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Exploring parasocial relationships in fan culture through game design
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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en
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84
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This thesis examines how parasocial relationships (PSRs) in contemporary fan culture—particularly K-pop fandom—can be transformed into playable systems through game design. While PSRs are often described as one-sided emotional attachments, within fandom they take shape through creative labor, communal participation, and mediated intimacy. Through two design projects: a video game Sensei, I Like You So Much! and a board game CookiePOP, I explored how parasocial relationships take on distinct dimensions across different media forms.
Sensei, I Like You So Much! uses the computational capacity of digital games to simulate the detailed, everyday rhythms of fan labor, including writing fanfiction, managing social presence, and engaging in fan-related activities. CookiePOP, by contrast, relies on player interaction rather than system calculation, emphasizing the spontaneous, competitive, and negotiation-based dynamics that arise when fandom is reinterpreted through face-to-face play. Across iterative playtesting, surveys, and interviews, I observed how players brought their own cultural experiences into both games, reenacting behaviors familiar from online fandom or developing new understandings through play.
By comparing these two games, this thesis argues that parasocial relationships are not only a theme to be represented, but also a relational structure that can be shaped through game mechanics and player interaction. Based on my projects, I observed that parasocial relationships in my video game are experienced more internally, while in my board game they emerge through communal tension, shared storytelling, and social improvisation. Together, they demonstrate how game design can serve as a method of cultural inquiry—revealing how fans negotiate intimacy, identity, and emotional investment in both solitary and shared contexts.