#This is the same self insert MC design i use for every game

[oddlyenna]

Lucanis x my custom Rook

Love some cute sleepy cuddles.

Bonus : The doodles that started this The duality of a man and his inner demon.

[lynaferns]

Y/N design that I never used

Basically my Y/N idea was having a character that changes siluette every panel/escene, doesn't look the same twice. The thing was that it was going to have so many body and hair variations that I would end up "accidentally" drawing real life people (you) in at least one panel (It could have also been a fun game of pointing out in what panel Y/N looked more like your real self). Sadly I didn't know how to make this work while staying motivated to draw/write.

This guy was going to be originaly the mc in the forest elves AU but I couldn't visualize anything with it in the story. I ended up inserting myself as a placeholder that became the design and personality of the character.

I tried using it for the BIOmáquina AU but the same happened. I couldn't come up with a way of comfortably writing a readerinsert story. If the character is too bland I get blocked, I don't know how to make a character without a face for the readers without making it boring and If I give it a face and traits to make it more enjoyable to write/read it becomes basically an OC.

I don't know maybe I'm overthinking.

The thing is that I've come back to it because maaaaaaayybeeeee I finally had an idea to use it in something that I've been thinking of making an official thing... And again, Y/N didn't work for me.

BUT I HAD A WAY BETTER IDEA FOR READER INSERTIONS that I'm not sure if it would actually work because I need the readers to collaborate with me for this but IT WOULD BE SO COOL IF IT WORKED.

I'm probably not revealing this idea 'till I feel confident with the work done (or a year has passed)

[hpowellsmith]

After taking a break last week, I'm here again for the saturday question!

So... "when playing games with PC customisation, do you play as your own gender or orientation? Bonus question: why/why not?"

I always play male characters (I'm a woman) in text based IF and most visual novels with high customization of the main character, because I despise self insert - it makes me extremely uncomfortable and literally alienates me from my character and the game as a whole. Most text based IF make it even worse than the majority of visual novels because of the second person writing which I also hate (I got used to it obviously so it doesn't bother me as long as I have a male MC, but it's still such a treat when a game is written in first person from time to time - at least it's more common in VNs). But if the MC is a different gender than me, it allows me to "distance myself" from my character and see them like the actual character he deserves to be, not a reflection of myself, and I'm like "haha game, you won't convince me I am in the game - the MC is not even the same gender as me!". That also means I can't play genderlocked female IF at all. I'm fine with NB locked though as it's still not female. Though I'm still most at ease with male MCs. Can be cis or trans though - I pick depending on the game.

On the other hand, I'm straight and I almost always pick male love interests because of a combination of me rarely liking the writing of female characters in games (or at least not liking it much for a romantic interest type of character) and sometimes simply feeling awkward in romantic situations with women to begin with, even in fiction. Sometimes I pick NB ROs too, but more rarely - it's often hit or miss depending on the writing of the character. But yeah, I tend to default to male. Meaning, it indirectly makes most of my MCs gay. Though to be fair, like I already mentionned in one of these questions in the past (I believe), I'm also sort of cursed, and every single time I actually was interested in a female RO in an IF or even a female love interest in one of the TTRPG games I play with my friends, the IF/campaign got cancelled, so it never led to anything!

Now, in games with a full body avatar for the MC and what not, I think me making male and female MCs is sort of half and half? Like, in Dragon Age and Mass Effect games I have female MCs, while in BG3, Rogue Trader and a few other games I pick male. Basically, when the character has a full on design and there is no second person writing and what not, so self insert is not a "risk", I will chose based on what feels better in said game, if the RO I'm interested in is locked to certain MC genders and other factors similar to these. So in these games, my MC being straight or gay will be more varied.

Thank you for this, it's great to hear about how tastes and preferences come up in these kinds of games!

Basically, when the character has a full on design and there is no second person writing and what not, so self insert is not a "risk", I will chose based on what feels better in said game

I find this a bit too; I feel more comfortable playing (for example) a straight character if it's a set character, and especially if it's a visual game and/or one with VO for the PC.

