Soul under the Skin: A Study on Empathy Effect of Online Virtual Idols

摘要: With the change of digital technology, the growing activity of subculture and the popularity of fan economy, the development of virtual idols is more and more rapid. It also has an important impact on the emotion and behavior of fans, and many fans will have empathy for virtual idols. This paper takes the fans of virtual idols as the object of our investigation, which analyzes the contact frequency, contact time, interaction behavior, sense of identity and other aspects between fans and virtual idols. The result shows that there is a significant positive correlation between people's empathy for virtual idols and the time of their contact, the frequency of their interaction, and their sense of identity with virtual idols.