Masculinist Discourse and Identity Formation among Players of the Game Love Is All Around 完蛋！我被美女包围了！ in China

This thesis analyzes how debate relative gender is produced and politicized in China's platformed public sphere through the live-action romance game Love is All Around 完蛋！我被美女包围了！ and the debates it triggered. By combining close reading of the game with critical discourse analysis of player discussions, it tracks three layers: the textual framework, interactional amplification, and platform communication. It argues that first-person perspective, branching choices, and reward structures normalize the commodification of femininity. In online discussion forums, male players of the game frame feminist criticism of male gamers as hostility toward "male players," enabling stigmatizing labels and moralized narratives that bind consumption to the collective identity of male users. The thesis further shows how certain features specific to masculinist rhetoric in China link anti-feminism to nationalism and exclusionary political imaginaries, while platform recommendation and visible moderation cues stabilize gender antagonism. Overall, the case demonstrates how affective gameplay, identity work, and platform infrastructures co-produce antagonisms that reproduce misogyny in everyday online communication.