[gastlygallows]

Okay some actual observations about Hundred Line: Last Defense so far after the server got a little past Day 1 of the demo tonight and some thoughts on Kodaka's writing:

also talked about husbandos a lot oops

I really like Kodaka's writing and I always have, but I'm not about to blindly praise him--V3's ending was a major miss for me (not for the reasons you might think) and it ruined DR1 and DR2 for me for a while. World's End Club was a bait and switch. Moreso than V3 was (yes V3 was a bait and switch Kodaka was lying in prereleased interviews and Japan hated the ending much more than the west did)

We were promised a killing game "for children by children" only to be delivered a janky platformer with the most cookie cutter, bland characters imaginable and a predictable story that felt like it was written by an eighth grader who just discovered Japanese media

I need to finish Rain Code but just didn't get to it yet, but I really love Yuma because I'm a sucker for big tiddy wacky girl + reserved shota (YEAH I'm self inserting as the big tiddy girl!!!) and in all of Danganronpa I loved every protag

Maybe I'm just easy to please, but sometimes I really REALLY like protag boys. Sometimes I walk away from hentai games like "wow the MC is cute actually" while pairing him with the girl I like the most who I'm also attracted to and yeah I've been known to simp for no dialogue protagonists!!! >w> I've been known to ship them together also (Makoto and Minako P3 Twins Au)

....why is this? Am I insane? I have a shrine in my room to a husbando who is fully intended to not have an actual personality (I either love characters with a whole buffet worth of character or none at all and yet when there is none presented I still perceive, I cannot explain this)

Anyway, Naegi and Hinata are written like fully fleshed characters not intended to be merely player inserts and yet they still were able to fill that role if you, the player, chose for them to which is easy for a lot of people to do apparently

It was a very sweet middle ground that you can be the one making the decision for the characters in the bonus modes which are glorified dating sims

A sort of illusionary art piece where you can see a slightly different picture by tilting your head

So far our Protag Boy in Hundred Line is continuing that trend because I was simping for Takumi the whole time--ah, what beautiful eyes he has! And the little tsun tsun for his childhood friend...who I have suspicions about...

There's no character I dislike so far, which is a far cry from V3, and there were so many Danganronpa references that it feels like this is in the same universe and paying homage without being served a cocktail of memberberry juice and expected to get plastered from its bittersweet nectar of nostalgia

I'm still not entirely convinced that this won't turn into Danganronpa halfway through haha at least, as much as it can without being Danganronpa (TM) which I'm pretty sure Spike owns

Danganronpa really really made me happy for a long time nearly 10 years ago and I was sad with how V3 went, sad at how V3 made me feel, and so disenchanted that I began writing out my own original killing game story which still needs to be completed (dw I know what I'm doing)

So...so far, Hundred Line is a much needed ointment to apply to some scars that won't go away entirely but could certainly use a little more healing

I've been meaning to replay Dangan 1 and 2

I really hate how modern day Danganronpa fandom is mostly comprised of antis and people who are not legal to even buy the game--these same people wanna complain about the safety of minors of the internet and yet they ignore something that is put in place for their safety--GO AWAY!!

They bitch about fanservice and yet continue to support the game, as if Kodaka himself isn't a god level gooner who enjoys it that his characters are given official figures with panty shots

I hate it that the fandom feels the need to "fix" designs by making characters uglier intentionally

I really wish all of these people would find media that supports what they believe in instead of trying to force existing series/characters to be something that they aren't

Most of Danganronpa fandom now LIKES V3, which wasn't the case when V3 first released (I witnessed it lol) but the thing is that the people who didn't like V3 just up and the fanbase never really "recovered" so now it looks like V3 was always super beloved from the start

Anyway the past half a year or so I haven't really been indulging in too much Japanese media mostly because of the state of censorship in localization and there just hasn't been much new that interests me (and that's in general, I find it more enjoyable to revisit things)

And I could be totally wrong about Last Line

Kodaka could drop the ball in the last act, but y'know what? I'm gonna give it a try when it releases! Because so far it's fun, the characters are enjoyable, there's canon twincest, and Rain Code (what I've played of it) has renewed my faith that maybe Kodaka is over this slump he put himself into with V3 (and let's not talk about the DR3 anime!)

