What makes you feel attracted to a person/RO?

As a reader, I usually tend to romance the emotionally stunted, jerks, often assholes or what their overall personally and outlook is considered to be “bad”. Honestly, I just want to romance them out of spite.

As a person, I haven’t been in a relationship or am I actively looking for one. There are a lot of people I honestly just find attractive, it can be appearances, their personality, or I personally knew them in my past, or they have a nice defining feature(s). but honestly right now im personally fine of looking at non-humans/monsters

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What I find attractive in real people is often quite different from what I like in RO`s in games. Even in real life there is a huge difference between a fling or a relationship.

For a fling looking good is enough @poison_mara I think that is where this 90 % come from. Many people look for anything from fling to relationship and those often tend to go for looks first. But for me a fling gets near to no chance of becoming a relationship. In a way that is as shallow as only going for looks, but thats the way I am^^

For me to fall in love, that is a totally different things. Everyone I loved did not have certain looks, they have a certain humor. If you can make me laugh you might be the one. My partner of now 13 years sometimes makes me furious, angry, but even when I would like to kill him, he can make me laugh.
I would not go that far to say that I do not mind looks or have a type, but I know, that that is a perfect ideal that does not exist, so if a person has something that I find attractive, thats normally enough for me.( That could be the eyes, the way they smile or other small things) I do not care a lot about the looks, my partner now has a beard(I do not like beards) but I do not care, but still find it ugly :innocent:

With RO´s I tend to fall in love a lot easier, they can even be “bad” in a way that I would not give a shit about them in real life, because you know from the beginning that they mean trouble. In a game that is irrelevant. Most of the time I like the funny ones most, but I can live with the hidden good heart types too. Nice and friendly can be a good thing too, as long, as they are not boring. Like many people said before a well designed character draws me in most of the times.

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The question is What makes you feel attracted Not the nature of the relationship in real life. I think people want to believe that looks don’t have anything to do with choosing, psychological and evolution studies say that is false.

Most in video games were characters are made porn stars and used massive amounts in those content. Same with fanfics.
If looks didn’t matter people wouldn’t make all characters fit and healthy and all that I don’t see fat bald people as romances or with evident physical ugliness.

And Mass Effect and Many games are lately criticized because women aren’t are not attractive enough or being too manly.

I don’t think any vitriol on the community has been talking about personality of romances. Mass media is OBSESSED with looks. Cosmetic surgery, metabolic illneses

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I don’t really have crushes on people in real life but I love fictional romances!

Like in real life, it’s a spark I suppose. If I have fun flirting with a character and find their personality appealing, that’s good for me. I like when characters are demonstrable about how they feel (even if they’re trying not to show it - eg Wakefield in Choice of the Deathless) and that the main character matters to them. Even if the love interest is only interested physically, I want to know that they’re into the main character. I especially get a good feel for this across all the love interests in Asteroid Run, Study in Steampunk, and Heart of the House.

There are characters where I’d like to romance them as a woman but I’m not so interested in doing so as a man - Cassandra and Isabela from Dragon Age, Jack, Ashley and Miranda from Mass Effect (alas only Isabela is romanceable as a woman).

I like devious characters no matter their gender. Brooding is fun no matter what. I’m more into ditzy or in-over-their-head male characters, and resourceful female characters. If you’ve played Tales from the Borderlands, Rhys and Fiona exemplify this. If I could romance characters like them in a Choicescript game I’d be very happy!

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What makes me feel attracted to a RO is how they interact with the MC. I mean if they’re very clever or just piqued my interest I go with them.

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i generally go to the sweet, gentle and loyal ones based on how i chose Agent N from TWC, Mob/Synergy from CCH and Dev from HofH.

Usually on IFs or vns I go for the handsomest ones, INITIALLY, but after having dialogues with all the ROs, i end up with the person that feels more…i dunno. Its like i develop actual feelings for them after getting to know them a bit. Like my heart just skips a beat and i feel flush when we get closer and they act interested in me. I literally have to stop reading and roll around in bed feeling giddy. Mostly, i get interested in gentle, caring, sweet guys both in fiction and in real life. The only difference in my tastes is probably that i get interested in asshats with a heart of gold in fiction too. Just because it’s fiction, and i can stomach being treated like crap in fiction. In real life tho, i reallyyyy dont want anything to do with “bad boys” or whatever. I think what gets me interested the most though is the way the RO treats the MC, like if i feel like they really care about me then i fall a little hard for them back. Like being nervous around me is attractive because that tells me that they genuinely think im a great person that they should somehow impress. daweee. Or when i feel sad they do their best to comfort me, or when we share the same interests and we get all sparkly eyed and that thought gets into my head that says “where have you been all my life?” its hard to explain. you just…feel it? i dunno, thats how i feel about being interested in ROs and people IRL

