Avatar and Real Me: Identity Anxiety of Chinese MobileOtome Game Players—A Case Study of Papergames

In 2017, Papergames released a groundbreaking mobile otome game in China, Love and Producer, which not only heralded a new era of otome games, but also broached a tricky question: does the avatar of an otome game require a default name, and can the word "heroine" refer to the avatar?For those unfamiliar with otome games, these concerns may seem trivial; however, for most Chinese otome game players, using a default name compromises their identity in the fictional game worlds and fixed avatar characteristics are avoided in the discourse.Why does this issue emerge specifically in mobile otome games rather than in buy-to-play (B2P) otome visual novels?And what are the underlying reasons behind it?