I’m sorry, I think you got confused…
Yes, gay serial killers exist. Stereotypes on the other hand are " a widely held but fixed and [oversimplified] image or idea of a particular type of person or thing."
There are people who act according to the stereotype.
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True. Every Time someone uses the word ‘Stereotype’, I get static in the brain 
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Best option is often the one that suits the characters you’ve created. Anytime you ‘break’ consistency or expectations you lose momentum and generate an incongruous narrative.
Short answer makes sure there is enough evidence to account or discount possible romantic avenues according to -plausibly entertaining’. Results.
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And that is exactly my point!
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Write them the more conformist you can…?
Seriously, though, how can you guess someone orientation by sensorial description?
Answer: you can’t. Period.
I challenge anyone to guess everyone sexuality on a metro wagon.
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Yeah, exactly.
I tend not to perceive anyone as straight, gay, bi, Mormon, Catholic, purple-skinned, autistic, kinky, asshole, saint, or whatever other trait you come up with unless there are stereotypical flashing neon signs indicating that particular trait (and even if I see a halo, I’m skeptical enough to question if they’re an angel or just a whackjob with a halo). And I thought that was a good thing?
I’m straight, but I don’t wear a neon sign stating that and don’t have it tattooed on my forehead. I’ve been hit on by women and found it flattering (and said so), then calmly told them I didn’t swing that way (a few times, with an added comment that, if I did, they’d definitely do it for me). It’s not like most people have a nervous breakdown if they get hit on by people of a sex they aren’t attracted to. If they do, then there are other issues at play.
For the record, straight men don’t typically wolf whistle at “hot chicks”. In the 80s? Sure, because they weren’t afraid of being slapped with a harassment charge or sprayed with mace (there was a time when some women actually found that complimentary and would give a smile or a chuckle and move on with their lives, as long as there was no physical attack accompanying it). Straight men do (sometimes) tend to be less “cool” with being hit on by the same sex than a lot of straight women do, but, again, I’ve seen it happen and they just pretty calmly said ‘no way, man’.
Anyway, I don’t think there’s any way you can ensure a character is “perceived” any certain way, because our perceptions depend on a lot of factors, including how we think certain factions behave–which, for a lot of people who don’t have exposure to varied elements of society, end up being based on stereotypes, which causes all kinds of misunderstandings and problems (again, this is coming from someone who is and has always been a straight female, but got accused of being a lesbian in school because I acted “too tough” for a female, whatever the fuck that means, and is even funnier because I never really got along with most girls, only guys).
So, basically, if you want a character to be perceived as “straight”, just write a character. If someone of the same sex hits on them, have them express their disinterest without turning them into a basket case. Or, really, another character (including the MC), could just ask, “Hey, are you into guys/girls?” A simple ‘nope’ will suffice as an answer.
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Funny thing, there was a discussion about this elsewhere recently and the conclusion was that the chuckle could in that case be just as well a nervous response to an uncomfortable situation.
Not to say some women couldn’t have been flattered, but not all.
Now I’m picturing a character literally shapeshifting into a basket when they’re trying to express disinterested. Aaaannnd now I want to see that character.
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I always found it flattering and just kinda chuckled at it because it was funny to me. Of course, to this day, if I happen to be downtown and a hobo says ‘hello’ to me, I say it back. Because it’s the courteous thing to do. Plus, if they are nuts, they’re more likely to go off the deep end if you treat them like shit than if you treat them like an actual human being with feelings and the desire for human contact.
But that’s just me, and I’ve never been one to be afraid of my own shadow.
That would kinda be funny, lol. Or be like Bill the Cat, say “acck!” and run away. Not realistic, but hilarious, nonetheless.
Well well. Look who’s back. Here to finish Freak? lol
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I’d love to but there’s a problem my old computer went kaplooey. Dropbox spaghetti’d my save files (i have it but some how all indentations and returns have been removed) its now a 29000 word paragraph. And to top it off I cant get into Dashingdon. (Discovered the last two today)
Also feeling better 
ish. But a teensy bit miffed.
A rewrite is more likely than a continuation at this point.
How are you?
Ps: On topic note: denote attraction signals of NPCs on non-verbal cues in unobtrusive vignettes. Body language.
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Aww…I guess I’m fortunate I love me some Trouble, though at first Trouble wasn’t even bi too, I remember those dark days.
