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How gay can you make a gay RPG that is actually a good RPG?
How gay can you make a gay RPG that is actually a good RPG?
I feel we've all somehow forgotten to ask this extremely pertinent question...and now is the time to ask...how can you make an RPG more gay and also a better RPG?
Let's use the following intuition pump. Suppose you can only get your game funded if you go gay. Okay, now what?
How do you gay well? (Yes, it is now a verb.) I believe this is the right forum to ask this question, is it not?
Rules:
The more gay = more points.
The more deeply gay is integrated into the core mechanics = more points.
The more intrinsically gay the storyline = more points.
I have a thesis (for our intrepid venture capitalists)...gay games are failing because they are only superficially gay. Which only signals pragmatism. Corporatism. Everyone sees that and thinks it's not cool. Core gamers don't like that. Good gay games should really be Deeply Gay.
The related thesis is that unsuccessful gay rpgs are unsuccessful due to failures of imagination to quote George Bush.
Intuition pump. Imagine a game with only superficial goat humor is boring and would flop. Options to be be a goat. Cinematics involving goats. Boring flop. Too obvious and too superficial. Too optional. Clearly there just to get the green light and check boxes. Now contrast that with something Deeply Goat. Goat Simulator, which is deeply goat in its mechanics, in its core loops, on the other hand, was a success, was it not?
Examples:
You don't want to defeat the demon lord. You want to marry the demon lord. That is your real quest. +3
You (man) cannot level up unless you go to the gay brothel and get it on to level up. +5
This thread also doubles as the Game Design Predictions Thread 2025, 2026, 2027.
Let's use the following intuition pump. Suppose you can only get your game funded if you go gay. Okay, now what?
How do you gay well? (Yes, it is now a verb.) I believe this is the right forum to ask this question, is it not?
Rules:
The more gay = more points.
The more deeply gay is integrated into the core mechanics = more points.
The more intrinsically gay the storyline = more points.
I have a thesis (for our intrepid venture capitalists)...gay games are failing because they are only superficially gay. Which only signals pragmatism. Corporatism. Everyone sees that and thinks it's not cool. Core gamers don't like that. Good gay games should really be Deeply Gay.
The related thesis is that unsuccessful gay rpgs are unsuccessful due to failures of imagination to quote George Bush.
Intuition pump. Imagine a game with only superficial goat humor is boring and would flop. Options to be be a goat. Cinematics involving goats. Boring flop. Too obvious and too superficial. Too optional. Clearly there just to get the green light and check boxes. Now contrast that with something Deeply Goat. Goat Simulator, which is deeply goat in its mechanics, in its core loops, on the other hand, was a success, was it not?
Examples:
You don't want to defeat the demon lord. You want to marry the demon lord. That is your real quest. +3
You (man) cannot level up unless you go to the gay brothel and get it on to level up. +5
This thread also doubles as the Game Design Predictions Thread 2025, 2026, 2027.
This thread makes me sad that the person who most deserves to participate in it is gone. 
VAE VICTIS
Gregz?Stack of Turtles wrote: β February 20th, 2025, 15:53This thread makes me sad that the person who most deserves to participate in it is gone.![]()
Exactly who I was thinking.Oyster Sauce wrote: β February 20th, 2025, 16:20Gregz?Stack of Turtles wrote: β February 20th, 2025, 15:53This thread makes me sad that the person who most deserves to participate in it is gone.![]()
VAE VICTIS
Yeah, Plague Inc. was a huge success.NotAI wrote: β February 20th, 2025, 15:50I have a thesis (for our intrepid venture capitalists)...gay games are failing because they are only superficially gay. Which only signals pragmatism. Corporatism. Everyone sees that and thinks it's not cool. Core gamers don't like that. Good gay games should really be Deeply Gay.
Do you usually spend a lot of time daydreaming about gay sex in videogames?
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Society has failed you, you were not bullied enough.NotAI wrote: β February 20th, 2025, 15:50How do you gay well? (Yes, it is now a verb.) I believe this is the right forum to ask this question, is it not?
