I don’t like it when you are forced to have a crush on someone and can’t really choose not to like them from the start.
Like in Psy High where you were forced to have a crush on Tyler/Taylor who was a jerk and the story forces you to choose them , and if you choose your childhood friend you suddenly say I love them even though it was never mentioned before at all.
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To be fair, maybe Taylor/Tyler was meant to make a point about peer pressure? It’s kinda an anvilicious way to go about it but it makes some sense for the story to have opposing views within the group instead of being strictly teens-against-brainwashing.
I agree though. Felt the same way about Black Magic in Heroes Rise.
My answer is actually a combination of these, really! Basically, “I don’t like it, but I might still play the game” is accurate… but it’s also “okay only if I can pick the SO’s gender.” Not being able to do so would be a dealbreaker, so I selected that, as the most restrictive accurate answer.
Being able to customize multiple aspects would also help, though. But the gender would be the factor that makes or breaks it, because no way am I being forced into a hetero relationship 
Being able to choose how I feel about it would be pretty darn necessary for immersion, though… and having someone else available as a romance option would help… in general, I don’t usually like it when there’s only one romance option, so it’s either that one person or nothing, though I realize the more ROs, the more work on the author 
I mean, I also kinda like the idea of having an optional preset significant other, so like you can decide that the MC is already married or dating at the beginning of the game. This is also more inclusive for aromantic people 
Or if you’re in a situation where you want a character with that kind of history and commitment with the MC, you could have someone who’s preset as a significant relationship, but you could choose between “spouse, dating, good friend, relative,” etc.? 
I hadn’t thought of this case, but yeah, I think that’d work for me too. I’d say the key difference is that it’s not forcing a romantic relationship on the main character, but rather a social relationship.
(For that matter, Choice of the Petal Throne includes an arranged marriage plotline, where you can choose whether or not to go through with it.)
You know, I never minded the crush in Psy High when I played it myself, but I’ve realized on seeing other people’s reactions how that was really very personal to me. Basically, I just had a major tendency in college to get shallow and hormonal crushes on guys bascally at the drop of a hat, which felt rather similar to how the crush in Psy High was depicted… so I was really enjoying playing my character as cluelessly crushing, but then realizing as soon as they actually talked how shallow these feelings were.
But I’m seeing that a lot of people didn’t experience crushes that way, and it was particularly exclusive to anyone wanting to play as asexual; the game was really making that impossible. So I wonder if it could’ve had all that hormonal content just by asking the MC whether they got that kind of reaction—I don’t think it would’ve detracted from anyone who does want to play a boy/girl-crazy teen who’s not quite thinking clearly 
I think it may just be because of expectations coming into the game? Like, I enjoyed Slammed!, despite not being at all into wrestling, and my character by necessity had pretty different interests from me, but I knew going into it that my main character would be into wrestling So, like, if you were to play a game that advertised itself as being about, say, the experiences and choices of being in a marriage, then I don’t think anyone would find it objectionable to discover that they had to play a married character. Some people might not be inclined to buy the game in the first place, but that’s a different matter
(I actually could find that rather interesting… as long as there’s gender choice…)
…Also what @Fiogan says
I’d say that the least immersive example (in my experience) was Choice of the Rockstar, where near the end your character is suddenly in a relationship (at least with a gender based on your orientation) who never appeared before, without even the excuse that this was an established relationship before the game began. It was… jarring.
It read to me more as a point about how romance and infatuation are different things, but maybe that says more about me when I was playing the game than anything else, I don’t know 
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Well, I would say that most of these games do let you choose your MC’s personality (or at least keep it vague enough to let the reader see themselves in the MC), which is why then forcing them to get with a character they might not like is pretty immersion-breaking.
Oddly, I do agree with this; I didn’t mind having a crush that much at all, even on someone who turned out to be a jerk. Obviously, if he’d been a forced boyfriend, I’d’ve disliked it a lot.
Now I am glad I never played that… 
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Was Tyler/Taylor in Psy High actually a jerk? I can’t remember, I think I was too busy getting with Carl/a. LOL
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Pretty much, yeah, although “shallow” might be a more accurate descriptor. They’re narrow-minded about psychics, just want you to be normal, and also no matter what, if you got into a relationship with them, they will dump you in the end.
