Ghostwritr
Designing a boundary-aware system for cosplayers acting characters in otome games, story-based romantic video games. Ghostwritr helps actors manage emotionally intense interactions with fans, while maintaining their personal boundaries.
Ghostwritr is a system designed to support cosplayers who portray romantic characters from otome games, as they navigate emotionally intense interactions with fans. These interactions are not simply social—they are shaped by parasocial attachment, emotional projection, and blurred boundaries between character and self.
Through research, I found that cosplayers are not only performing visually, but also engaging in continuous emotional labor. Fans often communicate as if they are speaking directly to the character, expecting intimacy and emotional reciprocity. However, existing platforms like Instagram treat all messages equally, offering no support for interpreting intent or maintaining boundaries, leaving cosplayers to process everything on their own.
Ghostwritr introduces a three-layer system to address this gap.
The first layer interprets incoming messages by analyzing emotional intensity, intent, and boundary risk, and also assists in response generation. It suggests replies aligned with the character’s voice, allowing cosplayers to respond without fully immersing themselves in every interaction, reducing excessive emotional labor and role performance.
The second layer enables scalable communication by organizing messages across platforms and supporting efficient handling of high-volume interactions.
The third layer extends support into physical encounters, using wearable tools to help signal and maintain boundaries in real-world situations.
Together, these layers transform communication from constant emotional labor into a structured, manageable process—allowing cosplayers to sustain meaningful connections without losing control of their boundaries and identity.
It’s about designing the structure that makes this kind of relationship possible—without breaking the person inside it.
