The problem with selected orientation is that block romances. Then player notices that maybe my character is interested in X even if is not that gender.
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i don’t think there’s any one good way to ask an nb person about their orientation without just asking “who are you attracted to?” there are so many labels, a lot of them only pertaining to one group of nb people.
ex. some(often femme-leaning) nbs attracted to women call themselves lesbians, but this is not applicable to all of them
if possible i’d just try to avoid outright asking someone about their sexuality. if this is relevant in a game mechanics perspective, like if you have genderflippable ROs, just find some sneaky way of asking who they’re into 
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I directly let you customize RO due to story reasons.
My problem is being an Android late in the game you will able to say I am X as a way to demand that you are a living being. I don’t know how to express the gender-fluid and not sound badly.
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How are you expressing the other genders?
I actually disagree with this. Traits that are strictly cosmetic like skin, eye, and hair color are things to do with physical appearance that would, mostly, have flavor text that only touches on them as a physical trait. Sexual preference/orientation is a trait that is expressed and experienced by the character and something that would be integral to the story and character interactions if a player chooses to romance someone. Big difference, it’s definitely not cosmetic. And for that reason, I don’t think it’s necessary to provide it as a choice.
Obviously some players like being able to choose it! But making it an in-game choice is less important (and less flexible imo) then just letting players romance who they want. When the choice is there in-game, though, I do think it’s better off being tracked behind the scenes like @HomingPidgeon said.
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Well, I haven’t yet written that part but in planning. I have that you decide that you are a man/woman/ nb (You can via a machine change your body appearance to look human) However, I want to give the choice to feel you are not only one, that you change
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As a trans guy, I’d say there aren’t any major differences with a cis character or a trans character except the trans one will feel dysphoria. Mostly with undressing or related to intercourse. And if pre- everything, that’d be an all time low in that sense.
I guess, game-wise, it could translated to reacting about their height (tall for mtf or short for ftm) in a resigned way, chest area or somthing in a more romantic or sexual context, but other than that, nothing’s different.
But self-confidence’s also part of that, so it wouldn’t completely apply to everyone in that sense. Some tall mtf might have come to terms with their heights, while some other could be really self conscious about it.
But if it’s not something the author want to write about more precisely, I’d just avoid it altogether, as it isn’t that necessary if the story and characters are strong by themselves, just a cool added feature if it were to be included.
Basically, if the MC or character’s ‘‘transness’’ doesn’t plan on getting acknowledged or somewhat mentioned in the story, there are no differences whatsoever.
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Agreed with the above. Also, Of course I can only speak for me (trans woman) but I do not feel I behave any differently than a cis woman. And really I feel me being trans is such a small, very small thing about me I rarely every feel the need to point out I am trans.
The only times I would behave differently than a cis woman and point it out would be if I wish to pursue someone romantically and want them to know before I go further. (Actually think that would be an interesting scene to have with ROs) and of course during trans discussions like these.
To be honest I’ve never chosen trans woman as my mc gender in these choice of games because I was worried it would be calling it out too much, or be no different than the cis woman option, so what’s the point? (Especially since if I did play as a trans woman she would look indistinguishable from a cis woman)
So for me the “hollow vessel just like a cis person” works for a trans character just as well. There’s such little differences compared to cis and trans.
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I apologize for the late reply. I feel like I worded my post and I feel like me using word “cosmetic” and comparing it to skin color was a really bad comparison and really oversimplified things.
I mainly put it in so that the player will be able to further broadcast themselves onto their character.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll make the game track the player’s chosen orientation in the background for the numerous reasons you both gave.
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I’d second this. Personally, I always found it odd, with non-game like stories, finding a way of asking the reader what sexuality they are. Best to let it flow naturally, really, unless a character’s sexuality does come up in conversation. shrugs
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I just wanted to add to this that I personally also enjoy when I don’t have to have a declared orientation at any point, for the reasons noted before by hotmess and DavidGil. I do believe most players are fine with that since that means they can just experience the story you have for them.
As an additional alternative for your question in specific though, and something I have not seen before, you could also consider having it in the Stats screen as “Has demonstrated attraction to: …”.
Reason I mention that possibility is because it both displays the information you want to make available, while not expressing to the player that they might be gated out of further romancing outside what they’ve done so far if they so wish (plus it avoids using sexuality labels that might not fit).
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Agreed with those above. Especially Bet with ‘‘being able to tell them if you are trans’’ rather than it just being a thing in your bio that does nothing. The option’s cool, sure, but kinda pointless if it doesn’t change anything.
If you pick your childhood gender and than change it while growing in-game, I’d say that works story-wise though, kinda the best thing I’ve seen so far to implement that.
As for the sexuality discussion, I personally prefer to have a ‘‘pick your sexuality option’’ 'ven though lots of the time its added in a very awkward/unnatural way. Like randomly thinking about it in the middle of nowhere or peeping around… always found that weird and creepy respectively.
'mostly only like the options since I sometimes flirt with characters of the opposite sex while not being attracted to them, and I’d imagine I could flirt while being locked out of their romance.
But so far I’ve yet to see a game where you can flirt with someone your MC isn’t attracted to and it not triggering the romance. So I tend to intentionally avoid 'em as to not have to awkwardly turn them down without saying why my MC actually isn’t into it.
