Heh, I enjoy a lot of varied male RO personalities but I do have a weakness for the cute, exciting “bad boys”. It is by no means universal I also enjoy cute gentlemen a lot, like Alty in Keepers for example (though I have some apprehension about how the last minutes rewrite might upset his whole relationship arc and dynamic. .
In general, they need to be fun for my mc to be with of course and, as in real life, a bit of humor and playfulness can go a long way. Cute, charming, preferably on the smarter side and fun tend to be the most universal, shared characteristics of RO’s I like.
The well-written “ice prince” is a close second, assuming there’s a heart of gold underneath.
That said, I wouldn’t be averse to seeing more friendship paths, particularly with some of the women too. Just because my mc’s will never love a woman in the romantic and lustful, sexual sense does not mean there can’t be anything there.
I’m usually drawn to fun, easygoing ROs with a sense of humour… Which actually seems to be pretty rare in COG/HG games. I find that most ROs tend to be quite serious.
Yeah, that is a very good point. A lot of characters in CoG/HG games do seem like they’re there with the sole intention of being ROs, and there’s not really any close friendship alternative. Like, the characters are acquaintances, and at some point in the game you’ll have the chance to pursue them romantically, and if you choose not to, you just go back to being acquaintances again. (Or even worse, when the characters are literally only there to be ROs, and if you don’t pursue them romantically, then the character disappears and you never see them again.) Would be great to see some more detailed platonic relationships in games.
I see a lot of support being posted over and over for the more kink RO in WiP and games … Often the volume of such posts drown out the support more “traditional” RO get and I think it influences the authors quite a bit.
I always gun for the ones with a love for life, brimming (but not aggravatingly so) with positivity, curiosty, who also has a strong core.
I mean heck, its those kind of people that inspire me irl anyways.
Good examples include Nat from wayhaven and Adelaide from the Fox of Sunholt wip.
I tend to stray away from ros whose mantra includes “doom, gloom, and oh woe is me! You must fix me!”
Misery loves company, but sadly, that is a company I refuse to keep.
Also not sure about yandere and tsundere ros. Those tend to tiptoe the fine line of abuse and many like to portray them as very 1 dimensional. I’d love to see them done justice of course, with all its nuance and exploration into their psyche.
i don’t like jerks not in real life and not in if, there’s nothing wrong with them and i can se why people find them appealing, but i prefer more happy ros, due to the way these characters are handled as in is always the mc having to cross the bridge, if it gets off topic we can dm each other
Have you watched FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS? Jemaine isnmy dream dude. He is the jerk of the show…he would treat his lady well…but kind of.a.jerk. same with Noel Fielding on MIGHTY BOOSH or.Jack Black.in everything
The ideal: A realistically developed romance where I don’t think of how putting a ring on it until they’ve proven themselves and I’ve proven myself and it’s like marrying your best friend. One where I can say they’re hot without putting a ring on it as well. Polyamorous is a plus until “the one” comes along, but if they all are amazing characters, remaining poly is like the best xmas gift. Falling in love with the goofball. Being the goofball.
What I not so secretly like: Dating the evil girl or rival. Yandere, or alpha b. BEING the alpha b. But these only fall in the fiction category tbh. I don’t like such dynamics for real.
What I’m not looking for: Getting swept off feet, chauvinism, douche, someone who is genuinely mean and trying to stop my advancement or outright murder me but then claims it was a crush and things get “sweet”. The key in the yandere fantasy is just being masochistic. I fully expect to live a realistically horrible existence by dating the yandere.
. 
Adelaide is adorable.