What shapes a parasocial relationship in RVGs? The effects of avatar images, avatar identification, and romantic jealousy among potential, casual, and core players

Romantic video games (RVGs) are emerging games popular among female players, in which the players would form a parasocial relationship (PSR) with the male character they are dating with. Although many players have enjoyed the PSR in RVGs, what shapes PSR has not been fully understood. In this research, two studies on different players were conducted to investigate the effect of avatar image, avatar identification, and romantic jealousy on establishing PSR. In study 1, potential players who liked/disliked reading romantic novels were asked to play a romantic game. In Study 2, the core and casual players of an RVG viewed images of the male protagonist with or without the female avatar. The results showed that the players’ romantic jealousy negatively moderated or mediated the effect of their avatar identification on PSR. For casual players with low romantic jealousy, avatar images promoted identification and PSR; however, for core players and potential players favoring romantic novels, the positive effect of avatar images was no longer significant and even got reversed. These results revealed the unique roles of avatar identification, romantic jealousy, and avatar images in establishing PSR, and have practical implications for the RVGs design. • Investigating the relationship between identification and parasocial relationship in romantic video games. • Romantic jealousy has a negative mediation effect between identification and parasocial relationship in existing players. • Avatar images promote game experience for players unfamiliar with romantic stories. • Avtar images lead to jealousy and undermine parasocial relationship for players familiar with romantic stories.