#fixed gender/selectable gender ros

[infamous-if]

✭INFAMOUS UPDATE IS HERE ✭

238K -> 457K WORDS

Please read this post before playing! It's finally here! After five months of writing and rewriting and salvaging and crying and sweating and bleeding I finally finished sort of kind of! Firstly, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding over this duration of this rewrite. It was stressful at times but I'm happy with the end result and I hope everyone else will be too :)

This will be the last chapter I release without beta testers/other sets of eyes so expect errors. I can playtest until my fingers turn blue but I'm just one person </3 I'm bound to have missed stuff.

Please let me know of errors! I tested it a few times with no problems but we know how it goes lol

IN THIS CHAPTER THREE UPDATE:

drama

mayhem

chaos

some betrayal

some surprises

just...read it lmao

PROLOGUE - CHAPTER 2 CHANGES:

**chapter two was too large of a file to upload on dd so I had to split it last minute and I uhhhh dont know how that translates in the demo but it should work lol please let me know if its wonky!**

fixed up grammatical errors and typos

expanded some scenes and added some more choices

you can now choose that your mc has "changed" in some way (drinking, no longer drinking, partier, no longer a partier, negative, positive, attached, detached, or a general default. I was asked to add an MC who "gets around" or hookups a lot but I'm still debating on whether I'll add that since there's already quite a bit lolol)

you can choose to have changed your band's genre before/after seven

TECHNICAL CHANGES:

you will be able to explicitly state your sexuality in the beginning. this was a big ask and I apologize for not doing it earlier! I wasn't good at coding when I started and I knew I always wanted to make the genders separate from MC's sexuality but I didn't know how to do that at the start :) So you can still choose the genders of the ROs for story purposes and variety. IF YOU DO NOT SEE ROMANCE OPTIONS THAT IS NOT A BUG. You simply chose a RO gender that doesn't correlate with the sexuality you chose for your MC. Having said that, if you do see a romance option available and it's not supposed to be there please let me know! That means I may have missed it coding-wise.

the stats have been all fixed! I've added all the necessary variables and such. The stat portion of the game has been updated with the appropriate pages but they're not finished. Still, the stats should be fine.

You will now have confessionals in the stat page! The feature still isn't a thing yet because I haven't come up with the confessionals lolol but you can click on it to see what it's about. Essentially, as you progress through the story you will be able to see confessionals from the cast of Infamous throughout. They disappear and appear periodically so if you miss it, THAT'S IT! You won't get a chance to see them again until MC watches an episode where it's relevant.

There is now a: Discography page, Infamous wiki, botb cast and staff page, and other characters page for organization. Those are not finished but they're there!

I changed a few stat names but their functions remain the same.

You will be able to choose how you would like to be described (masculine, feminine, neither, both).

O is officially gender-selectable.

You can set the genders of the ROs at the start or wait till you meet them.

PLAY HERE

[meroif]

A Hundred Years of Sleep

Far, far away from home, you awake to a world changed. Everyone had their time to grief,  with the exception of you. Then I ask, what would you give to fix what is broken?

DEMO ; PATREON

A Hundred Years of Sleep is an interactive fiction novel taking place in a universe of magic and machinery. It aims to guide you through a journey through the stars, one that begins and ends with your very home.

The Story

You come from Vaeravel, a small and peaceful planet orbiting around an even smaller star in a corner of the universe. You live with your aunts in your quaint neighborhood until you're considered a young adult by the standards of your long-lived species.

Then without fanfare, everything ends.

The Collapse is a terrible accident that completely destroys your planet and most of its inhabitants. You manage to survive, taken to one of the few emergency vessels fleeing disaster, but slip away into a deep sleep.

You wake up again, in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar galaxy, alone. Everywhere you look, life has gone on without you.

So when you hear rumors of a ship departing for what is now called The Collapsed you can't help but embark on the journey home, so that maybe by the end of it you'd be granted peace, or at least instructed on what to do with all your loss.

Features

Character customization. Choose name, pronouns, appearance, personality and ambitions of your character.

