Analysis of the Characteristics of Digital Content with High Freedom in Interactive AVG Games

Taking Melody from Harem as an Example

School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

^* Corresponding author. Email: wsy0413@stu2019.jnu.edu.cn

Abstract

With the growth of the female economy, many games have emerged in recent years that specifically focus on female players as their main customer group. A new form of game, the interactive AVG game, offers players higher autonomy and interactivity, attracting a large number of female players. This paper studies a popular interactive AVG game, Melody from Harem, based on its rich digital content, such as digital storytelling, game mechanics, spatial properties and game goals, to investigate the design strategies of games with female target user group. AVG games are currently in a double marginal position in the game industry and academic, but they have a higher user retention rate beyond that of mainstream games. Therefore, the research on AVG games is of great significance to the development of China’s female digital game market. The study found that interactive AVG games adopt the strategy of involving players in story narration, and through rich interactive game mechanics, appropriate setting of scenario element, both absolute and relative goals to ensure players’ interactivity, autonomy, immersion and pleasure value in the game, and ensure that the game can gain high user stickiness with players’ loyalty. With the development of women’s games, the excessive sexualization of female images in traditional digital games has been corrected, but it has not completely disappeared, and female stereotypes can still be seen in some games.