You can't, homosexuality is a perversion to the natural order of things.
Gay community would love the idea of a game where the protagonist is a straight male that bangs Bond girls but is seduced coerced paid for tricked into revealed to enjoy born gay in the 100% completionist ending.
This is just kingdom come deliverance 2J1M wrote: β February 21st, 2025, 00:22Gay community would love the idea of a game where the protagonist is a straight male that bangs Bond girls but is seduced coerced paid for tricked into revealed to enjoy born gay in the 100% completionist ending.
If the internet (and watching gaming trends) has taught me anything, then stories get less complex the more gay they are. That is why the gayest genre, visual novels, generally has the depth of a spoon.
So your question, from the beginning, is a contradiction in terms as far as today's gaming landscape is concerned.
Serious answer: The only way to accomplish anything even close to a good "gay" game would be to write a good game with a great straight romance, then change the female love interest to an extremely feminine guy once writing is finished and change the pronouns.
Because about 99.99% of people who would want to write gay stuff can't write.
Note: If you do this you should be fired, because you just tanked your (majority straight) audience's interest.
So your question, from the beginning, is a contradiction in terms as far as today's gaming landscape is concerned.
Serious answer: The only way to accomplish anything even close to a good "gay" game would be to write a good game with a great straight romance, then change the female love interest to an extremely feminine guy once writing is finished and change the pronouns.
Because about 99.99% of people who would want to write gay stuff can't write.
Note: If you do this you should be fired, because you just tanked your (majority straight) audience's interest.
Women like gay storylines.
So tacitly they're trying to replace 30% of the Core Gamer demographic (95% men, 5% women, 1995-2025) with the Casual demographic (65% women, 35% men, 2005-2025) in games with core type gameplay loops. Somewhat an exercise in futility. (This is what they are effectively trying, not what they want. What they want is probably, first of all, to annoy the core gamer demographic. Not the ideal strategy when trying to sell to this demographic.)
"Because about 99.99% of people who would want to write gay stuff can't write." Yep.
"The only way to accomplish anything even close to a good "gay" game would be to write a good game with a great straight romance, then change the female love interest to an extremely feminine guy once writing is finished and change the pronouns." Yep.
"Shoujo" writing in an RPG?
Hmmm.
1. All the heroes in the heroes party are women. They behave like Sex and the City.
2. The protagonist is the one gay guy, who can't FIND WUV, being the only guy. Every heroes party is all strong powerful independent women. (Who also can't FIND WUV.)
3. A main quest giver, Lord (Lobster) Bisque, is a very feminine guy, who wants to join the party and adventure but is not allowed. (Because he is a guy and not gay. Twist later he is gay.)
Hmmm.
But then that's just JRPG?
So tacitly they're trying to replace 30% of the Core Gamer demographic (95% men, 5% women, 1995-2025) with the Casual demographic (65% women, 35% men, 2005-2025) in games with core type gameplay loops. Somewhat an exercise in futility. (This is what they are effectively trying, not what they want. What they want is probably, first of all, to annoy the core gamer demographic. Not the ideal strategy when trying to sell to this demographic.)
"Because about 99.99% of people who would want to write gay stuff can't write." Yep.
"The only way to accomplish anything even close to a good "gay" game would be to write a good game with a great straight romance, then change the female love interest to an extremely feminine guy once writing is finished and change the pronouns." Yep.
"Shoujo" writing in an RPG?
Hmmm.
1. All the heroes in the heroes party are women. They behave like Sex and the City.
2. The protagonist is the one gay guy, who can't FIND WUV, being the only guy. Every heroes party is all strong powerful independent women. (Who also can't FIND WUV.)
3. A main quest giver, Lord (Lobster) Bisque, is a very feminine guy, who wants to join the party and adventure but is not allowed. (Because he is a guy and not gay. Twist later he is gay.)
Hmmm.
But then that's just JRPG?
