Who do you want to be in a novel?

I'm talking to someone about the possibility of creating an interactive-story romance videogame. This is kind of like a novel where the player/reader gets to name the main character, decide some details about her, and choose which of several options she says or does at key points in the story. So, the first thing we want to research is what sort of person players/readers want to be, and also what sort of world they want their story to take place in, and what sort of adventures they want to have on the way to their HEA.

So, have their been specific main characters you thought were particularly awesome, or you really identified with? What is your favorite setting for a romance novel to occur in? And what kind of problems are your favorite for the heroine to wrestle with and solve?

girlyswot said:

Is that the sort of thing you want?

Click to expand...

Yes, any and all visions of who you want to be or don't want to be are great input. ^_^ If you wanted to comment on jobs or problem-solving activities you'd like to do, that would also be wonderful.

Let me tell you, for contrast, the near-useless standard RPG character types we have been finding very difficult to convert to romance heroines. In the typical RPG the major activity is killing monsters - no exceptions. So character types are mainly about the style with which one kills monsters. The usual roles a player can choose from are: knight (weapons and armor, probably no magic, sometimes they are paladins with a religious affiliation), thief, mage (sometimes mages can specialize as healers, as opposed to the usual fireball-throwing combat mage; sometimes mage is substituted for with priest, basically they pray to a patron diety to cast each spell), archer, summoner (this person fights alongside pet animals or summoned demons), and shapeshifter (into animal forms).

In addition to this main role, RPG players may get to choose secondary roles such as crafting professions (herbalist, farmer, baker, hunter/butcher/skinner, miner, lumberjack, smith, leatherworker, tailor, jeweler, fisherman/woman). Then there are faction alignments, which I think has the most potential to be relevant to romance novels. A faction alignment is where you as a player develop a good reputation with an organization within the game world. This is basically done by doing favors or missions for people of that faction, and by thwarting their enemies' plans.

For a different perspective we can look at adventure games, which probably include the pirate bodiceripper mentioned (Can I get the title of that by the way? I've actually never heard of that one and I'd love to look at it.) In the adventure game the player's main role is puzzle-solver ala Indianna Jones (although they may still also need to kill lots of monsters.) For example in the Zelda series the main character Link spends a lot of time pulling switches, lighting torches, and pushing blocks to solve puzzles, but he also has a sword, a bow, magic, and some other specialized tools like bombs, a boomerang, and a grappling hook. On the other hand many adventure games, for example the Myst series, do not have any combat or monsters at all, only puzzle solving.

Finally there are sim games. In this kind of game the player's primary role is their profession. The strategic choice the player makes is how to use their time efficiently - what to do within their profession, how much time to devote to personal upkeep that does not advance the profession, when to spend money to improve tools or properties, and how much time and money to spend on courtship activities.

Dating Sims such as Beezle mentions actually don't have to be sims, they can be any of the three game types described above. A dating sim is any game where the player is presented with 3 or more love interest characters (NPCs) with whom they can try to build a relationship by talking to them, giving them presents, answering questions in a way that pleases that character, solving problems that bother that character, etc. So yes, any kind of romance videogame where the heroine built a relationship with a hero would be similar to a dating sim. Dating sims aren't specifically romance novels as video games though, many of them are designed for a male audience, having a male main character and female love interest characters. Some of these are specifically erotica, where the player's ultimate reward for wooing a character is some erotic art illustrating the player's character having sex with the courted character.

DeleyanLee said:

Because the companies/execs who market the games are positive that the only ones playing the games are males of breeding age.

Click to expand...

Pretty much. Although, the younger the female audience, the flashier characters they prefer to play, so it's not entirely what males want to see. We definitely do get female players who want to be the dominatrix in the leather corset and thigh high boots accessorized with a whip and a pet demon, and ones who want to be the beautiful elf princess with hair down to her knees, dripping with jewels, radiating magic, and possibly also having wings. Cat girls and other animal people are also very popular among female players, as are any type of character which gets to work with or turn into animals. Then we also get female players who want to be a tough, practical female knight or native american.

But certainly female appearance in game are shaped a lot more heavily by male tastes than male appearance sin games are shaped by female tastes. And there are ridiculous games out there where the mandatory level one female armor is a bra and a thong. Oh and high-heeled boots. Personally I think there ought to be both risque and conservative types of clothing available for both female and male characters, and players should always have the option to dress their character in a way they feel satisfied with. The whole point of an interactive story where the player chooses what role they want to play is to give the player personal freedom and prompts and tools to help them act out a satisfying fantasy. So I think the players need to have a good range of options for professions, factions, body types, clothing, and love interest characters to choose from, because these are all important to constructing a satisfying role playing experience.

dnic said:

And I would love to see a role reversal just for kicks: women wearing reasonable clothes and men wearing those risque...things.

Click to expand...

CFNM? (For anyone who doesn't know, CFNM stands for clothed female, nude male, and is an erotica category/fetish)

Dating sims bear almost no relation to the game series The SIMs. If you want to play a mild PG-13 rated dating sim I recommend the Harvest Moon series. There are at least two Harvest Moons where you can play a female character courting male characters, although originally the series was a male character courting females. Basic idea is that you are a teenager who inherits a derelict farm and must raise it to prosperity. Rather oddly for a farmer, you do not eat meat (except fish); you keep cows and sheep but only use their milk and wool. *CoughplagueofvegetariansCough*

There are actually lots of Japanese dating sims where the main character is either female or a gay male, and the courtable characters are male, but unfortunately they rarely get translated to English. Sometimes, like with the game Azure Dreams, there was originally one male courtable character along with the 5 or so female ones, but the ability to develop a romance with him was censored out of the English version because of anticipated intolerance to portraying homosexuality in a children's game.