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You really can’t account for everyone here, without making it shallow or repeatedly editing stuff. Which would also lead to a clutter somewhere. And then if your going with the whole inclusive shin-dig, then you have to learn about what to put and overall sounds like a pain that I’m sure not many reasonable people expect of an author.
I saw them and wondered why I liked them when I had someone who played video games with me.
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No way! Even if you opt to give up your powers??? Geeze, I knew something about them rubbed me the wrong way.
Ah… the video game test. All you need to know if your SO is the right one for you, honestly-- Lol! 
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It’s honestly like the only thing you need to put on your dating profile, “I like video games” done. You’re matched forever till death to us part.
Also, it is good to confirm you shower at least once a year. Just saying.
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I’m not a fan of “forced feelings” in games with choices.
So basically I don’t like starting a game with my character already in a relationship, expecially if the game force me to care for this “nobody-who-I-should-adore-because-reasons”.
Exception to the rules are: fake relationships (if the other one is actually you collegue and you are two undercover agent that have to play the part of being a couple) or is a forced marriage, or even the protagonist is amnesiac and doesn’t have memory of the patner. Basically, any excuse to have the MC and RO start a journey to became an actual couple.
Because one of the thing I enjoy the most is see the relationship grow during the story, so I can learn, with the MC, to know the RO and see them build a relationship.
With a pre-made relationship I don’t have the build up to care about it. Plus, if I end up not liking the RO, I would ask myself for the entire game “why did I even entered in a relationship with, you? Remind me, please!” 
The most important thing is that, owever, these RO have a solid personality, and are writter first as characters than RO. But even than, I know I would prefer choosing the gender, since I favourite playng straight female and romance man.
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I fall under “only if I can choose how my PC feels about the relationship,” with a side order of “this had damn well better be good.” One of my standard pieces of advice to any CoG writer is “never push a love interest,” both because love interests should be able to stand on their own, and because if the player is not interested in the pushed love interest, the narrative will fall jarringly flat.
I’m cool with Guenevere. The preset marriage to Arthur, aside from being…well, necessary to the myth…is a relationship where you have full agency in how you feel about it and react to it, and you have other romance options. Other arranged marriage scenarios, if they are necessary to the plot, are fine by me, and I don’t consider them in the same light as I consider a romance. It’s a situation for the PC to deal with.
Taylor from Psy High or Breden from Choice of Rebels, on the other hand, tell me that I’m attracted to them. I don’t like either character, so the whole thing falls flat.
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I was thinking the same, especially with the influence of Creatures Such As We and that idea of readers forcing their own ideal world and romance options in IF.
Then i came across Curious Cousine (WIP) by @MeltingPenguins . It’s perfectly done in there and you can see how the effort is put into the context.
Give it a try, you won’t regret 
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Oh no. I was looking forward to playing that game! Was the push as blalant as the other examples given?
@Ramidel and others can share their perspectives, but I’ll just note that from the author’s perspective, Breden is a physically attractive person (so yes, you don’t have a choice about noticing that fact, as the first thing when you see them) but as soon as you start getting to know them, you’re 100% free to decide they’re unattractive on a personality basis. Unless you choose a personality for yourself that Breden doesn’t like, they will also start off attracted to you…but again, they’ll take no for an answer. It’s not Black Magic, or not meant to be, anyway…
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@Havenstone pretty much summed it up. There is still that statement of attraction if you’re not asexual, and if you’re not an arrogant aristocrat, you have to affirmatively reject Breden to keep them out of your bed.
It didn’t destroy the game for me, but it still made Breden feel a bit obnoxious and is probably a factor in why they get a mace to the face in most of my games. (Well that, and because my current meta leans toward ruthlessness.)
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An unsurprising reaction, and one the game text hopefully allows you to express adequately by means more subtle than clubbing them to death.
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As the others said, if you’re not ace in the story you’re forced to acknowledge them as physically attractive (also the other love interest is automatically male if Breden is female, so you technically need to be bisexual to date LI #2)
Both Breden and Kala/Kalt are vaguely aggressive in pursuing you, but I think you can shut both of them pretty hard*. I don’t think Simone(?)/Simon ever pursued my PC and I never pursued them so I’m not sure there.
*You dont actually need to murder them to do this
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@Havenstone @Ramidel @leo Thank you for the answers! I guess I have to see it for myself.
When I ask my question I certainly wasn’t expecting that murder will be the recommended solution to fixing it, haha!
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You can solve a surprising number of problems in CoR by killing them lol
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