A Gay Romance WIP, interest check

I’m no way too little check the date

From 2 years ago. I see that UK office of national statistics says 2% (2016)
I guess it didn’t change in 2 years that much, but let’s say it doubled, it is still 4%

:confused: that makes alot of sense

I don’t think there’s currently an accurate way to determine how many people in our population are gay, so I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in something like that. Also I’m sure there are people who are bi/pan that would be interested in this game. :slight_smile:

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Those statistics cover LGBT community, so bi/pan too. But it is not about sexuality, but who would be interested in buying this game. I’ve assumed that all gay males would buy this game, but it is not certainty. Same with straight people, maybe no straight person will play this, or maybe it will be a bestseller.

These statistics are based on self-reporting, and vastly understate the actual numbers. It’s a notoriously difficult topic to get reliable numbers on. It is, however, highly noticeable that the numbers go way up when you survey millennials (especialy the numbers for bisexuals), because people are becoming a lot more open, both with themselves and others, and more people with LGBT orientations are able to realize this about themselves. So while you may see 4% of the population, across different ages, self-reporting as LGBT, there are going to be significantly more who are.

And we’ll be more concentrated in places like the Choice of Games forum, since it’s a friendly and welcoming and supportive place, so in terms of getting your audience… yeah, this is exactly the place to find lots of gay fans (and fans of gay content).

It’s also misleading to portray this as a niche market—heterosexuals will buy content based around gay characters, and the market among LGBT people isn’t tiny either. Books and movies about gay people can be really popular.

Also, if you look at that poll I mentioned earlier in this thread, which was between four different game ideas, the gay-locked one has been getting a whole lot of attention and votes (and has been flipping between first and second place), and, as you can see, this idea has been getting a lot of attention as well, so… the concept’s already drawn people in, and will continue to do so as it’s developed further.

With an idea that’s specifically based around a gay experience, written with this gay experience as its primary reason for existence rather than a tacked on additional option or afterthought, writing it as a game with a gay character is what makes sense to tell the story. Saying that the author should do otherwise is like telling a mystery writer to write something less mysterious, telling a fantasy author to cut it out with the magic, or telling an author of historical fiction to try writing something a little more contemporary. This is advice that applies to a different kind of story than the one the author is writing.

Frankly, it’s pretty tiring to have to constantly justify the existence of gay content written for gay people.

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I’m not saying that LGBT market is niche, but that text games are niche, and gay text games are niche within a niche. I’m not looking at this game as LGBT game, but as chyo game.
So my choice is limited to being gay male, when most of games give me choice to be man/woman/nonbinary or more, not to mention that most of the time romance is background of the story, and not a main focus. So this romance bit will have to be really good to attract more than gay male community.

My main focus with that is so this game would be enjoyable for all readers, not just only LGBT community.

Being a game about the experience of a young gay man is the basic premise of this story. Most games give a wider range of options because the fundamental story is unrelated to the main character’s gender or orientation, and making it more inclusive allows a wider range of characters to experience that story. But this is a game that would be written with a gay perspective at its forefront.

I really mean it when I say that this is “like telling a mystery writer to write something less mysterious,” and so forth. Useful critique is aimed at helping a story (or game) be a better version of what it sets out to be. If someone’s trying to write a horror story, they’re not going to have an easier time if someone says “I don’t like that this is always scary.” If someone’s writing a story set on another planet, their story’s not going to be better if someone says they’re worried about drawing in readers who aren’t into outer space. And if someone says they’re writing a story about the experience of a gay man, saying “hold on, don’t write a story about a gay man” isn’t going to help that story. If you’re not into scary stories or stories in space, then that’s fine—that’s not the story for you. The same applies here. I don’t see people coming into games set in magical lands or school settings or distant futures and saying that they’re worried about crossover appeal; what I do see, repeatedly, is people joining in threads about LGBT-related writing and saying that it should not be a focus, or that they are uninterested, or even that it is a useless discussion.

The author has explicitly stated the following:

As such, it is not useful critique to suggest that the author do otherwise. It is part of this story’s basic plan. To advise against this would mean a different story altogether.

