To add onto this, I particularly like the ability to set all RO genders at once because I tend to replay games a lot of times and having to set each RO’s gender manually every time can get tedious, especially once you have more and more ROs.
9 Likes
I like to have the options for both randomize the RO’s genders and select them individually. It’s always a bit strange for me to have to choose it, so it’s nice to have an option to randomize it before the game starts; though I also prefer to keep the same genders I ended up in my first playthrough in my other runs
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I got + 1:
The author sets default genders and somewhere, maybe even in Stat page, there’s an option to change it.
Personally, really don’t like setting RO’s gender as a choice during the story and choosing them before the game is not ideal either but at least it doesn’t break the flow. Randomized genders are guaranteed way to make me set it manually by save editor or browser tomfoolery and the same goes for sexuality set combos because I might not like that particular fit (for example: A is always a woman and N is always male in Wayhaven for me, even if I have to mess with variables by myself).
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I voted random but my actual answer is “I really like how Royal Affairs does it”
as in, I can straight up randomise right at the start or I can pick individually at the start (and still randomise some if I I like)
Cause if I’m gonna replay a game a few times, largely to try out different romantic routes, that makes it much more straightforward for me. but also random is fun because it sort of helps me pull naturally a bit more towards certain characters.
1 Like
This.
It can send the unfortunate message that the ROs have a canon or ‘correct’ gender, which can feel bad if you prefer another for them.
One thing that isn’t in the poll, is that when set individually, I really prefer having the option to set them as I meet them, so I can have at least some idea of who they are, before choosing their gender. (for the first playthrough, or when replaying after a long time)
Edit: Actually, it would be nice if the game had a short presentation of the RO when setting their gender in the beginning, instead of just a name, as I often see.
13 Likes
off topic but Happy Birthday Lady Luck! Here to many more years! Cheers! 
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Thank you! 
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The only method I greatly dislike is setting genders based on sexuality, for all the reasons brought up in this thread.
For me personally
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I generally don’t have a problem with gender-variable NPCs and verisimilitude, but every important NPC (unromanceable NPCs are rarely important) changing genders to be compatible with the PC’s sexuality does strain my credulity. With player-selected or randomized genders, I can attribute any lingering weirdness over “I did that” to myself the player or RNG, but with sexuality-determined genders I have to contend with the PC’s sexuality literally warping the reality of the game world.
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Playing a monosexual PC results in a skewed/mono-gender cast, which is almost never what I want as a player. If I play a gay male PC for example, I don’t want all the female and non-binary cast members to disappear. I’m mildly annoyed by games that have the temerity to assume I do.
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From a design perspective, sexuality-determined genders send a strong message that the most important thing about these characters is their ability to be fucked by the PC. If that’s the message the creator wants to send, then great! Seriously. As much as I might personally dislike it, sexuality-determined genders are the right design choice, please do that.
But if it’s not, I wish more creators would consider what messages they’re sending, especially if they have “equally viable platonic paths” and/or purportedly subscribe to a “romanceable NPCs as characters first, ROs second” design philosophy. Consider how it feels to the player when a straight male PC can’t be friends with anyone other than women in a game with friendship paths because gender is determined by sexuality.
I mean, ultimately I’m fine with romantic availability taking priority over all else. Every creator needs to make tradeoffs, and I want creators to make the game they want to play, even if it’s not the game I want to play. But I’m going to press X to doubt on anyone who says they “care just as much about friendship” and players who don’t want to romance anyone, then makes those friendship options’ genders determined by the PC’s sexuality.
There are some exceptions, of course. If the game is about speed dating, it makes sense for everyone’s gender to match the PC’s sexuality. If gender-set-by-sexuality characters make up a small portion of the cast, it’s not as big a deal. Especially if there are unromanceable set-gender characters you can have platonic relationships with.
To the list of methods I’d add:
- Setting genders based on something other than PC sexuality. (E.g., Alex, the childhood best friend is always the same gender as the PC; the player chooses the gender of Max, which sets Lindsey’s gender to a different one.)
- Quota randomization. Technically covered under randomization, but if there are a lot of gender-variable characters, it can be nice to have some guardrails around getting at least one male, female, and non-binary character per playthrough.
12 Likes
It’s no secret there’s a convention IF WIP threads follow - description, feature bullet point list, RO description + extra, links some of these might be missing thread to thread but they usually follow this style.
How important is it for you to know about RO’s before you read a WIP?
- Very Important - I’m reluctant to read a WIP without any information about potential love interests
- Important - I like to know to plan ahead
- Not Important - I’ll discover who’s who in-game
- I don’t read WIPs for romance
- I avoid WIPs which advertise their characters as RO’s
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voters
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Kinda in the middle for me. On the one hand, if romance exists, it is nice to know if there’d be one for any MC I might make. That’s not always the case, and while that by itself wouldn’t be a deal breaker, it does improve chances of me giving a story a shot.
