Gender in most CoG games is merely an aesthetic, it doesn’t have any real consequences for the story. Being male, female, transgender, it doesn’t really make a difference. If gender doesn’t have significant impact on the story then I prefer to be able to choose a gender anyway, for custom sake.
However if gender is a main driving force behind a story (e.g. Guinevere) then I don’t mind having a single gender chosen for my MC. I like the feeling of being in someone else’s shoes, living a life I can’t in reality. As long as gender is more than just a meaningless custom aesthetic and actually has a major impact on story and choices then I don’t mind not having gender choice.
IT’S IMPORTANT!!!
I don’t know why people say theres always the choice to play as a male. Like in the game choices there arent enough stories which you can play as a male. For myself I prefer to play a game which you can always choose to play a a male. Oh. not to be offensive or somethin. I am myself a female but I just really like the stories where man… and man can fall in love with eachother.
If you force me to be male do not attempt to force me into a relationship even if my character lives in Ifyoudontgetmarriedyoullbeexecutedica
I will fight you on it. Like that Lords of Aswick bullshit where there are some different times to try and establish a relationship but if you say fuck no it says you’re getting married, having sex, and producing an heir. That flat out made me quit the game and I’ve never went back.
Hell yeah genderlock female but I’m either going to be lesbian or Asexual.
Personally, I just like to at least have the option. That’s all. I don’t really have an elaborate spill about it. I just like having the choice and being able to feel like it’s actually my own character that I made.
I enjoy being able to chose. Not having a gender option makes me feel trapped. I do play gender-locked games it they interest me. Often I enjoy them but there have been instances of me just quitting halfway because it just didn’t feel right.
I greatly appreciate the non-binary option. I’ve rarely played it, but having it there just makes me feel better.
I prefer chosing, but if the game have to be genderlocked, I’m only interested if the MC is female, and can romance guys. Otherwise, I’m automatically disinterested.
Is simply a personal block: I can’t anymore bother to get into a game with choices if the protagonist have to be male. I tryed playng some stuff, but I always end up unistalling the game.
If there are no choices, like in books and movies, I have no problems: I’m watching the story of a character, not “my” character.
For me it’s really important to be able to play as my preferred gender (female), but even now days I find that simply genderlocking games to males is more common than anything else. I feel like I have put up with this bullsh*t with male genderlocked protagonists for long enough and now I wouldn’t play such games anymore.
Edit: And no, I don’t want to insert myself in the game, I never do that and probably never will, but when I create OCs even if there are no other similarities I prefer them to at least be of the same gender as I am.
I don’t mind too much if it’s genderlocked, as long as it’s not too focused on the MC’s gender. I prefer to play as NB, but I won’t mind too much if it’s a good story.
Yes. Id say so. Especially so in a cog game. Where narrative and character choice are big draw. Its the perfect platform to explore the female or nb characters point of view.
I understand this can be much harder for (smaller) game studios as resources must be allocated to model rigging and voice work but since this is mostly text based. I dont see why not.
(Miss me with that “b-but historical accuracy!” crap please. Genre exploration and breaking conventions are great ways for the gaming medium to grow and evolve anyways.)
If you simply dont wish to make an effort of inserting a female / other gender mc, just say so. We understand that not all authors have the time or passion.
Edit: If this came off as a tad abrasive then please do excuse me.
Guess it’s been a while since I played that game, but can someone tell me why it was necessary for A Study in Steampunk to be genderlocked? I don’t remember of any part of the game which couldn’t have worked with a female protagonist. Maybe some scenes would have needed a bit more changes than just simply changing the pronouns, but nothing what couldn’t be done with a little more effort from the author.
I understand Cataphraks reasons for genderlocking the Infinity series, but this one… Nope, I don’t get it.
Well, i wouldn’t say the choice in itself is important but i do have a dislike to playing female characters, so i would probably avoid a female genderlocked story
In a world where most video games don’t have female playable characters it’s hugely important for me to have the choice to be a woman. Representation is incredibly important for me. Not having gender choice is a turn-off for me.
If it is a game where “I” am supposed to be the protagonist, then of course it is important to have a gender choice. However, I find such games largely curiously bland… as if I am reading a novel with no protagonist… or, to be more precise, a protagonist who is so malleable as to be faceless. I can truly enjoy such games only if they are completely goal-oriented. But in that case, what is the point of character customization at all?
On the other hand, if the protagonist is a fully fleshed out character then gender-locking is almost a necessity. I prefer such games, regardless of which sex the protagonist is. I play games and read novels precisely in order to get into someone else’s skin, to see the world through someone else’s eyes, a different perspective. When i play tabletop RPGs I usually create characters which are physically and mentally as far away from me as possible. I live in my own character my whole life. I enjoy fiction (interactive and otherwise) exactly for the opportunity to escape my own persona for a while.
So… I like to play fully fleshed out characters, gender and sexual-orientation included. Ideally, I would prefer authors to offer a range of pre-created fully fleshed out protagonists for players to choose from rather than your bog-standard and dull-as-dishwater RPG character creation system. I would love a game which I could replay as, for an extreme example, a homophobic bigot and then as a gender-fluid progressive. If the game is not challenging me and even making me uncomfortable at some point, then I find it lacking in interest… unless we’re talking giant robots bashing each other that is.
In all honesty I don’t play games that force me to play a female character. Reason being I am a male so it makes it hard to related. If you can’t related yourself with a prota in a cog or hosted game you can’t enjoy it. Plus it kinda ruins the principle of u gender lock a game on a platform which takes pride in giving it’s users lots of choices… kinda ironic right?
This is getting a little off topic, but… as a gay player, I don’t feel “challenged” when I’m forced into playing a straight character. I know what it’s like to pretend to be straight. I’ve played that game a lot (and even lived it for too long). I feel uncomfortable enough in the real world; I don’t want to have to in games, too. Meanwhile, straight players aren’t forced into playing gay roles unless they’ve gone out of their way to find gay-themed VNs.
I would also say that there’s no discrepancy between having a preset character and letting the player choose the gender or sexuality of that character. Just because a character is (for example) super flirtatious doesn’t mean they have to be a straight male; they could be a straight woman, or a gay guy, or anything, really.
Also, I would very strongly recommend not letting the player play a bigoted character, since that could be seen as implicitly condoning that bigotry.
In choices I played some femmc only books just to get diamonds.