#but yes I can agree PB does not particularly care for the queers lmao

[sciralta]

So...the book cover for Kindred was just leaked. It's a multiple MC book yet they still managed to make all three playable characters gender-locked. Are we surprised, though? PB gender-locking a witchcraft book for no reason is such a PB thing to do. This means that there'll be no new GOC books until the back half of 2023 since Rommates with Benefits, First Comes Love and The Duchess Affair are all going to "fEaTuRe a hErOiNe mC". Why does PB hate MLM and enby players so much? 😩

Well, the book hasn’t come out yet, so we don’t actually know if there’s “no reason” to genderlock the book. I feel like some people have a misconception that I think genderlocking full stop is bad. I don’t and it’s not. There are stories where anything other than a female protagonist would be to the story’s detriment. Stories like ACoR, MoTY etc. Where I draw issue (again, stemming from a desperate desire to see gay stories) is when stories are genderlocked for no discernible narrative reason. The Choices VN format is one without a fixed protagonist so like… come on, give the f-words something to eat we’re starving over here. It’s for this same reason I’m really not at all interested in male genderlocked books unless they’re also locked gay. I mean yes my unwillingness to acknowledge straight men is part of this, but also I genuinely can’t think of any story suitable or worth telling in the Choices VN format that isn’t from the perspective of a gay man. There just isn’t one.

So no, at the moment we can’t say there’s no reason. Do I suspect we’ll see there was no reason, once the book is released? Yes, absolutely; it’s why I responded in gay annoyance when I first realised they were probably gonna genderlock the witch book. But we can’t exactly say for now with certainty there is none when all we’ve got to go off is a cover and the fact that it’s supposed to be about witches.

Look we all know witchcraft and the occult is a girls gays and theys thing and it’s disappointing PB didn’t lean into that. Yeah they could’ve made one of the playable characters not a woman, in that case. We can call it a missed opportunity and move on to bigger fish like WHY did they schedule no GoC books until fucking July, instead of the specifics of an individual book.

I’m just going to end with this because something in your tone reminded me of it, and this isn’t meant to shame you anon, but still. I know there are people here who, um… will show their ass and frankly be homophobic about and around queer men and the discussion over GoC versus genderlocking, but even still, some people here are putting to much energy into responding to it. Some of you are doing to much. There’s a lot of heat there. Calm down.