The controversial rise of romantic companion role-playing games in China 

Wan said the rise of romantic companion scripts ensures her experience quality because of professional DM performance, high-quality scripts and direct one-on-one interactions. Some excellent DMs even can tailor their interaction style based on the player's personality.

 

In Rogue Narrative, 2025’s breakout hit, Wan’s DM showered her with golden confetti in a private “black room”, wrote her a handwritten promise of eternal love, and staged a dramatic elopement. Almost universally, these stories end in tragedy: the lover dies, leaving the player heartbroken and craving more.

 

“These are things that almost no real couple will ever do for you,” she said.“That’s why we keep coming back.”

 

Wan’s experience is far from alone in China. Amid crushing social pressure and loneliness, a growing number of young people with 55% of them are female, turn to romantic companion scripts to fill their emotional void. What began as a niche hobby has grown into an over 44-billion-yuan industry, with stores across the country racing to cash in on the trend. Merchants take advantage of those vulnerable young people, young women in particular for huge profits, as obsessed players blur the line between virtual and real emotions. Some of them even take out loans to pour exorbitant sums into premium companion role fees, carpool subsidies, and idol-style tipping for DMs.

 

Worse still, some DMs abuse their professional access to sexually harass female players in private “black rooms”, engage in emotional scams, covert prostitution and even rapes on minors that cross legal and moral lines. In one high-profile case that shocked the community, a DM defrauded a woman of 240,000 yuan, and even maliciously transmitted sexual diseases to her.

 

Many publishers now churn out low-quality scripts that lack logical storylines, relying instead on romantic gimmicks and suggestive, soft-porn interactions to drive sales. Lacking national regulation and industry-wide standards, the entire sector operates in a lawless gray zone, making strict, mandatory government oversight urgently needed.

 

Wen Hongbo, 46, an associate professor at Beijing Normal University specializing in psychological and educational measurement, said these scripts offer players unconditional love, care and positive regard that compensates for the setbacks they face in real-world intimate relationships.

 

“Through intermittent emotional climaxes built into the narrative, these scripts trigger intense reward responses in the brain, leading players to develop psychological dependence and addiction,” he added.

 

Wan now takes advantage of her holidays to come back to China and play scripts. For Wan, the appeal lies not in the DM, but in the perfect romance the scripts allow her to live.

 

“I didn’t love this character because of the script,” she said of Qin Yang. “This story perfectly embodies the romance I’ve always longed for.”Wan said Qin represented the ideal partner: a man of unyielding integrity with a profound sense of national duty,who loved her quietly and completely.

 

His sacrifice was not just for Wan, but for the country and their common beliefs. This obsession in virtual relationships has also translated into substantial real-world spending. She later played opposite the DM who portrayed her on-script love interest Qin in more than 30 romantic companion script sessions, with her total expenditure on the hobby well exceeding 10,000 yuan.

 

Wan said, “I dare not tally up how much I've spent in total because the amount is simply staggering.” Beyond the base ticket, there are also subsidies for other players, commuting expenses, takeout meals during the sessions, and character-themed gifts for fellow players and DMs.

 

Also, she regularly commissions custom comic strips, memorizing the romantic bonds from the scripts. Wan said she suffers from insomnia and poor memory due to mental illness, and the comics help her hold onto the feelings that make her feel alive.