I’m non-binary myself as well as bisexual, so I can’t speak for people who identify as the L or the G in LGBT. I do know that people who identify as NB sometimes have partners who are gay or lesbian, though, and I know it’s often the kind of thing that ultimately is left up to individuals and not always based on presentation. But I don’t have the luxury of claiming it’s up to individuals lol… am I overthinking this? Probably. There’s probably an obvious answer that I’m just not seeing.
My three potential courses of action are:
I let NBs romance same-sex attracted characters with no stipulations.
I create a ‘presentation’ variable wherein my gay male RO is only interested in men & nb masc-presenting people. (There would be 3 presentation types- masc/fem/andro).
I don’t do either of those things and I keep my same-sex specific ROs only attracted to the binary genders.
Obviously this is a very nuanced topic, and I’m probably not doing it justice. Just looking for input, even if that input is, ‘duh?’
From what I’ve seen when a character is romanceable by a nonbinary player. The author usually gives the person romancable the sexuality of pansexual. From my experience anyway. Either that or they dont give ro’s specific sexualitys. Maybe it would be a good idea to make the ro’s more attracted to certain body features? Like attracted to more masculine/feminine/androgynous body types. therefore a RO who is gay may be just interested in a masculine body so a non binary player who chose a more masculine body the RO would be attracted to them? rather than the persons gender? i hope none of this came off as offensive, i was just trying to think of a solution that could be viable coding wise.
Although now that i have thought about this it seems invalid if because a female player chose to have a more masculine body than the gay RO could end up attracted to them. Oof this is tough
Still saying the easiest way is to not have any ‘i’m this and this’ choice in terms of sexuality and just have an npc flirt etc after enough friendly interactions and let the player then decide if they’re interested.
The issue with that is that it doesn’t address the issue at hand, which is about the sexualities of the NPCs, not the player character.
I’ve seen some games allow a nonbinary MC to “lean” one way or another. “I’m a man,” “it’s complicated, but I’m close enough to a man,” “I’m nonbinary”, that sort of thing. Perhaps the simplest way to handle it would be having that spread in the gender selection and then having gay NPCs alright to be romanced by their gender and “their gender adjacent” MCs. It is not at all a perfect solution, but it’s something to consider.
Depeding on your number of ROs, it could also be on a case by case basis. Some could only be available to MCs who share their gender identity, some could also be available to nonbinary players.
As someone that is only ‘‘same-sex attracted’’ I’d say it’s not a good idea.
Kinda defeats the point of being gay, doesn’t it? Bi or pan would be fine, but gay is a really hard pass for me.
So I’d vote option 3.
I really think that all depends on the type of game and the importance you as a writer give to romances. If romance is not the main focus on the game I think simple is better and not put labels. Mostly because you can’t make truly justice to real representation.
I think this is more for Heart’s choice. Where NB are the main focus. That is were the deepest romance and representation should be placed as is an entire game focused on romance and Npc interaction.
But games about action save the world with 8 or nine RO in 100k simply has no depth to give Justice to anything specific.
In my game, I have one romance route that is for the gay male MC only. I chose not to also the allow non-binary MC to romance him for two reasons:
1.) I didn’t want the female MC to be the only one without three romance options.
2.) I didn’t feel like it worthwhile to create an in-game explanation about why the gay RO would be interested in someone who didn’t identify and present as a man since the focus of the game isn’t on romance.
In a different story, I might’ve taken the time to explore that, but romance is incidental to this story, not integral. I felt like the focus should be on character friendships, not romantic relationships, and that both waiving why the gay RO would date a non-binary person that doesn’t present as a man but not a woman or explaining in-depth why he would didn’t serve the purpose of the story.
Still saying the easiest way is to not have any ‘i’m this and this’ choice in terms of sexuality and just have an npc flirt etc after enough friendly interactions and let the player then decide if they’re interested.
This isn’t really answering the question I’m asking. Yeah, this is definitely the way I’m structuring the romances- a few of the NPCs show interest up front, at which point you can be like no thanks, but there’s not really an option to say, I’m gay! and have that be a game mechanic rather than just there for flavor/character bonding in a scene. I’m more asking about the sexualities of the NPCs rather than the PC.
As someone that is only ‘‘same-sex attracted’’ I’d say it’s not a good idea.
Kinda defeats the point of being gay, doesn’t it? Bi or pan would be fine, but gay is a really hard pass for me.
I am concerned that there’s an implication here that would also require me to block access to these L/G characters if the PC indicates that they’re trans. If that implication doesn’t exist, then I’ll take this feedback into account.
Edit: Glad to know my fears here are misplaced. Thanks for the clarification!
I’ve seen some games allow a nonbinary MC to “lean” one way or another. “I’m a man,” “it’s complicated, but I’m close enough to a man,” “I’m nonbinary”, that sort of thing.
I think this is the way I’m going to end up going. Obviously not all NB people are 100% (or even 1%) androgynous, and not everyone can tell when someone is NB. Giving the player the option to “lean” to a particular gender might work out best.
I think with this I’d also probably plan on having the gay male RO/lesbian RO ask if it makes the PC uncomfortable that they’re attracted to them, given that they’re typically only attracted to men/women.
Okay good lol. Sorry, I’m just extra sensitive about that kind of thing. I’m new to these forums, so I don’t know what the running commentary is like, either.
I’d go with option 2 in your case.
Have you checked ‘the eagle’s heir’ and how they handle how the char represents? would that be wokring for your game?
That was a fun game, and I’d love to play more master of disguise characters like that. But being a master of disguise does not necessarily make the character ambiguous about their gender or sexuality. My mc there was a gay man in spite of the fact that he loves acting and disguise and can use that to pull of playing a damned convincing lady when he feels it is to his advantage for the job at hand.
