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A new dating app in China is very popular with women. It is so popular that Chinese women are spending over $30 million a month on it. It is a little different from the usual dating app because the boyfriends are not real. There are just four single men on the app and they are all virtual boyfriends. Women have to role-play dating the four boyfriends. They have to use real money to buy "Purple Diamonds" from the app. They then spend their Purple Diamonds in the app to go on dates and keep their relationships going. The app is called Love and Producer. It is currently the biggest money earner on Apple's App Store in China. Players spent over 200 million Chinese Yuan ($30 million) on playing it last month.



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A market research company said the app has more than two million daily active users. The vast majority of these are women in their early 20s. The company said users love the idea of romance and fun. A 19-year-old student at Wuhan University explained why she liked the app. She said: "It's like a romantic novel with fascinating voices. It's more real than reading a novel." She said she loved the app's "delicate drawings," as well as the "great voices" of the four male characters. Another young Chinese woman said: "I don't have a boyfriend, so I'm happy to have a relationship with a "paper partner". She also liked getting e-mail and chat messages from her virtual boyfriends.

Sources:

  • https://qz.com/1193912/love-and-producer-chinas-female-gamers-are-spending-millions-of-dollars-on-virtual-boyfriends/
  • http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127116/chinas-women-gamers-take-centre-stage-virtual-boyfriend-game-love
  • https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/02/02/asia-pacific/social-issues-asia-pacific/gaming-women-blooms-china-virtual-beau-captures-hearts/

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