And Versus.
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There are two issues at play here, and I think you’re arguing for writer freedom. I don’t think anyone is trying to enslave writers and force them to write for every new gender identity and orientation tumblr comes up with every week. I’m certainly not. I have a hard enough writing dudes in my own hobby projects, I have no idea how to write a female or trans MC, much less their perspective on a romantic relationship. Kudos to writers who try, and extra kudos to those that are skilled enough to do it well.
What we’re talking about is what we, the customer, with money want to see. The CoG/HG market seems to have a high percentage of minority sexualities and gender identities.
If you usually get what you want, then whatever their marketing messaging is now works for you or you don’t read/care, and they get your money. Questions about targeted messaging are to get minorities’ money.
I do UX and am marketing adjacent. The product and the message are not the same thing. This isn’t a product discussion. You could have the greatest product in the world, but you can’t expect consumers to go sniffing it out, buy it, then experiment with it to see if they want it. That’s not really how any product-to-customer system works. Think of the blurb in the app store as box. Should it have a clear window or not?
People on this forum are kind of a captive audience. They’re already actively engaged, keep up on releases, and will buy a high percentage. I can’t guess at actual numbers, but maybe there are 1,000 CoG/HG customers that purchase stories per every person that is active on the forum. For every poster that wouldn’t buy a game if it didn’t explicitly say they can have a gay romance, or they’ll be forced to have a romance they don’t want as a plot device, that’s 1,000 customers that may not give up their money out in the rest of the world.
Writers should do what they want. Whether that is 100% only what they enjoy writing, or use demographic research to guide content to a wider paying audience. Up to them. That’s their own debate.
This is about what the box should look like.
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I kinda disagree with this.If they do it as hobby and only for themselfes then sure they can do whatever they want. But when they share it publicly and they even expect money for it then they should be extra careful not to disappoint their audience.
Like noone likes to spend money for something what’s not really worth it, but the advertisement promises more than what customers actually get.
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With non-binary characters, options like “gay” and “straight” can be challenging. In The Martian Job I wanted the PC to decide if they are interested in each romanceable character individually, unless they say they aren’t interested in romance at all. There are two women, one man, and one non-binary romance options, plus two others whose genders are determined by player choice or action (non-binary, female, or male), The copy I wrote describing it was:
Play as non-binary, female, or male, as ace/aro or as monogamous or poly, and find romance with people of all genders.
Seemed like the most clear way of describing the options. 
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Then nobody buys it and they’re a financial failure.
Or they get few views and lots of critical comments.
No one can force someone to be successful. 
(I don’t think anyone here is suggesting misrepresenting content. Just how to best represent romantic (or not) content.)
Whereas I write on the principle that, “If I disappointed them, there’s a pretty decent chance they weren’t my audience.”
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Pursue romantic relationships or nor is fine for me if it is a choice of games one, since having gender or choice to romance anyone is always included, if it’s a hosted games i would like the clarification of play as bi, gay, straight or aroace
I think seeing terminology like that would alleviate my concerns, as it certainly sounds inclusive and at least implies that you can find romance with multiple genders whatever your own gender is, just my putting it following “Play as nonbinary, female, or male.”
Plus saying “find romance” rather than “pursue” sounds a lot more, well, romantic 
So…
…Yeah, I think this fits.
Phrasings like this will have my vote
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“People of all genders” would have my vote, too. And no, I don’t think it implies a need to include every possible gender identity, because there are (and always have been) many more of them than people think.
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But my guess would be that really isn’t anyones goal who tries to make money out of these games. Otherwise all of them would be free or at least handled the way Vampire House was where you can play free then you have to wait if you want another free playthrough.
@Havenstone then I guess it’s a lucky coincidance that what you wanted to write seems so popular then again I guess that the public WIP must have only helped to make the game into something what’s liked by so many people. There must be reason why your game and @malinryden’s game seem to be more popular than many of those which authors decided to only do private beta testing.
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I think “play as gay, straight, bi, or asexual” is the description to use if it is an accurate description. The other way is more open-ended and broad, but is your game that open-ended and broad? If your game only covers a specific and defined range then describe that specific and defined way in a specific and defined manner
I think that’s a good writing principle, but advertising should tell the reader whether or not they’re your audience so they know not to buy it. Then sometimes they’ll buy it anyways and leave a one star review complaining that it isn’t aimed at people it isn’t aimed at.
Some things can’t be helped.
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