So the ‘other hand’ as it were is that I tend to consider the story itself more important. A good plot focus, that doesn’t just “work around” romances, but can treat every moment about as organically as possible, while still keeping it even for everyone within reason. If someone is a super-pantser, though, that list being there at all is less important by virtue of being subject to change, which is perfectly reasonable, imo.
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For me a game’s premise/plot and a sense of what the PC will be doing are the things that catch my attention first. I like meeting characters in game best so I tend not to make decisions about who I want to romance/befriend based on an initial description. But if all the major characters are described in an introductory post in ways that I don’t find appealing for whatever reasons, that does affect whether I’ll feel as excited about it.
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If a major option in a choice is doomed to failure (not hard-coded failure of course, you just lack the right stats), how do you prefer this is handled by the game? By major option, I mean a choice that will alter the rest of the story and have huge consequences, and failure leads to a game over.
For example: you are in a confrontation with An Enemy, who knows a terrible secret about you. You have many options for dealing with them in order to keep your secret, one of which is blackmail. However, if you have a low reputation with the important faction, they will believe your Enemy over you, and they will turn against you. How would you want this risky blackmail choice presented to you if you have low stats?
By a Failed Choice, I mean a selectable option that plays out the consequences and leads to a game over. By unselectable, I mean just that: unselectable. If it’s unselectable, do you prefer seeing it greyed-out, or would you rather it be hidden?
- Failed Choice; bring on the consequences of my actions!
- Unselectable, but greyed out; I hate bad ends and failure!
- Unselectable and hidden; I don’t even want to know!
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voters
Edit: changed “bad end” to “game over” to better convey what I meant.
1 Like
During more ‘Adult content’ there’s always, an option fade to black.
Sometimes it would be better to add a ‘fade out option’ and a ‘Detailed Scene’
Everyone has their own preferences.
OR
Just see the consequences of your actions. 
It absolutely should be possible to fail. If anything, I would suggest varying the wording of the choice slightly to suggest that it’s not the wise course of action, but it should definitely still be selectable.
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I agree that failure can be very rewarding in games, and is generally the best option. What I meant with the little scenario should be more of a game over situation – if you fail in this major decision, the story can’t progress. I don’t personally believe that having a choice that leads to a game over/the story can’t adapt is good game design, but it is a design that I see in IF games nonetheless, and I was curious what people preferred if they came across it.
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I choose unselectable, because you specified that it was an important choice but I do think it can work well to have choices available that you will fail. I requires work though.
It needs to be possible for the reader to infer from the text that this is an option they will likely fail. So, which stat will be tested, and how high it needs to be, approximately.
It’s fine to fail a choice, but not when you choose it because you were sure it corresponded to your best stat, because of how it was phrased, but it turned out to be one of your lower ones instead. That’s just frustrating.
And it has to still be a rewarding experience. If failure isn’t fun, if it’s just punishing and worse in every way than passing, then again it’s just frustrating.
If it’s a bad end, at least make it interesting to read, and if it’s another path, make it just as fun as the path where you passed.
If it’s made unselectable, I greatly prefer it to be greyed out, so I can see that the possibility could be there in other circumstances.
And to be clear, this is mainly for big important choices. it’s fine to be able to fail small choices, that doesn’t have huge consequences.
3 Likes
Only semi-related, but when there is a choice that is possible under only certain conditions, and the MC doesn’t meet those conditions, I USUALLY prefer to be it greyed out rather than not visible. There are always exceptions, but it gives me inspiration for my next playthrough to try to meet those conditions to be able to make that choice, particularly if its intriguing in some way.
There are situations where it wouldn’t work or it might be better to have it not there instead of greyed out, like if the choice is to ask for help from a character you haven’t met, but generally I prefer choices greyed out.
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I don’t think a “game over” is always bad game design - it can still be good storytelling. If it’s too early in the game for that, or the author just wants to avoid endings of that sort, I would prefer the option grayed out, to let the player know that there are other possibilities to be accessed through different choices.
10 Likes
Actually, even if you went with the “unselectable options” route, you would still have to write a bad end or failure scene. If the player messed up, lacked all the right stats and could not select any of the “successful” options, they would have to select a failure option and you’d have to show them the penalty.
For me, I picked the “unselectable” option. If I had a final boss with five choices (each with a separate skill check), writing five separate failure scenes isn’t great for my mental health.Writing five success scenes and one failure scene is much less emotionally draining.
I will always choose to at least see it, but prefer to be allowed to fail (particularly when there’s a checkpoint system and I don’t have to start all over from the beginning if I don’t want to.) Hiding a choice doesn’t even let me know (I am not a code diver) that there may have been an alternative that I could have managed with different choices. Opaque gameplay will often keep me from replaying, so I may never see that cool thing that happens in chapter eight if you kiss the hydra and turn it into a bridge troll in chapter three instead of just stabbing it and taking it’s stuff.
1 Like