It's very nice to enjoy things this year because I've been in my own slump for the past few years (that's why I think I'm a lot more forgiving about V3 now) and that's mostly due to getting out of a really bad 4 year relationship that went nowhere It affected me more than I had initially realized :<

but 2025 I'm writing frequently again, I'm playing vidya games, and I'm even drawing more so yeah!!! :3

[ad-hawkeye]

HI HELLO MY OTOME BLOG IS A SIDEBLOG SO I AM COMING IN ANON FORM ALSO I HAVEN'T REACHED OUT BEFORE HI!!! THE ARTEM IS ACE HEADCANONS ARE MY EVERYTHING. MY ASEXUAL AND ARTEM STAN ASS LOVES EVERY SECOND OF THIS.

Fr I thought I never thought too hard ab why I headcanon him as ace bc I headcanon almost every character I like as ace (bc I can) but maybe that's why I was so attracted to Artem when I started the game? Like maybe that's why I became such a hardcore stan?

Because the vibes are SO THERE. I say this as a professional ace-spec vibe reader. You also mentioned in the tags of one of the posts that you headcanon him as grey romantic AND I ABSOLUTELY AGREE THE SIGNS AND THE VIBES ARE ALL THERE I LOVE THIS HEADCANON.

I think the most endearing thing for the aces is that he's always just so respectful and sweet and awkward and not pushy at all, as previously stated by other posts. I like to read stories or play otome games and rewrite scenes in my mind to take out any pushiness or sexual implications bc it makes me uncomfy and with Artem I don't have to rewrite it in my mind because he's already ideal. Like he is absolutely the kind of guy to be the most respectful and accepting ever about his partner being ace-spec even if he isn't. And that is so refreshing compared to almost every other otome guy I've read (and I've played a GOOD amount of otome games) where if I were to make a "reasons blank wouldn't date me" thing they would all be "I'm asexual and he's horny" so maybe the reason we gravitate towards Artem is the feeling that he would truly accept us? I don't even self insert in otome games but whenever there's sexual implication there's still that like, painful moment of realizing that the world at large isn't made for a-specs I guess??? And I've never not once had that with Artem. Sorry if that got too deep💀

ALSO SORRY THIS IS SO LONG I'M A HUGE FAN OF YOUR CONTENT AS AN ARTEM STAN THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO❤️❤️❤️

!!! HI ANON!!! 💖 oh my gosh we are kindred spirits right down to our otome blogs being our side blogs </3 which. my apologies to anyone reading this for not following back or sending asks. i promise the limitations of a side blog are my sole reason!!

but oh my god YES, i am totally the same with ace headcanons. it isn’t even intentional! it’s just the way i think. i think i was initially drawn to artem because in the first few main story chaps he doesn’t actually do much besides invite her to join nxx and then stand there looking at her awkwardly sometimes.

his personal story locked me in with the advice book and introduction to his soft side. i do have a slight bias for tot’s personal stories and cards over the main story, though, simply bc the main story (by design) can’t “pick a side”, tends to not get mentioned in other stories, and sometimes feels like it was written by a different writing team?

regardless, i’m so happy to hear you agree on the gray-romantic take!!!! i specifically picked gray-romantic over demiromantic because while this is the first time he’s been romantically attracted to someone, he fell for her before there was any notable emotional connection. mc would fit the demi label a bit better me thinks hehe.

as for artem and the ace crack they stashed inside of him, you make really, REALLY good points here. holy shit, actually. i think you nailed it. i never realized JUST how often other otome games made me feel uncomfortable or left feeling like i was ‘different’. same goes for real life, i suppose. hasn’t happened while reading artem’s route though. even the cards with shameless.. er, fan service. they tend to, from what i’ve seen, play artem as the “whatever you want/whatever makes you comfortable” kind of guy, so your point holds really strong.

getting fully personal here, but i think about this a lot. tot is a popular otome game and even though there would be like. rioting in the streets if one of the boys wasn’t sexually attracted to the mc (which in itself is another depressing reminder of how different i am), it doesn’t really change the already released stories that we love. and it ultimately doesn’t matter what artem winds up being - bc like you said, ace vibes aside, artem being “respectful and accepting about his partner being ace-spec even if he isn’t” is genuinely just. such an accurate take. i can’t believe i haven’t thought of it from this perspective before. you’re so right. 

even on the flip side. if he was ace i could see him communicating with a non-ace partner about that whole situation and i just. man. i’ve called artem the antithesis to your typical otome boy as a joke before, and you know. maybe i was onto something, maybe this was the true ace crack all along HAHA.

