Polyamory in ChoiceScript Games

Salutations!

Before I get to the topic at hand, I’d like to mention that this is my first post in the Choice of Games forum! (I couldn’t find something akin to an introduction thread, so this will need to do.) I’ve been lurking registered for weeks and anonymously for months, but I’ve finally mustered the courage to post here! I discovered Choice of Games after finding Jeffrey Dean’s Werewolves: Haven Rising on Steam; not only is the aforementioned game/novel awesome, but the community here truly is as inclusive and friendly as claimed. Even the welcoming tutorial is the most epic of its kind! :grin:

All right, on to the main matter. I put considerable thought into what my first post would be, and I was surprised to discover that no topic exists specifically to discuss polyamoury (British spelling all the way! I only omitted the U in the title because it’d be more recognisable like that). There are The Polyamory Thread by Sashira and Polyamorous Romance Choices by SmolPirate, but the former is a Q&A thread about polyamoury, while the latter contains suggestions for games with polyamorous options in them. All the other topics I found using the keywords “polyamory”, “polyamoury”, and “polyamorous” only mentioned these in passing, and many of them are works in progress. I’m polyamorous myself — although not part of any poly community, as I’m extremely reserved when it comes to joining new communities — so I figured this would be the best candidate!

Firstly, I’d like to know what people think about polyamorous representation in ChoiceScript games. Rather than merely mentioning examples, I think it would be more useful to mention how polyamoury was implemented and why it worked well, poorly, or mediocrely. I’ve only played W:HR and Rebecca Slitt’s Psy High so far, so I can’t really participate in that part of the conversation.

Secondly, and more importantly, what can be done to improve the poly representation? This isn’t a simple question, so I’ll break it down into more manageable ones:

• What kind of polyamorous relationships would you like to see in CS games? Are V’s and closed triads sufficient, or would you also like to see N’s, quads, or other romantic networks and relationships of a larger scale? (Note: I dislike the term “throuple” quite a lot, as it makes me feel uncomfortable and I think it’s ultimately a silly portmonteau that replaces a perfectly valid, preexisting word. if I’m allowed to, I respectfully request using “triad” instead.)

• How many poly relationships would an ideal CS game contain, in your opinion? This naturally refers to the possibilities open to the player character, but also to the number of non-player characters actively engaged in poly relationships.

• More generally, what do you want to see in poly relationships? What kind of characters and character interactions do you like? What are some obstacles you think they should face?

• Alternatively, what don’t you want to see? There is a very, very long list of things that can go wrong with polyamorous relationships, so I think it might be best to limit responses to whatever would annoy, upset, or anger you the most. (Let’s keep this to the minimum, though, as I feel the spirit of this topic should be positive and constructive.)

• For those of you who have written or are writing poly relationships, what were the obstacles you faced? Writing a dyad is hard enough already, but with each additional member of a relationship, the amount of writing and coding increases exponentially. What are your limits?

I’m excited to see where the discussion leads! I trust anything said here would be useful to far more people than just me. :innocent:

PS: The Glossary for Polyamory Terms is a useful link for those unfamiliar with the terms associated with polyamoury, and the site itself is an excellent resource for polyamorous and monogamous people alike!

A post was merged into an existing topic: Polyamorous Romance Choices