New Hosted Game! "Moonrise" by Natalie Cannon

I’m not 100% sure, but other than The Courting of Miss Bennett (which is literally Pride and Prejudice) I think this is the only female/nb genderlocked game we’ve ever published on Hosted Games.

People have gone to the ends of the earth to defend male genderlocked games on this forum, and the reactions here are just…shocking to me.

ETA: It also reinforces, to whatever extent, that there seems to be very little brand distinguishment in the minds of many users between Hosted Games and Choice of Games.

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The game says it’s “by a queer woman and for queer women and femme nonbinary folk”. It’s a shame that you found this so outrageous, but it’s hardly falsely advertised, and there are plenty of other Hosted Games to explore where you can play as a male character. Take a look and see if you like them!

Congratulations @NMCannon on the release! I love queer women and femmes, and werewolves, so this is awesome to see. I hope creating it was a valuable experience!

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Genderlocking as a whole tends to be really divisive. The takeaways seem like they are largely already-known issues.

-Inhibiting player freedom in customizing MCs is typically not a popular move.
-Customers never let things being explicitly stated in the description stop them from downloading or purchasing and then complaining about those things being present/absent.

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I mean, yeah, clearly divisive. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that what’s apparently fine for the goose to deal with is not at all fine for the gander.

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I get not liking this because you can’t identify as female or nonbinary, but like Mary stated there are only TWO whole games from HG that are gender locked. Two games that came out along with Moonrise are not genderlocked and if you are upset that you like this story or want to play as a werewolf without restrictions there is another one called Werewolves: Haven Rising I believe.

I get it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but its nice to see games in general for a group that rarely has anything catered to them in the game industry even during progressive times.

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I find it amusing that someone actually made an account to give comment that they dislike non-male game, while the game itself is clearly intended for non-male. Life never cease of drama.

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The thread about whether genderlocking to male is a good idea showcased how unpopular the idea was with a lot of people before it got locked around the thousand-post mark. And there was no reason to think the response to the MC being genderlocked to female would be more measured and rational; if anything, I’d expect the inverse. You can’t beat a modern-day misogynist for sheer amount and virulence of vitriol expelled.

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I’m sorry but I have to disagree entirely.

It was my understanding that the discussions on genderlocking games gravitated toward the idea that while genderlocking is something to be avoided and should not he the default for Hosted Games, it also was very unfair that—at the time of the discussions—there weren’t any female locked Hosted Games, a fact that many people agreed should be recitified.

So here we are, rectifying the situation. While I can certainly say that I expected this level of vitrol in the review section of the appstores, I cannot say that I expected this community, one that champions feminist ideologies as strongly as it does, to allow this game to be so torn on the mere basis of genderlocking.

Honestly, I’m more appalled that there aren’t more regular members of the community voicing support for this game on here. They don’t have to like it, but surely this community understands why this game exists in the first place? Why is it that when a safe space is actually being attacked that rather than be defended, we’re told that we should have known better than to expect misogyny? Of course I expected misogyny, my mere existence as a woman attracts misogynistic comments like moths to a flame, so I completely understand the triggers of it far more intimately than I believe you might be giving people credit for. But what I was expecting was more of a pushback from the community to counterbalance that misogyny.

And yet I’m left here wondering where the hell this community went.

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Unfortunately even in 2019 I still see and hear comments how misogyny is to be expected. Even as this world becomes progressive there are still those that oppose to women being lead roles in games or having any sort of power. I loathe that the idea of people being opposed to such ideas and roles are still common and that I have to be told “Hey it’s going to happen”, but as a female gamer who was told on a multiplayer game “Oh you love video games? Name five.” I realize we haven’t progressed that far and I still need to defend myself and other women from these sorts of comments. Sometimes I feel numb like this is a norm in society and it shouldn’t be.

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A game like this needed to be made and I’m glad it exists. I’d like to see more.

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I have a lot to say but I found it better to keep my silence. I will say, however, (at the risk of sounding just aweful) if you can’t get behind this being fem-oriented locked… then just go play another game. There are plenty for yall to play if this one rubs you the wrong way or makes you feel excluded. A very simple solution to what shouldn’t even be a problem.