And gay interactive fiction does sell. It’s not that difficult to notice that there have been successful visual novels with gay protagonists. They are more difficult to find in as great numbers as those that are limited to heterosexuals, but they’ve certainly attracted buyers. If anything, the Choice of Games forum will provide a useful springing board, as having a high proportion of people who would be interested in and excited by the prospect.

Also, we in the LGBT community are used to people focusing on writing things that would be enjoyable to everyone but us. Many of us are actively seeking out content that actually does focus on us. This, too, will help.

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I’d like to thank everyone for their comments.
I understand where people are coming from with all the comments I’ve read, and I have to say I’m thankful for the feedback.

Just to perk everyone’s interest, I’ve sliced a small snippet from the original story for you to read. It is going to be a first person story.
It’s one of the not so intense parts of a character romance and the names I have chosen are purely random.

The small piece is after a “life saving” later at night.
MC = Seth - 18
RO = Blake - 19 (20?)

His crying is so intense now that I’m afraid someone will hear, so I do the only thing I can think of.

I press my lips to his, which are slightly salty from tears.

With this action, Blake loses himself.

He pushes me down onto the bed, hard. His body works with mine, passion and grief combined into one fluid motion.

He clings to me, a strong look of possession but also determination in his eyes. ‘I won’t lose you Seth. I can’t. You’re too important to me’ he says, spilling more tears as he kisses me deeply.

‘Don’t worry’ I say back. ‘I’ll keep us safe. I promise’.

He suddenly stops, then grabs my shirt collar and the fabric just below that, and rips the damn thing right off me.

I pull myself free of the torn fabric and pounce. Our combined passion makes us breathe faster; stronger.

Then he’s pushing me down again. Before I realise what he’s doing he says, ‘I’m sure you’ll like this alot’.

He fumbles with my jeans button.
And what happens next makes me fall back in pleasure.

Complete pleasure…


Just a small snippet but let know what you think.

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I’ve even seen a report suggesting that as many as 50% of people may be (slightly) bisexual, although that’s probably an overestimate… :sweat_smile:

But, yeah, we’re definitely overrepresented here on CoG, so a gay-locked game should do far better than it would be on a homophobic site…

How dare we write stories about ourselves? :roll_eyes:

:flushed:

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It’s not a story about myself or any interaction I’ve had, (which is none btw), it’s simply what it is.

That’s supposed to be ‘not so intense’? :hushed:

I mean as in “gay people writing stories about gay people”; I wasn’t suggesting it was autobiographical… :sweat_smile:

Yeah. There’s a different section that I’ve written that’s way more intense, but not OTT intense if you know what I mean. :smile:

Oh I see…my bad. :laughing:

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Gender locked, awe I was hoping to feed the gay side of me.

Well if you want a lesbian game you could always vote for “The Beast Within” over on this poll and that goes for anybody on this thread obviously. Hopefully there’s some crossover appeal.
Apologies to anyone who’s already voted over there.

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I dunno about the story having fantasy elements…unless you count the MC fantasising about the ROs. :smile:
If people would like a fantasy element I suppose I could work it in.

Lol not quite. The dream is actually something that will be featured later on in the story but the MC actually experiences it. I won’t say anymore though, else I’d spoil the story.

The ROs ages will vary between 18 and 22. Personally I think that this age area is fine. If not, someone let me know! :laughing:

The situation involving change…now that’s a tough one.
You see, originally I was going to have the story as the MC coming out to people whom he knew (family, friends etc) but then I realised that would be boring, so instead I thought about adding a darker element into the story, but not one that will be told in full as of yet, just to keep the whole story plot being revealed all at once.
It would be better to think of the story as a “Don’t judge a book by its cover” story and also to know what it’s like to be in the MC’s situation.

If you have anymore questions about the story by all means ask away. I don’t mind at all. :grin:

Any big strong teddy bears to hug? And I don’t mean the toy.

I like them big and rough without the drunkenness on power okay?

Okay so there’s been a fair amount of interest thus far for this topic so I think it’s time I started a WIP.
It won’t be ready for a long time but I’ll do my best to get something up asap.
Thanks to everyone so far for their interest in this idea. I hope my work will be good and that people will be looking forward to a WIP in the near future.

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