which is why it is better than bi/pan.
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Well, I didnât expect someone to see criticism about bi-erasure and say âyes, exactly, thatâs what I want to do! 
â
Not really my business if you like to pretend all ROâs are your sexuality, but itâs not something I would encourage all authors to do (nor do I have any interest in doing that myself).
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Something Iâm curious about, how would you want an author to include that a character is specifically bi or pan? Would you want them to show a degree of attraction to another character of a gender different from the MC? Would you want them to explicitly tell the MC that theyâre attracted to more than one gender? Or do you take issue with the term for a character being attracted to the MC regardless of gender being âplayer-sexualâ instead of âbisexualâ?
Not taking a side either way, just wondering what your preference is for authors in expressing character sexuality since it would help me understand exactly what the problem being raised is and how you would like authors to address it.
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I actually took for granted that they were when I started playing interactive fiction; I didnât realise that âplayersexualâ was a term, so I thought âif this person is available to a MC regardless of gender, they must be (canonically) interested in any.â
I feel the same about that as the two of you! 
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I personally find it weird and immersion breaking when Iâm, as the player, am asked what gender the RO is, directly or not (aka itâs decided by MCs sexuality) - isnât that the authorâs character? Shouldnât a character feel like a person? People definitely have a strong sense of identity⌠Idk, it just feels cheap.
And while sometimes when I encounter a set RO who Iâm like âDamn, wish she was a lesbian, my female MC is down bad rn 
â, I wouldnât want her to flip flop based on my choices, unless itâs either directly addressed in the narrative or sheâs written as bi/pan (either in code or flavor text or whatever); not her being player-sexual. It feels very empty/pandering.
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I agree. But it makes sense from the authorâs side to optimize options for the player.
It would be jarring if a character introduces them like that out of the blue: âHi Iâm Jane and Iâm biâ , especially if other sexualities donât get the same treatment.
Try to hint at it subtly. Like mentioning an ex, describing a piece of clothe with the bi pride flag, or if the character is flirty have them flirt around. But if you cannot find a way to info-drop it casually just donât. You, as the author, can always ascertain it canonically in some authorâs note.
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As a bi woman, I prefer it when ROs can be romanced by anyone.
But also, if youâre going to do set sexualities because of ârealism,â it bothers me when thereâs no straight options, lol. It gives me a ârealism, except yâknow, straight people!â vibe.
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I think what @E_RedMark means is not that she supports bi-erasure, but that she wants everyone to have a freedom to imagine ROs as any sexuality they want. For example, a player may want to romance a lesbian character, but that means someone else playing as a male MC canât experience this romance, so it creates limitations for some of the players. Playersexuality allows people to imagine whatever they want without limiting other players. Basically, ROs should be available to everyone, but they shouldnât be referred to as bi/pan because it limits the playerâs imagination. Please, correct me if I misunderstood you, @E_RedMark. Although this only works if ROs donât state their sexuality at all, rather than change it depending on MCâs gender (e.g. female MC openly identifies as a lesbian if MC is a woman, but as straight if MC is a man). I guess we have two different types of playersexuality at play.
I still prefer canonical bisexuality, but I understand if someone prefers playersexuality for this reason.
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yeah, thatâs what I meanâŚ
You put it better than I could 
It isnât about erasing anything or anyone. It is a preference.
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I can see this either being a heartfelt, cute scene or terrible and out of place lmao; just âIâm bi btwâ
But it all comes down to the character: they could have a pride pin and itâs not mentioned beyond that, or an ex that doesnât change regardless of MCs gender, they could (as you said) just tell MC (preferably after something semi-related happens that would prompt they bring it up).
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And this is where the âunrequited loveâ discussion should come back into it, for genderlocked ROs (which I donât disagree with, as long as there are others who arenât.) If you want to bring sexuality in as a hard/concrete metric, you have to be prepared to disappoint a certain percentage of your players when you get to the confession point only to have a character not able to get past that barrier. And for some of the people playing, that barrier is going to be psychological/emotional. Some people will not be able to accept a bi/pan relationship any more than they can accept a poly one. If an author wants their game to have as broad an appeal as possible, they are likely to (and rightly so, in my opinion) keep the playersexual âorientationâ of at least some of their ROs. And if there are poly routes or attraction metrics thereâs no reason the game has to be bi erasing. If you can flirt with anyone and they can flirt backâŚhow is that erasing the fact that people are bi/pan? Same with picking the genders of the ROs. If you as the player can set them to anything and play it any way you want to⌠
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Sorry, but uhhâŚwhat does that mean? I get that poly might be a deal breaker for some, but how is being bi/pan? If it is, thatâs kinda stupidâŚ?
