IF Seal: What are some pros and cons creating gender-selectable characters?
Dear if-seal! I want to try to write an interactive novel, but I'm not sure what to do with the romantic options , what would be the pros and cons of making them gender flippable vs. gender set? Have a good day!
Dear Romantically Curious Friend,
Truly it is up to what pulls on your own heartstrings, but I shall share some of my insights!
I confess I am fond of flippable characters for a number of reasons:
it means that I do not require a larger cast for readers to have a wide variety of romanceable characters of genders they enjoy; it is also sometimes possible to have an entirely nonbinary set of romanceable characters, for instance, which does not usually happen
it is a way of showing that gender does not have to have a major effect on a character's personality; it can perhaps push me, or readers, away from assumptions about "what a woman should look and behave like" and such
it can be satisfying to play with those assumptions
it is a way of giving players an experience tailored more precisely to their tastes
There are also pitfalls, which may include:
it is a lot of work to write pronouns and verbs as variables, and to branch descriptions or interactions differently if that's how you're handling things
it is easier to end up writing generic descriptions, because the variables can trick you into thinking you are writing more specifically than you are
it makes it possible for players to navigate a world in which most of the major characters include no women, or no nonbinary people, or no men; this may not be your intended or ideal play experience
when writing you have to hold several different iterations of the same character in your head and consider them all, which is a lot of brain activity when writing is, of course, an intensive creative activity already
sometimes players feel that a flippable character is less "defined" or solid to them than a set one; I do not always agree, but perhaps there is less wiggle room with a flippable character
sometimes people simply find it hard to get their head around the idea of influencing the world of the game in such a way
An unfortunate reality is that some types of characters are more popular as some genders than others. You will have probably seen less excitement about trans characters than cis ones, or few nonbinary characters even present in games, or indeed perhaps fewer people are thrilled about women's wrongs than men's ones; some readers are far less forgiving about female characters' behaviour.
At the same time you will find that a great many people are very excited about these characters! And you too may be more excited about them being defined as those selves - so if that is the case, that is very much something to embrace.
I think that the best decision to make about this is the one that makes you excited about your characters. There is no right or wrong answer.
Thank you very much for your question. May your characters find all the love they desire!