Moral compass. Be bad, play nice, decide how you want to interact with the world at large and see for yourself where your actions take you.

Romance. Meet and fall in love with four different characters, all gender selectable, or don't, if you prefer to the take the romanceless path.

Flirt options with various NPCs, with future extra side-stories to give them the space they deserve.

Multiple endings, good and bad, once you reach the end of your journey.

Romantic Options

Riel Rosenquartz (he/him, or she/her, or they/them), the heir of the Rosen Crown, lost monarchy of Vaeravel. Elegant, kind and diplomatic, they're overjoyed to meet another survivor of the disaster. Although you're not sure why they'd wait for so long before making the journey back home.

Khael (he/him, or she/her), the Captain of the Chrysa, the ship travelling to reach The Collapsed. Highly perceptive and infuriatingly charming, Khael is undoubtedly the person in charge. But what could they possibly stand to gain in embarking on such a dangerous journey?

Nathaniel (he/him, or she/her), allegedly a researcher hailing from afar, they seem to be unfamiliar with how the entire galaxy works. Mysterious, reserved and stubborn to a fault, it's undeniable they're hiding something big. Yet as complete strangers, you have no idea why they'd be so opposed to your presence onboard.

Aelinor (he/him or she/her), your old neighbor and childhood friend, miraculously found again in the mists of the ship's crew. Although they're just as sweet as you remember them, you can't help but wonder...where were they as you slept?

Portraits (1, 2); Aesthetics (1, 2, 3, 4); Playlists ; ROs Introductions (1, 2) ; Side Stories (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

A Hundred Years of Sleep is currently in development and will be released episodically, the current build includes the Prologue and the entirety of Chapter One.

If you've enjoyed the story so far, please consider supporting me on Patreon, it really does make a difference in the time I'm able to dedicate to the project.

Patrons receive access to the alpha demo, which currently adds the first part of Chapter Two to the public build, as well as side and themed stories, polls, and other exclusive benefits.

Thank you for your support, and for playing A Hundred Years of Sleep. 🌙

[untitledrockstar-if]

since you’re planning on adding nsfw scenes, do you regret making all the ROs gender selectable? I guess it helps if the flings are fixed gender but it seems like a lot of variations for sex scenes vs rywd where you don’t have to account for it as much and this story feels like there’s more space for sex to happen

I knew going into this new IF that variation will be a lot (4 diff scenes depending on gender variation each time sex comes up) and that I'll be annoyed at times, but since romance is the main focus of this IF as opposed to rywd, I figured it was the better choice!

for now, I'm choosing to take it easy and not every sex scene will be super explicit anyway so we'll see how many bitch fits I have throughout writing this story lmao

[sanguinesky-if]

[Dev Log] October 2024

Hello! Hope your autumn days are going well!

This dev log provides information about the public release of Chapter 3 Pt. 1, as well as the new features I've added and those I plan to implement before moving on to Chapter 3 Pt. 2, so you might find it interesting to read to the end.

Announcement: Chapter 3 Pt. 1 public release will be delayed.

Why?

As I stated before, I don't want to release the demo to the public until everything I want to include is finished. Unfortunately, I realized how to improve certain aspects and saw the opportunity to add more content only after I released the demo. Therefore, the demo will be expanded, and some parts that didn't turn out well will be reworked. [A detailed list of tasks I need to complete is included in the "About my plans for the current month" section.]

When will there be a public release then?

Not this month. The release date for the expanded demo will be announced at the end of October and will be released on Patreon first before being made available to the public.

I apologize for keeping you waiting, but I hope that when Chapter 3 Pt. 1 is finally released to the public, you'll find it worth the wait.

What was accomplished last month?

Added a new feature: the MC's smoking habit.

[Important note: this feature will be available in the expanded demo.] Now, you have four available options for your MC: 1. The MC smokes. 2. The MC has quit smoking but is tempted to start again. 3. The MC does not smoke but is tempted to try due to the stress around them. 4. The MC doesn't smoke. The second and third options will be reflected in moments of stress or when around others who are smoking [option to resume / begin smoking will be provided later in the story]. The first option [the MC smokes] will be reflected frequently in the narrative:

Fixed many bugs and errors in Chapter 3 Pt. 1.

