I, for one, vastly prefer HGs and WIPs with gender selectable MCs to those with gender-locked onesand also think they are much better in most ways.
Firstly, because it, along with other customization and background options for the MC, allows me and other readers more flexibility when it comes to choose what kind of MC we want to go with what kind of story. With a gender selectable MC you can explore the kind of story beats that have mostly, or even only, been used for male or female protagonists and decide if you want to explore the story in what has been the traditional manner or if you rather want to take the opportunity to do things the more unusual way and explore a story beat usually reserved for male protagonists with a female MC or those usually reserved for a female protagonist with a male MC. With a gender-locked protagonist on the other one, you’re stuck with whichever approach the writer prefers.
It’s also no secret that the great majority of COG and HG enjoyers clearly prefer or even require being able to play MCs of their own gender. Gender-locking the MC make all of those who belong in that “category” and who are of a different gender from the gender the MC in question is locked too feel excluded. And, let’s be honest here, it is the opposite of inclusive and excludes potential readers/players just as much as when a HG/WIP forces gays or lesbians to play a straight MC or force POC to play a white MC. So it’s the opposite of COG’s philosophy of trying to make IFs that are inclusive for everyone.
When it comes to making MCs, I really enjoy having a lot of flexibilty in how I make them in terms of abilities, personality, background and other things that make a difference in story/game and/or to me personally. And I do think having the opportunity to tweak MCs to make them more relatable to you and/or make tMCs that are like the protagonists you feel you see too rarely in non.interactive fiction, is one of the areas where this kind of interactive fiction has the strongest potential. But, at least when it comes to most of the gender-locked male HGs and WIPs that I’ve noticed, the MC is either locked to being some all across the board powerful power fantasy guy, some kind of fighter or, more rarely some kind of military character who isn’t necessarily a fighter in the strict sense. I have zero interest in those first two kind of male MCs and I’m leery of even the third one. With the possible exception of the third of those options, it locks me as a player/reader into a particular box and leaves what I consider to be some of the best parts about this kind of IFs by the wayside.
In the same way, most HGs and WIPs with genderlocked male MC also in other ways strongly “lock” what kind of MC you can play, they even more strongly lcok you to story beats that have usually or maybe even always been used with male protagonists. And in doing so, they take away the opportunity to de facto tell more unusual stories that you can get with COGs,HGs and WIPs with a gender selectable MC and the very important quality of exploring the kind of stories usually mainly read by those of a different gender and with MCs of your own gender. It has given guys the opportunity to experience the romances of romance-based HG series like The Wayhaven Chronicles with a male MC and given girls and women the opportunity to explore a tough action/heist HG series like Breach with a female MC. Having those opportunities, whether you choose to use them or not, enrichens us, and, I’ll even claim, empowers us as players/ and readers and as people in general. And, at least in actual practice, you can only get that particular kind of experience from HGs, WIPs and regular COGs with a gender selectable MC.I have paid less attention to the HGs and WIPs where the MC is genderlocked to female than those where the MC is genderlocked to male, but for those where I’ve read the description, it seems like they’re based on the kind of stories where the protagonist are usually female or even, such as in the case of The Courting of Miss Bennett, being based on an actual (and old) story with a female protagonist. And if those HGs and WIPs are representative of the story beats of the WIPs and HGs with a genderlocked female MC, it creates the same problems as the general trend for HGs and WIPs with genderlocked male MCs.
And I’m worried, if the genderlocked WIPs and HGs should ever become dominant, that we’d end up with a situation where we have HGs that are only(or at least almost only for guys and HGs that are only(or almost ony for women and girls in the same way you have boy toys and girl toys. While there definitely are HG series and standalones that are more popular with girls and women than with guys and vice versa, there are still enough people of the other genders enjoying the gender-selectable HG series and standalones in question that none of those are in danger of becoming an exclusive boys club or girls club. But with genderlocked HGs that is much more of a real danger.
Outside of writers lacking the ability to write MCs with a gender different from their own(which is a valid reason, just like not every writer is able to write a convincing protagonist of a gender different from their own, not every IF will necessary be able to do so either), there are only two situations I can think of where choosing a genderlocked MC over a gender selectable MC when writing a choice-based IF. The first is, like in the Infinity Saga, where both the setting is such that allowing for MCs of more than one gender will require a lot of extra work and the HG or WIP in question is already really extensive in terms of content, so that that there de facto isn’t enough time and space to do that if you ever want it to be finished. The second is when the story as such is about specific issues experienced by people of the gender-locked gender in particular, perhaps also in conjunction witha particular sexual and romantic orientation. A HG or WIP about growing up gay in area where homophobic attitudes and very traditional male values prevailed, for instance, would be an example of such as an HG or WIP, just like an HG or WIP that was about growing up a woman in the Victorian era and wanting to work and create your own life instead of becoming a housewife.
But apart from those cases, I’d say that making the MC gender selectable instead of gender-locked, makes the HG or WIP better and enrichens it. This also extends to HGs and WiPs that explore gender issues, but where the story isn’t only about the experiences of persons of a particular gender. Because, while having the MC being genderlocked to one particular gender in theory(but rarely in practice, I think), can allow the HG or WIP in question to delve more deeply into that gendered experience, a HG or WIP with a gender- selectable MCallows the reader/player to contrast the experiences of those genders, by simply making changes in the narrative based on what gender the MC the reader/player is currently playing has. By making different playthroughs with differently gendered MCs, the reader/player gets a wider experience of the gender relations and other gender issues than you’d get with a genderlocked MC. And I think that’s a better or at least more efficient way of bringing those issues to life.
That is, if you want, the HG or WIP in question to explore those issues instead of just showing a comparatively egalitarian setting that aren’t otherwise to unusual when it comes to gender relations and other gender issues personally prefer it when the HG/WIP in question either don’t really delve into this or does it in a way that is at least kind of original. Let’s be honest, there have been plenty of stories told through the lens of or criticizing older, more patriarchal gender roles and though I can see the arguments for not ignoring them in IF that is explicitly historical, when it comes to insights and experiences. I can get from the story in question, at least when it comes to purely fictional worlds, it wouldn’t really tell me anything I haven’t already learned from regular books and stories. I completely respect those who need to have the experience of being a woman who have to face certain obstacle or otherwise have to deal with gender related issues in order for it to feel more relatable,and other people who feel the need for something similar, though.
Examples of two IFs that handle gender issues in an upfront way that I find interesting and which enhanced my experience as a reader/player is in Shattered Eagle with its matriarchal society ( which, though, not completely original, is a far more rarely used story beat than another sort of patriarchal fantasy society, or Crème de la Crème and its follow ups, with theiregalitarian and apparently no significant gender roles to mention setting. .
