social media in droves. Some feel their wives are "cheating" with fictional characters. Others are willing to pay their wives to quit the game.
“I’ll give you 20,000 yuan ($2,800) if you quit Love and Deepspace for at least a year,” a man offered his wife. The woman initially agreed, and the money went into savings for her daughter. But her “patience” didn’t last long: as soon as a new rare card featuring her favorite character was released in the game, she couldn’t resist and reinstalled the game.
The developers of Love and Deepspace emphasize the importance of players experiencing genuine romantic feelings for the characters.
"While it may seem like otome games are just 'simulating romance', I think their unique feature is that they allow players to experience 'real' feelings, as if they were actually there. Captivating players in this way is one of our goals as creators," one of the developers noted.
Some players are convinced that Android versions of the Love and Deepspace characters will soon appear on the market, bringing their virtual "romance" to real life.
"I believe I'll live to see humanoid versions of Xavier and Caleb," said one woman. "I occasionally watch new AheadForm videos and have already started saving up for one of them."