Many grammatical and coding errors have been corrected, and I want to apologize to everyone who encounter it and ruining your reading experience. I really owe my thanks to readers who helped me to correct them and grateful to everyone who read my story despite of them. However, after this update it became clear to me that no matter how hard I try, my efforts aren't enough to maintain the right level of grammatical accuracy. That's why, most likely starting with the next update [or Chapter 4], I'll try to conduct beta tests. I hope this will help me identify and fix bugs and errors before the update is released on Patreon.

Finished L's Side Story translation.

About my plans for the current month.

Here's the current list of tasks I'll be working:

Chapters 2 and 3 will be expanded to include a new secondary character who will offer an alternative to Paul(a)'s path.

Reason: to explain briefly and without spoilers, my unplanned decision implemented in Chapter 3 Pt. 1 to give players more choices resulted in negative consequences, where players had to select options that may not align with their MC's personality just to access more content with some of the ROs. This is not how I want it to be in the IF I create, and the new addition will ensure that jealousy is based on the relationships the player has established with these secondary characters by choice, not on the MC's personality.

The content featuring Paul(a) in Chapter 3 Pt. 1 will be reworked [Paul(a) will now appear at a "flirt" status, not only "fwb"].

The variations of K's and Morgan's scenes without jealousy will be reworked [adding more content with them if Paul(a) or the new character doesn't appear].

The "Secondary Rivals" section in the "Romance System Overview" will be expanded [secondary characters will receive special indicators to help players understand which of the presented options establish relationships with them that will affect jealousy moments].

New variables will be implemented to make it easier to recognize the height differences between the ROs and the MC [taller / the same / shorter, depending on the ROs' gender and chosen height]. This will simplify height considerations without repetitive code statements I had to write.

L's Side Story: I need to finish outlining and begin filling in the sections that were left untouched in the drafts. After that, it's on to coding and refining, which is the longest part of the process.

In addition to that, the bonus content on Patreon that will be released this month will include:

K's NSFW Alphabet.

Morgan's POV [Chapter 3 Pt. 1].

A detailed content release schedule for Patreon can be found here.

As you can see, that's a lot of work, but the rework and expansion are necessary to ensure that everything is handled properly so I can move the story forward without needing to go back and fix things when it might already be too late.

Thank you for reading to the end, I'm very grateful for your support, questions and messages!

Have a wonderful week and days after that! ♥

[loveandleases]

AAAAAA!!! Congrats on the demo release! I really enjoy it, and though the meeting with Ardent is still short I'm just glad to stumble upon him despite MCs ruined shirt and Ardent's ruined cake. Though now I want to romance Cam too, especially after meeting Era 😏 Girl has the audacity to be jealous of the man she's not even in a relationship with and treats MC, Cam's bestest friend, poorly? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Don't get me started on Chris and Jade and MCs parents 😡 But ugh, the ANGST! Love iiit~ 💖 The side stories are such a cute addition, there are still problems with the pronouns as the story keeps refering to the dog and some gender selectable ROs with they/them, but it's no big deal as it's just released 😊 Over all it's an enjoyable read! I wanna thank you for writing this IF, you make my day!!! 😘 Can't wait for more interactions with Cam and Ardent 😆 Also the heart scenes with Cam leaves me 😳 🥵 💦 I NEED MOAAAAARRRR 🤭

Yeah the pronouns love to fight me. I fixed the one's I saw, I'll be doing a more thorough look through later tonight to see which one's I missed.

The Ardent scene was a bit short but you'll probably be sick of him in chapter 2 lol.

[dropout-if]

Dropout Customization

Due to some questions about MC customization, I have decided to compile all the physical and personality aspects that are selectable about the Dropout.

A reminder that this is all subject to change and that new things may be added (or deleted). Feedback and ideas to further develop MC are encouraged.

Main Ideas

Name Surname Nickname

Sex, Gender, Pronouns (it's possible to customise them), Breast/Pecs, Penis/Vagina (If MC is transgender, their transition takes place while they're away) Title (Ms. / Mr. / Mx.)

