Virtual lover, Rafayel, has taken over the Philippines and the whole world

From big LED screens along EDSA, to the posh village of McKinley Hills, to the Queen City of the South—Cebu, and of course, to the biggest Mall of Asia, Rafayel’s face can be seen lighting up the hearts of his many Filipino “Miss Bodyguards” —- one of his many terms of endearments to his lovers worldwide[1]^,[2],[3]

On March 6, virtual boyfriend Rafayel, celebrates his birthday. Rafayel is a character in a popular Mobile Otome Video Game called Love and Deepspace. An otome is a genre made for women to simulate dating and romance. Aside from the romance, the video game features battles, rich lore, and a lot of heartbreaking narratives as well. It focuses on the story of the main character (the player), and her different stories and memories with different love interests. Rafayel is one of the 5 main love interests in this game. Despite being a niche game, it has already surpassed 50,000,000 players globally[4].

Fans worldwide celebrated it by organizing big displays and various events in many different countries. From New York, Paris, London, Italy, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, etc, and of course the grandest, in China where he has the biggest fanbase. Fans in China even rented whole malls, parks, cruises, hotels, exhibit halls, high spead trains, sports car parades, and even virtual and augmented reality installations alongside thousands of billboards nationwide to fill the whole country with his face.

All these worldwide initiatives were paid for by different individual fans and, some, by groups, to express their love and to greet him a Happy Birthday on his special day.

In the Philippines, fans did the same. Aside from getting spots on prime location billboards, numerous groups of fans have also organized and prepared fan-initiated gatherings to celebrate his day. More than 10 fan gatherings nationwide were organized by different fans.

Filipino fans also went beyond billboards and events, they have also donated to various special causes inspired from Rafayel himself.

As Rafayel in the story is the sea god who ruled in the lost civilization of Lemuria— he has always desired to save his home in the sea, Filipina Miss Bodyguards have come together to help in their own little way[5]^,[6],[7].

They have adopted whale sharks and whales from different organizations worldwide and even in the Philippines, to help in marine conservation and research. At the same time, they also donated to coral reef preservation causes.

At present, Rafayel lives as a famous artist and sometimes an art teacher to kids and a guest lecturer at a university. He has donated to causes, and one of these causes is providing a studio and art supplies to young, disadvantaged kids who want to pursue their passions. Inspired by this, Miss Bodyguards has pledged to support for his birthday a non-profit organization, Special Achievers, that helps kids with various disabilities to have hope and be able to pursue passions through art despite the disadvantages they are facing. [8]^{,[9],[10], [11]}

Although this phenomenon has been very common in the landscape of fandom, Rafayel’s impact has been increasingly growing beyond the other human celebrities. As he is a famous person and a sea god inside the game, his celebrity status has also reached beyond the game.

At the very same time, since he is a virtual boyfriend where the players can interact with anytime and everywhere in the game, the emotional investment and bonds deepens every time. In some cases, even surpassing human relationships with some players, even joking that they will have a hard time getting relationships because standards have already been raised by these characters. Although many may dismiss these as just fictional, unreal, and just fans acting “delulu”, for a lot of the players, the emotions they feel are real and it goes beyond physicality. For a lot, at their core, they just want to be understood, accepted, and loved for whoever they are and whatever they do. And these are some of the things these characters make the players feel. Hence, in return, many go all out to express their love and admiration.