Love and Virtuality: Exploring the Impact of Otome Gacha Games on Romance Narratives, Gaming Expenditure and Real World Commitments Through Love and Deepspace

This paper examines the multidimensional impact of Love and Deepspace -- a 3D Otome Gacha game that has rapidly dominated global revenue charts since its release in 2024. As female participation in digital gaming continues to balloon, Otome games have become spaces for women to engage with narratives of romance, intimacy, and agency. Love and Deepspace stands out for seamless blending of dating simulation with monetized Gacha mechanics, creating an emotionally immersive as well as commercially potent gaming experience. Through digital ethnography, including participant observation and semi-structured interviews within a private, female-only Discord server, this study investigates how Love and Deepspace reshapes gender and romance narratives while influencing players' emotional, social, and financial lives. Drawing from Feminist Media studies, Masculinity theories, and Affect theory, this Thesis explores how the game's female protagonist defies traditional tropes of passivity and embraces autonomy and emotional resilience. The male love interests negotiate traditional notions of masculinity, reshaping them into hybrid masculinities that combine hegemonic traits with vulnerability and emotional availability. Findings reveal that the game offers more than escapist fantasy -- it fosters transnational female camaraderie, emotional refuge, and in many cases, provides a template for navigating real-world behavioral shifts with regards to relationships, occupation and self-perception. The study also highlights the paradox of affective monetization within Otome-Gacha hybrids, where emotional attachments to virtual partners are both nurtured and exploited through unpredictable Gacha mechanics, that emulate gambling. This MA thesis bridges the gap in existing literature, integrating masculinity theories into Otome game studies, which were previously examined only through a feminist lens. Furthermore, it explores the commercial and affective dimensions of Otome-Gacha hybrids. It contributes to the broader literature in game studies, feminist cultural analysis, and how the threads of virtual intimacy, desire and monetary economies are entangled with contemporary digital leisure cultures.