OH MY GOSH DON’T APOLOGIZE AT ALL!!!! this was such a good read and it makes me so happy to know i’m not the only one in fandom like this 😭 😭 like i know i said this before, but i never actually intended on mentioning this hc bc i was unsure of how people would respond, especially since we all like this game for different reasons and i wanted to respect that, so i’m genuinely like. really really moved and happy HAHA!! i swear i’m gonna cry or something ;; 

AND AAA now you’re gonna REALLY make me cry, thank you for the kind words!!! i’m so happy people like my silly little rambles :’’] sincerely hope you have a wonderful day, anon!!! def feel free to message me anytime !! 💖💖💖

[weirdstuffmagic]

My opinion about uncoven

Alright, so since I finished chapter 1 (yeah, since the first day is actually day 0) I think that I can give a better opinion on this game now. So, what to start with? Hm, maybe the good points?

Right, so I really like the music (you can check it out on youtube) and the artwork, especially the backgrounds. They look amazing. About characters design I would say that I have one complaint – why is the light on them like that? What is it about? xD I really don’t get it, but it looks funny I guess.

About the gameplay – well, it’s the same system as in ML, so you can’t gather more energy points than what you get daily, unless you pay to get more. You know how it works, so yeah. Oh but here we won’t get lost since you can’t go around the mansion as you please, the story leads you.

Next point, the story – To tell you the truth, well at least to me, it’s really boring. It feels like the pace is just, idk, too slow maybe? All we do is talk, talk and talk. We get to talk with other characters soo much that it just pains me that we don’t really get as many interesting infos about them as I’d expect. The conversations mostly go like this „oh, you did this cocktail? I’ts really yummy – Yeah, I did” or „My dad i so bad – Don’t feel sad”. Like, don’t get me wrong, it’s nice that we get to see their daily lives, getting to know them little by little, but it just frustrates me xd And maybe it’s because I expected something else from this, like you know, not reading a whole chapter about everyone’s lifes so much or how, for example, Rose is so against white people and is saying that they are all liars while still believing the crap that her hypnotist said to her about her fears (that her fear of snakes, or trauma if you’d like, comes from her fear of losing her dear ones) and yeah, she didn’t go to a therapist, but to a hypnotist (and when she was a child at that). Good job.

With this one I’m just glad they didn’t make us, the players, believe that this is something legit but at the same time, it’s never said that it’s full of bulls*it. But anyway, moving on

We learn that William is from a rich family, but both of his parents don’t pay much attention to him; Silas is an internet celebrity? Not really sure xd; Kristen has a younger brother and a granny, who is sick; Rose’s mother, an activist (don’t remember well) is like an enemy of Will’s father, who is a politician; Mavka’s father left her family a few years ago and now he came back, so things are awkward; And that Ascian is probably from a lineage of witches, and that his greatgrandpa, grandma and his mother are/were ones (which others think is a lie, since magic in not real and so on).

So all through the chapters there is that one thing that irritates me the most, that it made me hate this one particular character (well, wouldn’t say that it’s real hate, but it’s just more than not liking this one, like what I feel towards few others) – it’s to make this one character to be in the spotlight, the center of everyone’s attention – it’s Mavka. Everyone is just so captivated by her, saying how gorgeuse she is, beautiful, wonderful and so and so on… And on top of that, our MC, Nyx, is just the worst when it comes to saying and/or thinking such things (whether you like it or not) – it’s like we are made to remember how awesome everyone is, and especially this readhead girl… It’s really frustrating that Nyx is made to think that every one of her friends is so special (and it’s even worse that Mavka is probably a self-insert of one of the scenarists, so things like that just make it ever so obvious). Don’t get me wrong, making a character which is like a self-insert isn’t something bad, but while making one, you need to make them something else than… this.