Virginity or lack thereof.

If MC is trans (when they realized about it [high school, middle school, college] and if they told their family // the ROs already know, as MC told Uma and J, and word spread).

Birthday which establishes the Dropout's age as either 21 or 22 depending on the season (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter)

Major (Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, Computer science, Law, Economics, Education (in relation to science/maths/etc), Mathematics, Physics, Psychology). The Dropout's Major affects flavor text. These options are the ones approved by the Dropout's parents, though it's possible for MC to express interest in other degrees/topics (music, art, English, anthropology, archeology, classical studies, history).

Reason behind dropping out (MC got kicked out (they were caught cheating) MC didn't get a high enough GPA and dropped out / MC never even wanted to go to college and ultimately decided they wanted out / MC didn't fit in (they were discriminated, lonely, etc) though they really liked college / MC originally liked their degree and college but gradually lost interest in the entire thing / MC never liked their degree and decided to drop out / Something specifically related to mental health (mainly anxiety) / Impostor's syndrome.) This affects flavor text.

2 Coping Mechanisms (Alcohol, Tobacco, Drugs, Sleeping around, Avoidance, Overspending, Humor, *Hobby (overworking self) [Anger, Fake/forced happiness, Sadness, Indifference].) Each coping mechanism opens a variable and a storyline. You can choose two, though choosing one related to emotional responses [between brackets] automatically blocks out the others.

2 Hobbies (Singing, playing an instrument, songwriting, creative writing, drawing, sketching, sculpting, acting, photography, soccer, football, swimming, basketball, gymnastics, boxing, judo, karate, taekwondo, kickboxing, going to the gym, cooking/baking, dancing [ballet, contemporary dance, modern], yoga.) This affects flavor text and scenes.

Job (Bartender [Wanda, Statler is also around often], Cashier [Statler], Columnist [J (+Kai if poly)], Caregiver [Kai], Waiter/Waitress [Uma (+Travis if poly)], Tutor [Travis]) Each job gives you more time with a certain RO, as well as unlocking a storyline.

Personality Stats

Playful/Serious Honest/Dishonest Friendly/Rude Introverted/Extroverted Laid-back/Uptight Cynical/Idealistic Flirty/Reserved Family oriented/Individualistic

Others: Insomnia, Migraines

Physical Appearance

*It's possible to choose MC's appearance as a high schooler as well. This affects flavor text.

Height (very tall, talk, average, short, very short)

Skin tone (ebony, dark brown, light brown, russet, golden, olive, honey, tawny, tanned, fair, rosy, ivory.) Choosing any skin tone gives you the possibility of choosing to be a poc (idea I stole from Mila, @beyondthegame)

*Build (scrawny, skinny, lithe, lean, muscular, chubby, curvy, hourglass).

*Hair color (max 3 tones, 1 base and other 2) (possible to return home with a mess of dye for Maude to fix. NATURAL (Ashen blonde, Sunflower blonde, Strawberry blonde, Caramel, Honey brown, Chocolate brown, Copper, Auburn, Ruby red, Midnight brown, Jet black, Ebony black) NON-NATURAL (Pink, Violet, Lilac, Blue jade, Vermilion red, Snowy white, Silver, Emerald green, Canary yellow, Bleached).

Hair texture (kinky, very coiled, coiled, curly, wavy, slightly wavy, straight)

*Hair length (ear-length, chin-length, shoulder-length, below shoulder-length, chest-length, waist-length)

*Hair style (SHORT/MEDIUM: natural, side-parted, mullet, layered, bob, ponytail, twin ponytails, buzz fade, slick back, messy, wolf cut, bun. LONG: natural, high/low ponytail, messy, shaggy, California waves, a half updo, side-swept, bun, braid, twin braids, twin ponytails).

*Eye color (albino red, dark blue, light blue, dark green, light green, hazel, amber, chestnut brown, chocolate brown, black, grey).

Others

*It's possible to choose MC's appearance as a high schooler as well. This affects flavor text.