It’ll be even better! Do hope you keep the wardrobe system though love how Firstie can express themselves through the way they choose to dress and while it is true that everybody can do that it just takes on a much bigger role, for me at least, with the mute protagonist First is.
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At the risk of oversimplifying it, having the character flirt with, or show interest, in people who match their preferences, would do the trick as much as it’d do for any other orientation.
The thing to remember is that “straight” is generally presumed as default. So as long as the character doesn’t do something that goes against this perception --or as you note, “protests too much”-- it’s what they very likely be considered to be.
Case in point, for the longest time i thought Steele in your series was a reserved, straight guy. (i went in and played those games blind) Because with both MC and Ortega being women he doesn’t display any real signs this presumption is false. It was only after code-diving that i’ve found the real state of affairs.
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If you asked a straight guy if he is gay most likely the response would be along the lines of, “Nope, thats gay”
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Honestly dont care that much. Im more interested in the story gameplay and well… the main story itself than romance options. As long as there is a romance option, im good.
Only thing i dont like is when the. Game forces us a gender/sexuality
I want to be male or female, dont force me either. Same with non binary. In english is hard because the “they” pronoun confuses me a hell of a lot.
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6 posts were merged into an existing topic: A Matter of Respect: Gender-Neutral Pronoun Guide and Discussion
Moved some pronoun discussion, as it wasn’t really related to the topic here.
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Ohhh but the point is romance options. Thats why i said im more interested about gameolay and story
The pronouns yeah is another subject but i dont think i even need to post in a different thread because it all bows down to the author. We just have to accept what the author wants us to read. No one can object the authors decision i think.
To dip back a few stages, I think the term playersexual is borne out of a certain level of frustration where representation was felt to be ‘discount’. The DA2 case study is definitely the first time I remember hearing the term, though I think in that regard Anders (a male RO) only mentioning his past boyfriend if the PC is male has had an outsized effect on the impression of the phenomena. Bearing in mind that iirc this is also a game which had certain people up in arms that Anders will independently hit on the PC if he likes them regardless of gender.
Like, one of the other ROs, Isabella, has a cameo in the previous game. It’s easily missed and it’s easy to forget it’s the same character because she got a massive glow up between games, but she can hook up with the PC and is explicitly bisexual. It’s always felt a little strange to demote Isabella to ‘playersexual’. Again, iirc, I think the term was brought up by one of the writers, which isn’t helpful, but probably speaks to the dancing-around-queerness that a lot of media was doing.
Fast forward to the now and I’m not sure how helpful it is as a term? It seems to put this weird box around the RO as like a… lesser bisexual. It’s been mentioned elsewhere in the thread, but it starts to feed into that harmful notion that a bisexual person doesn’t count properly as bi if they’re in an opposite-gender relationship. Maybe it’s the nature of many IF ROs as gender-switchable and open to all genders which causes the label?
Taking a couple of quick examples. In Royal Affairs, the ROs can all be male, female, or nonbinary, and so can the MC. There’s no comment that I can recall about sexuality, other than Javi being asexual . But that doesn’t mean the ROs aren’t bisexual (biromantic in Javi’s case). I personally never got the feeling of “oh, Asher is a girl and she’s interested in my female MC, so she’s playersexual”. Asher is bi, regardless of their own gender (I mean heck Asher can have their own romantic subplot with another gender variable character)
As mentioned a bunch of times, in Fallen Hero, Ortega makes explicit reference to their inexperience with the same gender if Sidestep is also a man/woman and talks about bi experience. It’s neat to have this openly talked about, but it doesn’t inherently mean Ortega is a ‘better bisexual’ than Asher.
Representation is important to me and I do like it when sexuality is part of a character’s identity. Handled properly, it hits me right in the gooey centre (crying over mid tier rep in a major game? couldn’t be me). However, in terms of IF, I can very much appreciate how much of a collossal headache it would be to properly manage all the moving parts of several gender-switchable ROs all reacting in the context of both their own gender and the MC’s (and like, is it necessary for them to ‘prove’ their sexuality in the first place?)
So far as fixed sexuality goes, I don’t care for heterosexually locked romance—I can find that everywhere—but give me homosexually locked all day long. Having bi options is nice, but I don’t think there should never be gay characters just for the sake of like… avoiding disappointment? Esp because if a character is fixed as gay, the writer likely has things to depict about their identity as a gay person.
To be honest most characters I create I assume by default are some stripe of queer, it’s just less or more of a focus depending on the overall picture. Not as if it’s going to dilute the pool of straight characters very much, right?
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