And also rings very much of stereotyping (bi/pan partners arenât faithful blah blah blah).
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Iâm sorry, but what you just described is known as biphobia. Not being able to move past the idea of your partner being into a different gender is just that. Biphobia.
Itâs not the same as accepting a poly relationship, not everyone can be in poly relationship - but bi/pan people are capable of monogamy.
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I dont have any strong opinions about this, I can be fine with whatever - as long as the chosen method is executed well!
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If nothing else itâd be refreshing - thereâs no straight people in the game at all; and thereâs like two cishet character total (a man and a woman respectfully; naturally theyâre a couple). You have to push the âStraight buttonâ to unlock them though. (Iâm joking, but imagine )
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I think it really depends on the author and story. My personal preference is for characters to be playersexual and gender flippable, because that is the most accessible for people. That doesnât make sense in all contexts, however. For example, I belive Kayla in Magical Studies is fixed female while the rest are gender settable. This makes sense, because part of her story is feeling marginalized/disadvantaged by being a WoC in the math department, and her characterâs story would have to be different as a man (although not necessarily as a NB person).
Generally, if a story is going to deal with gender or sexuality as an issue, it makes more sense to lock characters. Not every story needs to deal with those issues, but authors should be free to explore them, even if it requires gender and sex locks.
If itâs not, and itâs just that the big fighter is male, or whatever, it can feel more like itâs based on stereotypes, which can feel regressive sometimes.
Some authors though just strongly feel like a character is a certain gender or has a particular sexuality while writing them, and that theyâll feel less specific and real if they make the swappable, and I think thatâs valid too.
One thing I will note related to this is that it takes me out of the game significantly more when I choose the background for a characterâs relationship with the MC (like your past relationship with F in Tally Ho, or your ex in Rent-A-Vice.) That starts to feel like Iâm molding the character, instead of interacting with them, and makes them feel less real to me. Iâm not sure why the line for me is there, rather than gender or sexuality, but I can totally imagine the line being in a different place for others.
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Perhaps I read @AnneWestâs post incorrectly, but I didnâtâ get the sense that this was the intended message.
What I took from it actually stems from arguments I saw regarding Steel from FH, where many people became highly upset at the idea that a female MC might be able to romance him. Even the idea of changing Steel from gay to bi/pan set people off, and not because of anything to do with monogamy. Nor do I believe it had to do with some phobic conditionâinstead, it was a matter of âwe want this RO to only have our own sexual preferencesâ. In the end, the author did what was right for the character, but I did find the⌠I hesitate to call the vitriolic arguments discussions⌠to be interesting.
That said, much like @E_RedMark, I prefer playersexual ROs. But, to me, thereâs no difference between that and bisexual ROs so label it how you wishâI just donât see the need to try to insert discussions about it in the game. Iâd rather the text be taken up by scenes that get my MC closer to the RO, not trying to slap labels on them when my MC doesnât care one way or the other as long as they arenât being dicks.
As for the original question⌠as a writer, I prefer set genders, even if that means I write six different characters, of which three have very close similarities with their counterparts (partially because I have discovered I canât code and write at the same time, and partially because they end up set in my head). As a player, I prefer having them gender flippable so I donât miss out on the ROs I like.
As long as such a game warns players that thatâs the case in the description so I can avoid it, thatâs fine with me. But donât tell me my MC can be straight and purposely neglect telling me that there are no ROs for my MC, only for other sexual preferenced MCs or Iâm going to be seriously hacked off. I donât like false advertising.
I love being able to mold the MC like that, especially for games Iâm interested in replaying. Then, I can explore what happens when the backgrounds differ. For me, it makes the RPing experience more fun.
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I mean there would still be ROs for a straight MC (theyâre just not straight themselves, bi/pan/ace or something); just that if you chose to play a straight MC; MC would just (possibly, if you donât push the button) be the only straight character in the game lmao 
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Oh, okay. I thought you meant no ROs for a straight MC! Thatâs fine, then! Itâd be kinda funny to play the only straight character in the game, though. Especially if the NPCs were like, âSeriously? You only like men? Man, that really narrows your options!â MC: âYouâre preaching to the choir, buddyâŚâ
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That reminds me of that old Onion black comedy short show âSex Houseâ about a reality show thatâs suposed to be about people living in a fancy house and hooking up, but none of them have compatible orientations so the producers start doing progressively more bizzare stuff and it turns into a horror show.
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