*Glasses (yes, no, contacts)

*Facial hair (No/shaved. Stubble, full beard, goatee, ducktail,van dyke, garibaldi, mustache, soul patch, light beard).

Scars, can choose as many as possible (Back, chest, abdomen, upper and lower arm, thigh, knees, calf, mouth area, neck, cheek, hands, eye area, shoulder)

*Tattoos (One big in X body area, patch-like bodysuit, bodysuit, one/two sleeves, just legs, a few tattoos all over, a small in X place).

*Piercings (Ears [helix, lobe, industrial], navel, tongue, nose ring and septum, eyebrow, lips, smiley, nipples, genital)

Dimples

Braces

Freckles (face, body, both)

Beauty mark, multiple (under eye, over lip, neck, body)

*Outfit/Style (streetwear, alternative, cute, preppy, casual, formal, business casual, dark academia, messy, boho/eclectic, comfortable)

*Bedroom, at family home and at new apartment (messy, colorful, emo, basic, boho, modern, industrial, vintage, minimalist, cute)

*Diet (vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, keto, meat-eater, lactose intolerant)

Family pet (small/large dog, cat, fish tank, hamster/rabbit/guinea pig, cockatiel/parrot/canaries)

Characters

Closeness to all family members (tight-knit, close, so-so, cold, barely any relationship)

Same with the friend group

Crush on Statler during high school (yes/no)

'Popularity' during high school and college (popular, social butterfly [got along with many people but wasn't part of the popular groups], normal, loner, outcast [somewhat antagonistic in a way/rebel].)

[emersonfreepress]

How did you decide which characters would be gender selectable vs fixed? That’s always been so fascinating to me!!

I actually couldn't decide 😅 I knew I wanted to have an even amount of gender ROs and needed 1 more boy and 1 more girl. But I couldn't decide: did I want to stick with writing Vivian or explore Vincent? Did I want R to be the rebellious bad boy or bad girl?

So I didn't decide! I wanted to write both versions of those characters 😄 and here we are. Overwhelmed lololololol

I initially had the silly idea of having all the cisgender ROs be gender selectable. Then I started learning how to code this shit and realized that was NOT going to happen 😆 I still kind of love the idea of f!Gabe, f!Jack, and gender-swapped Emersons... but it was scrapped way before it was ever serious. Nothing about personality would have changed, but too many backstories and childhoods needed to be assessed and changed depending on gender. Like, fascinating stuff that I would love to write and explore — but it's just too much writing. There's a whole crime plot waiting on me!

Like, the childhood Gabe had would spit f!Gabe out quite differently... I kinda don't wanna think about it 😐 since I won't commit to writing it anyway. m!Jessie's childhood would be super different from a spiritual standpoint... f!Jack would be under a lot of pressure from her dad's side of the family to fit in and be popular... The Emersons would have to be completely — just completely rewritten oh my gosh. This I actually do kinda wanna explore on my own 'cause I think it'll give me a fuller read on their parents. Plus, how does m!Heidi's character develop since his dad actually gives a shit what he does and invests in his future?? What's a f!Curt like with basically no familial attention and oversight??? I have no idea but I kind of want to!! 🤣

[hpowellsmith]

I’ve seen a lot of success with other games making fixed gender ROs if the most popular one is still selectable (like if there’s a narratively dramatic route that a lot of people pick. The rival, the main companion etc)

I am........ wary of trying to predict which romanceable characters would be most popular, heh. I usually have a bit of an idea of what will be most appealing but it's not an exact science.

(ask is related to this post!)

[darkfictionjude]

Jude, do you prefer the gender of fixed Ros or by choice? I personally prefer fixed ones, like your Ros. It seems like they end up having a unique individuality, I don't know how to explain it. Normally many IFs end up having selectable Ros but not showing any difference between them. Save some stories like Infamous that most are selectable but their counterparts have notable differences in appearance, personality and mannerisms.

Oh yeah I’ve talked about this. There are authors who have the ability to show case differences in the ROs depending on gender like infamous. But what many times when I’ve played other ifs there is little difference between the male version, female version or enby version. Each gender views and handles the world differently due to the fact that society is inescapable and marks our environment as we grow. Like a man can walk home in the dark while a woman will constantly be looking behind her.