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I generally go for the characters who I view as most interesting or who appeal to me more (as in attributes: intelligent, ruthless, etc.). While playing, I usually chose characters who seem to be on the winning side just because I like to be on the winning side (mainly powerful characters, simply due to the fact that I’m a power slut lmao) :sweat_smile:

In real life, I’d probably go for people who are funny or charismatic because they know how to socialise. People who don’t are rather uncomfortable to be around since they usually can’t keep a conversation going unless it’s something they’re interested in (Human interaction is hard).

If a character has a specific characteristic that I like, I tend to like them more overall than the other characters regardless of gender. Same goes for people in real life, I suppose.

Indeed, well it starts with good looks and a nice outfit and, yes, my standards for looks and fashion in fiction are higher than in real life. But as others have said those things only get my mc in the door, to blossom into a relationship they’ve got to be fun to be with, not too dumb and not assholes to my mc.
The above factors are probably why I tend to gravitate to either gentlemen or “bad boys” so often in fiction.

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I’m absolutely weak for enemies-to-lovers, so it helps when characters start out aggressively disliking my character. Maybe spite also plays a tiny role here because, yeah, “I’m so going to make you fall for this dumbass (my MC)” is something I’ve thought to myself way too often while grinning like a maniac. :joy:

I also love Ice Queen characters who slowly become vulnerable over time and playful flirts with a hidden, serious side (but only if they don’t flirt 24/7).

More specific examples:

  • Loved Josh’s taste in music (Choice of Robots)
  • Loved getting a glimpse of Cos’ kinky side (Choice of Magics)
  • Loved Carrie’s attitude the minute my MC met her (Tin Star)
  • Herald’s puppy dog crush on my MC and the potential to ruin this golden boy (Fallen Hero) :heart_eyes:
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Usually, I would choose someone with a personality that fits my preferred type. For example the shy and timid ones, or the tough and rough kind of type. That’s the first and foremost. The second thing would probably be their manners, such as how they act on certain situations and the way they talk. How they react towards the MC is also important. Sometimes I like a little bit of challenge with the tsundere-ish type of RO’s. Then lastly, appearance would come to mind. But honestly, in an IF game I don’t really mind their appearance. As long as they’re described as somewhat decent enough, then that’s an ‘ok’ for me.

Sorry if my explanation is unhelpful or confusing. I’m not used to write something descriptive especially long ones like these. Also I’m not a native English speaker, so my bad if I made a lot of mistakes. Cheers!

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Some of it may be physical or aesthetic attraction, but for me, it’s more personality based. Characters, or at least well written ones, are meant to emulate real people, meaning that the type of characters you feel yourself attracted to might have similar traits to real people have that you find attractive. It’s all about what kinds of personalities you like or are naturally drawn to.

Since I was a kid, I was always attracted (whether platonically or romantically) to the sarcastic, funny characters. Naturally, that same trait is one that I gravitate toward in real people to, even as an adult.

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Character, how they act .I don’t like it when it’s thrown in my face and the game says romance this person I will if I choose to
Such I love thanes romance in me and Alistair in d a and in heros of myth it was ming
And in psy high Carl was the best
Dai ,Cullen and Blackwell

Good natured people who don’t blame their problems on a freudian excuse that happened to them years ago, thereby making it acceptable for them to act like an ass to everyone because they were sad at one point. We were all sad at one point in our lives. It does not give anyone the right to be shitty to people who have done nothing to them.

I’m just too old to eat into the “bad boy” thing. I know why it appeals to younger audiences. I WAS that person in my younger years. But I’m a grown up now. I’ve seen how this works. The reality of it, is that it’s not anywhere near half as cute or quirky as common media wants to paint it as…

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Initially looks will matter to me but literally always I go for the guy who didn’t interest me looks wise because I like his personality more eventually. I personally go for the more dominant protective characters.

  • the tsundere but not the agressive kind this one I find it great when you’re “from enemies to lovers” cause when they fall in love they start denying it with lots of blushing which I find cute.

  • I also love the playful with a serious/vulnerable/emotional side this one is great when you’re “partners in crime” I just love how you develop a special bond with them over the course of your “mission”

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