For example, in the wip the passenger, I usually flirt with F!Roach and it triggers her romance, but I can’t say ‘‘I ain’t into girl’’. I just awkwardly tell the other guy I’m gonna stop ‘‘pursuing her’’ since I clearly am not doing that for real, in my head.
Or in creme de la creme, I flirt around but I trigger romances with girls that start flirting back, but I can’t say ‘‘nope, don’t bat for your team, sorry’’
Other examples: the romance gets greyed out or the characters are all male/female.
But that might just be a pet peeve, since that makes sense that the authors wouldn’t assume you’d flirt with people you don’t wanna purse.
I guess I’d be cooler too if you could pick the other character’s genders without it relying on your sexual or romantic preference or being able to tell the ROs you ain’t into them (either because you’re gay or just not actually interested and/or joke-flirting) if you start flirting with everyone.
That being said, some games handle it better than others, so kudos to those improvements.
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How do Non-binary people feel when a close friend/significant other who is cis-gender asks them how it feels like to be Non-binary?
- Should it even be included in the game?
- If yes, what kind of answers would should be available?
- How will it affect a relationship?
- Any other tips regarding such an event?
I mainly did this because I saw some Non-binary people say that they don’t like it when a game just slaps on they/them pronouns and moves on and that’s completely understandable.
I apologize if this post comes off as unintentionally insensitive/ ignorant and please feel free to say so if that’s the case. Thank you in advanced for anyone who responds.
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Yeah, I wouldn’t do that.
Nonbinary is so many things that I can say right now that you would not be able to give the mc satisfying options for answers.
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The way to avoid that is to let the player specify the MC’s pronouns for themselves. I’ve also seen games allow a nonbinary MC to “lean” towards one gender or another (“I’ll say I’m a man,” “it’s complicated, but ‘man’ is close enough,” that sort of thing), and if your game has things like clothing styles or outfits, make sure the options aren’t related to gender. Nonbinary identity isn’t automatically androgynous, is the main thing.
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IMO, it’s such a weird question to begin with. “What does it feel like to be a woman?” It doesn’t feel like anything, it just is.
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Thank your for your feedback. I’ll take note of that.
I have implemented some of the things you labeled already (mainly the clothing styles. They don’t explicitly mention the MC’s clothing, just how they describe it), but thanks for the other suggestions. I’ll take not of them
You’ve given me some food for thought. Thank you for the insight.
Alright, I had suspicions that this may be a bad idea and I’m going to keep it out of the game. Thank you all for your feedback and I again apologize if I came off as insensitive.
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There was a scene like this in creme de la creme but with asexuality that made me, an asexual (who also chose the asexual option in the game) really happy. Like just the option of getting an extra choice that’s like “I get what you mean, I’m asexual too” made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I can’t speak for NB/Trans and ppl who don’t confirm to gender, but personally I think it is a pretty good idea to give player characters who are marginalised special bonding moments with marginalised characters in the story.
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Was that the after-vacation scene with Gonzalez?
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Don’t remember when the scene happened but yes, it was with Gonzalez.
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Non-binary person here, and honestly? There’s no one way to write an enby character. I can also only speak personally as an enby from an American background, fyi.
Most of the time, I’m fine with just, MCs who happen to be non-binary. Mostly I get nit picky if the word-style of the story is also not inclusive, somehow? (Example, “men and women” instead of “people” or something. I hate seeing this in stories tagged as “non-binary inclusive”)
But I definitely would feel happier if there were some details here and there, it would make it feel more real, you know? For example, maybe ask for more details for nby MCs. Some will have chosen a new name, new pronouns, new clothing, and have to come out to those or deal with people who don’t know yet. Some have surgery
or HRT, but not all. So maybe some small details to pepper in could be something like…the MC wakes up in the morning and goes through their routine, including their shot/patch/gel however they take HRT (if they take it, that is.) In fantasy settings I just accept when complete strangers know my MCs pronouns, but IRL I wear a pin to show it. (No one tends to read it though, it’s mostly just for my own comfort.) Because it’s literally impossible to “pass” as non-binary, there’s also some misgendering whenever I go outside (if you include this in your story make sure to include a warning for it!)
A lot of cis authors seem to write as though non-binary is just…one thing? When it’s not? It’s a general term for anyone who isn’t 100% male or female, 100% percent of the time. Someone who has no gender can be non-binary (agender). Someone who’s male one day, but female another day, can also be non-binary (bigender/genderfluid/etc). Someone who’s only partially one gender can also be non-binary (demigenders). There’s many identities out there, it’s a shame when authors only present it as being neutrios or agender. (Also there’s more than just those three I’ve made examples of.)
Hope this helps at all? I know I didn’t add a lot, but I wanted to avoid saying things like “it HAS to be this and CANNOT be this” which just isn’t true. It’s really too diverse to just list things out, but these are just some of the more common things I notice never get written about, so I’m pitching it in here ^-^
Edit: The Passenger did something with this that I liked a lot. You start out as a baby (well, sort of…but disregarding the plot for a moment,) so you inherently start of as the sex of your MC, male or female (intersex wasn’t included though.) Later on, there’s a moment when talking with the MCs sister when you have the chance to come out as trans/nby. You can chose a new name and pronouns, and then the sister says she’ll make sure to pass it onto their mother. I thought this was pretty neat, as I’ve always hated it when the game is like, “even as a one-day old infant, both the infant and parents knew they were enby”. Idk, maybe other enbys are fine with that, but it’s not for me personally.
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