I want to feel like an ro is whatever gender or non gender I selected for them instead of just seeing the correlating pronouns. So yeah only in special cases do I like gender selectable ROs, usually I go for the ones with fixed genders

[lovebites-if]

OP, please give us some non-spoiler into about Secret RO. 👀👉👈

There's very little I can say tbh.

They're a bit of a red flag, very demanding, impulsive (a huge risk-taker), selfish in many ways... Their tropes are def enemies to lovers and "I can fix them".

Much like Devan, secret ro has an alias they go by and a real name MC will find out later. They're also gender selectable! And not a human (I don't think anyone will be able to guess their species but I'm very curious to see you try).

[thesadadventurersgame]

In the RO section of your pinned post gender selectable ROs are referred to as “him” and when it gets to non romanceable characters MC is referred to as “son” when it talks about the relationship with Orpheus.

Thanks for telling me! Everything should be fixed now!

[starlightandetherealshadows]

okay so I kinda fixed it...coding help plz

I got the gender selectable RO pronouns to work when it's in the passages themselves, but I cannot get the choice options to input the variables.

IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO FIX THIS..PLZ HELP

for example

say the choice option was something like this

<div class="choice">[[Fight $mhimher.|fight][$friendly -=5, $impulse +=3]]</div>

When I go to play-test, instead of inputting the proper variable to replace $mhimher, let's use her for the example, the choice option will keep that $mhimher.

So the playtest looks like

Choice 1: Fight $mhimher

Instead of

Choice 1: Fight her.

If you know what I'm doing wrong...HELP MEEEEE

[bridgeicesbeforeroadif]

Demo want let me pick female fir gender selectable ROs

That issue should be fixed now. :) Let me know if you have any more problems!

[peonyb]

hi, author! so, i saw that you're working on coding an update and started to replay the current demo to refresh my memory. and I actually noticed some things:

in terms of 'bugs to check':

1. to start with, if you choose the bisexual option it defaults to making all the ros male. (tried thrice, i usually play a f! mc).

2. if you choose to select the ros' genders manually, trivelyn's relationship percentage bar disappears altogether.

3. when the mc checks the marked registry, the image doesn't load (dunno if this has something to do with the ros' gender selection? or maybe not)

in terms of 'things i only noticed by choosing a different option':

1. made a different choice at the dinner with the mc's parents and now i know the king's name as well as mother's name. uh.

also, no matter the choice, the mother is the most sus out of the parents. she's very obvious about the elephant in the room that is the marked and magic (and she gets very agitated if mc outright questions her based on welling's words to them) while the father seems to be willing to be honest with mc at the very least...

2. tried the 'physically stop venali's rampage' path and, according to the dean, king ivan is the one who seems to be suppressing the mages. oof. i have many thoughts about it tbh, but it might be spoilers, so...

instead, if I can ask, just how old is the king? how many years has he been holding the throne?

First, I want to say thank you for compiling this list for me! It really helps a lot.

Bugs: (1) I just went through it quickly and got Ori/Saria/Lyra, so I’m thinking my randomizer is doing it as a group instead of individually lol. I’ll fix it soon. (2) Thank you! (3) I’ve known about this one for a bit. I broke it when I was adding all the image variances to go with the change in RO genders /sigh. I’ll hopefully have it figured out soon.

Options: (1) During the dinner, if your mc has enough intellect points and chooses to recount the class discussion, then they will mention him by name. He should also be mentioned if you choose to listen to the Crier after class. The names of your mother and father should be mentioned at least once during the dinner discussion. The parents are entirely different people depending on if you are a Mage (Emelia—Rolyn) or Guardian (Emina—Rylan). Each has their own personality and way of handling problems. Some of them are much better at it than others. (2) Yesssss, spoilers >;)

King Ivyn (oh no, I don’t think I edited his name lol) is 38! Though he was young, he took the throne in 1446 (the date at the time of the demo is 1467) when he was 17 after his father’s passing. The loss of his father was abrupt. Thinking he had plenty of years to get used to the idea of leading, Ivyn was wildly unprepared for the throne. Fortunately, he had a Prodigy for an older brother, one that he leaned heavily on for advise and support through his early years.

