Talks about otome games, drama cds, and occasionally provides advice? Running away endlessly from my backlog of hobbies.

Ilinox

Okay, the complaint from the otome games subreddit is hilarious because, yes, of course it wouldn't be "like an otome game" with a gender neutral protagonist because otome games have female protagonists. Once again, the thought that "otome" is a vibe, writing style, or dating sim needs to die.

My only thoughts about this whole thing is that, as a creative, there needs to be a direction to what you're making. If gender selection is only offered to cast a wider net for a larger audience, then it's going to detract from the work, especially games whose whole existence revolves around romantic interpersonal relationships, because the creators are offering no reason for gender selection other than to be inclusive. RPGs are unaffected by gender selection because the romance is a side thing and not the main focus of the game.

I'm not saying that visual novels with gender selection automatically fail right from the start, but as a creative you have to be conscious of the unique challenges it brings. People who choose male or female pronouns are identifying as male or female and so they would want to see the world and characters react to that. But if you were to write these differences in a way that matters and isn't just fluff text then that would take a ton of time and energy, which indie developers generally do not have to spare.

Writing a gender neutral protagonist also takes additional time and energy, because you have to constantly examine your own subconscious biases when it comes to your usage of words and how the characters react to them. I'm guessing the reason some of these games come off as "underwhelming" is because the writers take the easy way out and don't commit to writing in the lens of a gender neutral protagonist and what that would mean for the world and characters around them. You can't just "erase" all mentions of gender for the protagonist and call it a day, especially when other characters in the game have established genders.

Okay, the complaint from the otome games subreddit is hilarious because, yes, of course it wouldn't be "like an otome game" with a gender neutral protagonist because 

. Once again, the thought that "otome" is a vibe, writing style, or dating sim needs to die.

My only thoughts about this whole thing is that, as a creative, there needs to be a 

to what you're making. If gender selection is only offered to cast a 

, then it's going to detract from the work, 

especially games whose whole existence revolves around romantic interpersonal relationships

, because the creators are offering no reason for gender selection other than to be inclusive. RPGs are unaffected by gender selection because the romance is a side thing and not the main focus of the game.

I'm not saying that visual novels with gender selection automatically fail right from the start, but as a creative you have to be conscious of the unique challenges it brings. People who choose male or female pronouns are 

 and so they would want to see the world and characters react to that. But if you were to write these differences in a way that matters and isn't just fluff text then that would take a ton of time and energy, which indie developers generally do not have to spare.

Writing a gender neutral protagonist also takes additional time and energy, because you have to constantly examine your own subconscious biases when it comes to your usage of words and how the characters react to them. I'm guessing the reason some of these games come off as "underwhelming" is because the writers take the easy way out and don't commit to writing in the lens of a gender neutral protagonist and what that would mean for the world and characters around them. You can't just "erase" all mentions of gender for the protagonist and call it a day, especially when other characters in the game have established genders.

I’ve played Visual Novels before that offer gender selection and they’ve been pretty much underwhelming to me. Most of them don’t have an MC with a face so that’s already a minus plus I’m not a fan of how they handle character interactions. When I select she/her pronouns, I don’t feel like I’m experiencing the story through the eyes of a woman. So I guess it’s cool indie devs experiment with this and make what they want to make but I wouldn’t want all games to go this route because for many people it will end up underwhelming. This is also a complaint I’ve seen in the otome games subreddit. That it feels like the story is strictly gender neutral and not like an otome. It’s just too different.

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gender neutral vns

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