Thanks, I think it is ok as long as the personalities per genders are different and that they are not carbon copies, like the female version is joyful or the male version is a grumpy jerk lol… that is how I went with mines
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If you change their personalities with their gender I wouldn’t consider them the same character, and what character you put in a scene is up to you.
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I think GV ROs have their place in different styles of story. For instance, a story like Fallen Hero, where there are only three ROs (uh, I think?), is more accessible to a greater variety of players with GV characters.
Not everyone wants to write several ROs- I deliberately cut my ROs down to five so I could ensure that each route gets the amount of attention it deserves. An alternate example is Keeper of the Sun and the Moon- there are around ten ROs, all of whom are genderlocked, but I felt that their individual routes were only worth playing once, since their routes functioned more as a singular choice (who to romance) as opposed to a larger branch (who to romance & how).
TLDR: GV characters allow for more customization & accessibility to different players when you have fewer ROs, and not everyone wants to write (or read, for that matter) a game with a larger amount of ROs.
I don’t really want to get this thread too far off topic, though, since I’m sure there are other threads about the merit of GV vs genderlocked ROs already.
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A conversation better had over here, I think
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That’s a way to see it… too.
Perhaps, but I felt it relevant since it offers an alternative to having to rename people or limiting yourself to gender neutral names
Yes, with an RO who’s romance is heavily story influencing, gender variability might be an advantage, and while I don’t like GV characters they don’t kill the story for me, so I won’t try to stop anyone from writing their story as they please, that is after all what makes a story great if you ask me.
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I’d caution you with this particular type of writing. I haven’t seen many successful WIPs that have this amount of NPC (especially RO) customization, primarily because it tends to produce NPCs who are, by necessity, somewhat standard. It also makes it difficult to really form a solid fan discussion around favorite characters, etc, because everyone’s experiences are going to be so different. If the point of your game is something different- ie, if the emphasis is on the story and player choice (eg, KOTSAM) moreso than ROs and romance (eg, TWC)- then this could probably be pretty cool. But if it’s a more romance/character-focused game, I’d suggest perhaps making a new thread to talk about the merits and drawbacks of over-customization of NPCs in particular (as opposed to customization/story choice in general, since I feel the two things are very different).
I also specifically want to address what customization based on gender looks like, because based on some of your other replies (grumpy for male, cheerful for female) I think you might be at risk for falling into the writing of certain gender stereotypes that might a) end up offending or isolating some players and b) ironically make the character seem more two dimensional. There are valid reasons to have slightly different personalities based on the selected gender for your NPC- men and women are typically socialized differently and face different issues and setbacks no matter what the setting- but you have to be careful not to tie gender stereotypes to personality too heavily. Especially because you say that you want player agency to be key here, but if I went into a game expecting I would have a great amount of control over an NPC’s personality, only to discover that some traits that I might find desirable are inextricably linked to a gender I might not prefer, I wouldn’t necessarily be inclined to continue playing.
Again, I think this could probably be its own topic since it’s pretty different from my original question, but I just wanted to give my two (uh, three? Four? Ten? 
) cents.
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mate, just get a full dollar or euro? or whatever currency you have.
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Discussion about the validity of gender-variable characters should be held elsewhere; boundaries for productive threads that can be used and reused again need to be established.
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Thanks for the inputs, I agree with the part of personality traits due to genders, it could come off weird for some readers, but it is not the intention to say this gender is more joyful and the other is less or vice-versa. (Maybe I will change the mechanic and make one sarcastic and one funny)
I added this for re-playable purpose. I wanted to create a game where you can have for example your crew, to be all females or all males or all non-binary or a mix of all three. That is the options I am trying to give the player I think lol. But the idea is too still have the character background stories set and relevant to the game.
I like a game where the different choice you make gives you a different outcomes or have the RO or NPC replied a different way to you…the code in choicescript allows you to do that and I wanted to use it , but maybe it can come out off or weird.
So, does that mean it is better to just have a gender lock RO with a set personality? just asking.
Maybe I should start a poll and see how that goes lol…But thanks I appreciate the inputs 
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