[if-confessions]

Re fixed or selectable gender ROs, There's probably not many people who share my sentiment, but here goes.

I generally prefer selectable gender ROs. This depends on a few factors, the first is the setting and what the author wants to convey about it. If your story has heavy sexism where gender roles are strictly divided, then making the ROs gender variable (if that's even possible in your world) would be a monumental task, with all the variations to account for how they look, behave, and respond to other characters. So probably not a viable approach for many authors.

It also depends on how… stereotypical the RO themselves are, for lack of a better word. I notice that some IF with fixed gender ROs tend to follow a trend, like the female ROs are the socialite, the wholesome one, princess, healer, etc. With male ROs it's more like: the alpha leader, the strong and loyal warrior, playboy, prankster etc. For me personally, I just love to romance women who are strong and stoic and/or men who are soft, so I prefer the stories I read to be like that, challenging those stereotypes.

But just as the reader can choose not to read a story for any reason, the author can make choices about their writing. They shouldn't be forced to make an RO a certain way if they're not comfortable with it for any reason.

Reply to this ask and this ask

Some points from the replies of this post:

@oscararcane

Unfortunately, being gender selectable doesn’t always guarantee that a character will be free of gender stereotyping. I’ve often seen gender-selectable characters changing appearance depending on what you choose, like height or hairstyle, usually with the female counterpart being shorter and with longer hair which seems a bit reductive to me. I do like gender-selectable ROs when done respectfully, just like set genders can be respectful and challenge stereotypes as well.  I also believe that gender can be part of a character’s identity in a positive way, not just in relation to sexism or transphobia.

@hpowellsmith

I feel this about the appearance changes, it bothers me when the male version of a character is really tall and buff with short hair and the female one is shorter/less muscular/has long hair. It feels like characters falling into rigid beauty standards and makes me look over my glasses a bit. Not least because it feels good to see people who don’t fit gendered beauty standards being treated as desirable!

[sharkdenwrites]

I want to make an IF

im torn between genres tho

btw all of these options i have half-fleshed out ideas for and at least 3 ro's planned for each except for the paranormal one, i just really like that aesthetic lol

brief description of each:

SPACEPUNK: Play as the captain of the first ship with a multispecies crew. Set off on a mission to an abandoned space station harboring a dark secret and solve the mystery of it's sudden silence. Who knows, you may even discover something that shakes the galaxy to it's core. # of RO's planned: 5, 3 gender selectable, 2 gender fixed

HIGH/MEDIEVAL FANTASY: Being royalty wasn't easy, and it certainly wasn't helping that you didn't want to inherit the throne. You just wanted to go to a magic academy and be the best mage, so you ran. Enroll in Dawnholde Institute for the Arcane, keep your real identity hidden, and make allies (or enemies) out of your fellow students on your path to magical power. # of RO's planned: 4, all gender selectable

PARANORMAL FANTASY: (tba, its like major concept stage)

1920's: Glitzy lights and smooth jazz don't do much to cover up the scent of blood. With the era of masked balls long gone, vampires have instead taken to speakeasies and cabaret clubs. None of the intrigue or danger have been lost however, and you're about to be thrust right into the center of that dangerous game as a amnesic vampire who really just wants to sleep 'til the next century. # of RO's planned: 3, 1 gender fixed, 2 undecided

GRIMDARK: It's been about a year since your village was ravaged in the night, killing nearly everyone besides you and a couple other children who had snuck out to play in the creek down the hill. Living among it's ruins, it's hard to not dream of a different life. One day, everything changes when you come back to your makeshift hut to one of the survivors you lived with writhing on the floor in agony, a sinister feeling hanging in the air. Suddenly, your life is upended as monstrosities force you out of your childhood home, but you soon come to find that they're not the only monsters around. # of RO's planned: 3-4, genders not yet decided, only concepts