So coming back a little, there is really nothing worthwhile happenning and maybe that’s because it’s only the prologue and first chapter, but I really thought it would be something a little different, after reading posts about this game from their official account on insta. But well, even if it’s like that, since I started playing it, might as well see how it ends (even if it’s gonna take me ages to do…). At least I have fun commenting it with others x’D

If you read it this far, thank you and take care <3 

tl;dr: graphics are nice, game is boring. Will play it for the science and to laugh while hoping there will be less cringy scenes (which probably won’t). Pray for me, please, so I won’t loose my sanity.

[vios-rockland-corner]

My Rockland OC Sasha Holmes.

I like how this drawing turned out more than my last one did.  Tried drawing a side profile again, and this is actually the first time I’ve ever tried to draw a person sitting down.  So not a bad attempt.  The worst is still probably the hands, and I have absolutely no idea what I was trying to do with the writing desk.  It’s just awful, haha.  I also attempted to shade, but my brain went dead and for whatever reason I couldn’t get the shading tools to work the way they usually do.

I’m going to take the time to write below about how I’m going to use Sasha.  Just for fun.

So as I’m posting this, the Zeitgeist demo came out recently.  I’ve mentioned somewhere before that I usually don’t self-insert or visualize an OC when I play games with an unnamed protagonist.  

I don’t say I self-insert because I almost never use my real name when I play.  I like my name, but it just feels strange to me.  The closest I get is usually at least on the first play through, I will try to go for with the options that are closest to what I believe I would realistically do or say in the situation.  And if I’m being completely honest, doing so on that first run hardly ever gets me a fantastic result.  So it’s probably not a bad thing that I don’t imagine putting myself in the actual game, haha.  From then on, I usually just do a combination of what I’d want to do vs. what I THINK the person I’m talking to will like best.

I also don’t generally visualize an OC when I play.  The reason for this is just that I’m really bad with coming up with designs in my head.  Especially when I’m trying to visualize something that matches the same art style as what I’m looking at (yeah, I prefer visual consistency).  If I don’t have a design in mind, I really don’t put too much thought into the MC.  I just end up focusing on the other characters in the game.

So this time around I’ve at least prepped an OC here in advance to see what I want to do with her.  I DID actually use the name Sasha when I was playing the demo, just to get a feel and see if I liked the idea of using her as my MC.

Now Sasha’s still getting fleshed out with characteristics and backstory, but there are some basics that I’ve settled on.  The main thing is that she’s supposed to be an inquisitive type of person.  I purposefully picked her last name as kind of a joke.  I wouldn’t say she has any detective skills, or is even the detective type though.  More like...she’s more likely to be considered a “conspiracy theorist” rather than anything.  She doesn’t act crazy or awkward though.  She’s pretty normal and straightforward.  Some of the stuff she wants to look into may scare her or make her more nervous than excited.  But if she shows an interest in something that seems a little more far-fetched than usual, people will often poke fun at her.  If they know her personally, the most common thing for people to do is say, “Sure thing, Sherlock.”  Sasha is very unamused by this and in general just gets annoyed with the word association.  Depending on who it is, she’ll either sigh, snap back, “Don’t call me that,” or even stamp on their foot.  For the latter, it’s usually a close friend whom she knows she can get away with giving them a harder time for the nickname.

Getting back on topic though, I don’t think I’ll be using Sasha as an MC for the games.  Basically, I like to stick with canon with when it comes to the games.  I’d have to figure out either:  which story path and ending I like for the game best, OR which story ending my OC is most likely to get based on their personality.  With the former, I’d have to shape my OC’s personality around what’s required for the path to get to completion.  This could mean making the character more flirty, bold, timid, etc.  Again, this is if I want to think of the canon path (people can imagine the story however they want to).  Now if it was the latter where I just play exactly as my OC would act, whatever ending she gets then is canon.

For me, the first method isn’t as appealing as I’d like.  I’ve done the “create a character to fit a story path” before with my OC Gale.  She’s the MC I made for Marcus’s path in Till Death Do Us Part.  Fun fact, I made her AFTER playing the game because I loved that storyline and Marcus so much that I just wanted to have a character to visualize after a certain point.  But the problem with Gale is I found it can be a little tricky or odd for me to create a character’s personality to fill the blanks in a story.  So she’s still not fully fleshed out, but I do still like her.