I have no sympathy for the people who feel this way when they have a whole market available to them.

Anyways, this game is very good so far and I’m 100% in love with this!! Best wishes to the author and I’d love to play another game written by her!!

//pardon, I’m on mobile

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Congratulations @NMCannon on the release of your game. It is not my cup of tea but it isn’t meant to be it is clearly written for a certain audience and I only wish you nothing but success in it.

Welcome to the world of a Hosted Games author.

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God, I understand this sentiment far too well.
And I think that’s why I’ve been gunning so hard for this game since Natalie first started writing it. This game, and other games like it, is exactly the type of game that’s needed just for the tired and exhausted minorities to stretch their legs in and feel powerful, even if for a fleeting moment.
I wish more than anything that this results in more people writing games for their niche, as nothing will quite hit that itch as an author to understands the pains you’ve gone through just to be here, and gives you the chance to feel powerful like you never have before.

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I will continue to defend writers and developers who continue making content like Moonrise and I’m glad you and others have as well.

Like I stated before you don’t need to love this game, but when I saw someone specifically make an account just to talk badly about this game it just reminded me that there are people, unfortunately almost all men, that will attack anything that caters to a woman or LGBT because they apparently don’t have enough? It’s just…tiring.

If you can’t identify to a character because they aren’t your gender, race, or sexuality I’m sorry, but for those that can identify as them and are actually so happy a game out there exists please let them be happy about it.

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Until we have an equal amount of male and female (let’s not pretend that non-binary genders will ever have a chance to catch up with either of those two), complaining about a game will be female locked and say that the author or the company hates transmen and or men, is just flat out mysgonistic.

I don’t like genderlocked games, but it is a fact that there is a lot of male genderlocks and when we point that out we always get attacked and told to not pressure the author. The same should be true here.

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I get what is being said. I will however always prefer the freedom if choice and likewise I will always defend the authors freedom to write whatever the fuck they want even if it’s not for me. <3

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You are free to have your preferences and not like something, the important part is that you are kind enough to allow others to like it without making them feel this hosted game is an attack on Male readers from what previous people have commented on here and on the store page. It’s very appreciated, really.

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I feel like one of the things that saddens and frustrates me the most, is that games like Moonrise, War of the Gods, and tons of other HGs and CoGs primarily get tanked because they tried something different. You always see readers clamoring for something new and unique, yet when anyone tries anything remotely off the beaten path, they’re promptly eviscerated like 90% of the time. And then people wonder why many authors choose to stick to tried and true methods and story styles.

Maybe most importantly, people just can’t read the descriptions to save their lives. -_- They get enraged when War of the Gods is short, despite it having a 85k word count and touting 8 different branches. They got furious over Moonrise not having a male gender option when that’s literally part of the selling point. And they lose their minds about The Magician’s Burden being a slice of life when it’s explicitly stated to be a slice of life.

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This, as the kids say.

I’m also struggling to place this kind of behavior/reaction against the commentary I often see about how much better Hosted Games are than Choice of Games. And not just the games, the philosophy behind Hosted Games–people seem to love that the company will publish anything that fits into a pretty broad set of standards. But, apparently only as long as the Hosted Games in question are long, not genderlocked or genderlocked to male, and for straight and cis people.

At the risk of singling out the community member of who started this discussion: the first comment on a thread sets the tone as well as the direction of the conversation. I appreciate that they’ve changed their tune somewhat, but I think we can collectively do better. The last time I ate at a restaurant my review of the pasta dish was not “this was ruined by not being rice.”

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I feel like it’s always a 50/50 chance when you try to create something new on how people will react to it. I’ve played games since I was 8 and let me tell you how tiring it was to play as the same light skinned Male character as the protag that I never felt like I connected with as a girl. When they started adding female protagonists and options to choose your ethnicity I was happy, but that just opened frustration and hate from those that say “I’m tired of sjws taking over games!”.

This isn’t about anyone trying to erase a gender or race, it’s giving people more options to feel like they are part of that story and world. If you don’t want to play as a woman, non binary, or anything at all that doesn’t apply to you then there are plenty of other games to pick from.

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