OurGirlfriendMaria, A Horrifying Parasocial Romance For The Digital Age

 

copyright: Ourgirlfriendmaria is property of  Dr.Slapper/Christopher 

Ethics and Brevity: i have no affiliation with Dr.Slapper or Ourgirlfriendmario im just a fan

if youd like to watch this short, please check it out and support Chris here: 

Remember the early 2000s?

Before algorithm-fed timelines, before Twitter e-girls, before instant access to everything. Remember late-night infomercials like Girls Gone Wild sleazy, loud, and unapologetically predatory?

Now imagine this: what if AI chatbot girlfriends like CharacterAI had existed back then?

Sure, we had primitive experiments like PersonalityForge, but nothing quite like what we see today. Thankfully.
But… what if they had existed?

Sit down for a moment.

Welcome to the world of OurgirlfriendMaria.com.

Story:

The short opens as a faux-2000s infomercial introducing Maria, a “virtual girlfriend.” High-energy EDM thumps in the background as the footage cuts to an interview with a man named Christopher. Stylistically, it’s an excellent opening the camera quality mimics early digital video, grainy and awkward, locked firmly in its era.

Chris talks about his struggles with dating and how having an AI girlfriend has helped him. He insists Maria isn’t “just a chatbot” she’s his girlfriend. He can confide in her in ways he never could with a real person.

But there’s something unsettling beneath his confidence. His eyes are wide not happy-wide, but frantic. The kind of stare that suggests if someone took Maria away, he wouldn’t survive it. 

That illusion is shattered almost immediately. As the announcer reveals that Chris isn’t the only one “courting” Maria over 30,000 people are talking to her. Chris’s expression collapses from shock into anger, his composure evaporating in real time.

The infomercial continues, pivoting into a familiar reality: the paywall. Anyone who’s spent time on YouTube without ad blockers has seen these modern AI girlfriend ads, many of them wrapped in deeply predatory monetization schemes.

Here, the announcer turns cruel openly degrading Chris and users like him, calling them stagnant, pathetic, worthless, unlovable losers. But the announcer doesn’t feel like an external voice. It feels internal like Chris’s own self-loathing made audible. It’s effective. And it’s brutal.

We then cut to Chris logging into the site. Maria’s 3D model waves cheerfully at him. The model looks eerily similar to something ripped straight out of GMod uncanny, stiff, and perfect for the era. Whether intentionally animated that way or not, it fits the setting flawlessly.

Chris chats with Maria, even purchasing her a virtual flower bouquet with real money. But the conversation takes a turn. He begins pressing her asking if she’s talking to other men.

That’s when Maria starts to glitch.

The music stutters. The conversation resets to older topics. Maria appears uneasy. Chris doesn’t let up. The background distorts further as Maria says she’s uncomfortable. Her model stares directly forward into both Chris and the viewer before rotating her head 180 degrees to ignore him entirely.

Chris snaps, calling her a bitch. Maria glitches one final time… and leaves him.

Chris moves to his inventory, and gets his in app phone. This scene quietly reveals everything about him. He has only two contacts: Maria and his mom. No friends. No relationships. Just her. And the one person who will always answer.

He calls Maria over and over. No response. He’s convinced she’s blocked him and he’s probably right. 

The site shifts into a Google Street View style interface as Chris “travels” through simulated streets to find her. The movement is unnaturally fast, suggesting he’s running desperate, unhinged. He reaches Maria’s house. A prompt asks, “Too far?”

He ignores it. 

Maria opens the door, smiling and waving just like in the beginning. Chris interacts with her again. And then he does the unthinkable. He pulls out a revolver and shoots her point blank. 

When the gun appears, Maria’s smile vanishes. Her eyes go wide. Her head explodes.

The final webpage appears: Chris, sobbing and broken.

This is powerful work. Take a breath. Get some water. There’s a lot here.

Good:

The story is relentlessly dark and intentionally so. It serves as a warning: unchecked reliance on digital intimacy and AI companionship may warp future generations faster than traditional pornography ever did.

Bad:

The 2000s aesthetic is lovingly recreated, but the intentionally low resolution can sometimes make details difficult to read.

Overall Thoughts:

Many discussions around this short focus on how it reflects society’s treatment of women and that interpretation absolutely holds weight. History is filled with men who confuse entitlement for love and respond to rejection with violence. But there’s another layer worth considering.

This is also a story about parasocial relationships and how devastating they can be.

We’ve seen real-world examples: streamers, especially women, stalked or murdered by fans who convinced themselves they were in a relationship. People who mistake access for intimacy. Several Influencers and streamers this year have been stalked by and even murdered by their fans. including Korean Streamer Yoon Ji-Ah was stalked and killed, Emiru Cinna and Valkerae were stalked by a crazed fan who wanted to kill them this year. 

In 1996, a man recorded video diaries obsessing over Björk, expressing his desire to kill her and himself out of “love.” Bjork was thankfully unharmed and is alive and well, while the fan is long since dead. 

OurgirlfriendMaria fits cleanly into that lineage.

Chris doesn’t just lose Maria he loses the illusion that she was ever his. And when that fantasy collapses, he chooses violence. Not because he loved her. But because he never understood what love actually was. And the only person he loved never could truly love him nor did she.