If I just play the game as Sasha and don’t like the ending she gets when picking what she would realistically do, well too bad XD  That’s still what I would consider canon for her if she’s put in that scenario.  Now it could be fun to try a path like that and see if I do like her canon ending, but there’s absolutely no guarantee that I will like every “canon” ending in each game for her.

Now the obvious thing for some people to remedy this problem is to just make more OC’s.  I used to think it was strange why people would have a different OC for every single dating option or story path in a game, but I think I get it now.  Unfortunately, I just don’t have the creative energy to come up with multiple designs and personalities.  It’s a lot of effort for me to flesh out just one character.  I have only a handful of personal OC’s and I’d say really only two of those OC’s are fully fledged.  Even those characters though I have world-building issues with their backstories I have to work on.

I want to try to put more effort into Sasha.  She’s really just here to encourage me to draw more and to practice character creation.  If I have world-building issues like I mentioned, then I thought it might be fun to try to see if I can basically borrow another’s universe to build a character to match.  Isn’t this basically what people do in every fandom?

If I want to use Sasha as a Rockland NPC instead that doesn’t interact with the main story or characters though, I will have to think carefully about what she’s interested in.  There are different groups in the Rockland universe.  For example, I could either make her more interested in human activities or supernatural activities.  Has she heard of the Misfits, or the Hand of God?  Those two groups I don’t know yet if they cross paths or exist in separate areas.

If you’re wondering how I’m going to integrate Sasha without making her invasive...I’m working on it haha.  But I kind of thought about how “I” write all these thoughts posts on what I think about certain characters and elements before there’s any confirmation.  Basically, I could have Sasha think like me so that basically she’s curious, but only knows whatever I know (stuff about groups or characters, not gameplay mechanics obviously).  Still working on where I go from there though.  Would be fun to try to see if I could do something like little journal segments by Sasha.  But that’s a long ways off until I have a much firmer grasp on certain realities in the Rockland universe.

I talked WAY too much about Sasha here, but on the bright side I think it’s helped tide me over a little more while I wait for Zeitgeist’s eventually release.  Looks like I’ll just be playing “faceless” as I usually do, haha.

[scummy-writes]

I wonder what is your personal opinion about fleshed out mc? Tbh I'm quite disappointed that the same mc is used in every fanwork, like it's not that I hate it but we have 5 default mc and even the point isn't to use mc but to self insert. MC have a "basic" charadesign and have no eyes for this reason. I would understand if she was a legit heroine but she aren't supposed to be. I guess it's safer to do it this way, but I wish the fandom felt more free about it.

I think for a lot of content creators, they use the default Mc because players have already connected through the Mc thats shown in official CG artwork. Whereas if it’s a fully fleshed out Mc, its difficult for people to connect to the Mc in artwork and fics. Like I can look at a blond Mc, wearing bright pinks and platforms and I couldn’t connect at all. In artwork, I can still appreciate it, but in a fanfic I couldn’t make a connection because the ‘You’ the fanfic is referring to is nowhere close to how I really am. I think it makes sense for a lot of people to not give Mc a name, or barely go past that in terms of design (aka not defining a set style/eye color/hair/etc), if their main goal is to write or create something they hope can appeal to several people and be relatable. So, it’s not something I’m really against.

Now, that being said, I fully support completely custom Mc’s. I come from past fandoms where people were constantly making their own self inserts, even if it was obvious it was just the person themselves but in the games/anime/manga’s style. I loved seeing the variety, and I loved watching them be so happy. If a self insert seemed like me enough, at least in personality (and the appearance wasn’t mentioned often), I would even read the fanfics they wrote.

And, believe it or not, before I started posting publicly, I mainly wrote self insert fanfics for my friends during birthdays and holidays sjnfjsf So I’m pretty open to them and encourage others to make them!

But I also think it’s reasonable for content creators to stick with the mc mentioned in the game only, or to have a very vague character design. I guess it’s just kinda a line between wanting to appeal to many, or just yourself.

My opinion isn’t definite, however! It’s okay if anyone disagrees, I’m just pretty laid back when it comes to these things.