I imagine you could make the game turbogay and still somehow find a reliable following, if you went over the top and produced something like the RPG version of the infamous Cho Aniki, with the homoeroticism cranked to 11.
MAIN STORY:Norfleet wrote: β February 23rd, 2025, 20:48I imagine you could make the game turbogay and still somehow find a reliable following, if you went over the top and produced something like the RPG version of the infamous Cho Aniki, with the homoeroticism cranked to 11.
1. Brother ******* brother. (Why should the boyfriends be unrelated? Stories are more powerful when all the characters have intertwined histories. So said some book.)
Holy Knight Lloyd is in love with his brother, White Mage Carl, who is the next City Lord of the Harbor City of Yesh.
(Gibberish fantasy enough? Check!)
1a. Sister Kesha, the Holy Maiden, Lloyd's sister, is in love with Governess Liliana, who is her mother: will Kesha's love succeed? The player will make it happen, or not! (Reinforce the theme with a side story having a similar theme.)
2. Lloyd's brother turns out to be the next reincarnation of the Demon Lord. (Twist.)
Who could have guessed?
3. Lloyd learns of this (twist) after all the monsters in the dungeon want to mate with Carl after he reaches level 20.
The player don't need to fight monsters to get past. One of the characters can instead bang the dungeon's monsters.
Specifically, the player has romance options with all the dungeons mobs for Carl, if he is in the player's, when grinding for XP. (All the monsters are male, of course.)
Likewise for bandits. Characters can always **** or fight. One of the three main deep gay mechanics.
The game can be beaten with no fighting at all. Pretty cool.
4. Lloyd wants to bang Carl anyway (twist) cus he ain't picky. It doesn't matter that Carl is the future Demon Lord. Quote on the main menu: love isn't picky. (That's called foreshadowing, an advanced storytelling technique.)
5. All the male characters above level 20 are romanceable by Lloyd and compete for his attention the more he pursues Carl.
6. ???
7. ???
**** women in the ***. How's that for gay?
Iren's Play-by-post: General Discussion
Upcoming: Karatasian Kings - A CK2 Random World LP
Winner of RPGHQ4 - The Search For Vengeance
Upcoming: Karatasian Kings - A CK2 Random World LP
Winner of RPGHQ4 - The Search For Vengeance
Women are 8% of the gaming audience so what they like in storylines doesn't matter.NotAI wrote: β February 21st, 2025, 04:00Women like gay storylines.
So tacitly they're trying to replace 30% of the Core Gamer demographic (95% men, 5% women, 1995-2025) with the Casual demographic (65% women, 35% men, 2005-2025) in games with core type gameplay loops. Somewhat an exercise in futility. (This is what they are effectively trying, not what they want. What they want is probably, first of all, to annoy the core gamer demographic. Not the ideal strategy when trying to sell to this demographic.)
"Because about 99.99% of people who would want to write gay stuff can't write." Yep.
"The only way to accomplish anything even close to a good "gay" game would be to write a good game with a great straight romance, then change the female love interest to an extremely feminine guy once writing is finished and change the pronouns." Yep.
"Shoujo" writing in an RPG?
Hmmm.
1. All the heroes in the heroes party are women. They behave like Sex and the City.
2. The protagonist is the one gay guy, who can't FIND WUV, being the only guy. Every heroes party is all strong powerful independent women. (Who also can't FIND WUV.)
3. A main quest giver, Lord (Lobster) Bisque, is a very feminine guy, who wants to join the party and adventure but is not allowed. (Because he is a guy and not gay. Twist later he is gay.)
Hmmm.
But then that's just JRPG?
Well, that's still sodomy.
It was a figure of speech.Demonic Fate wrote: β February 23rd, 2025, 23:06Well, that's still sodomy.
Iren's Play-by-post: General Discussion
Upcoming: Karatasian Kings - A CK2 Random World LP
Winner of RPGHQ4 - The Search For Vengeance
Upcoming: Karatasian Kings - A CK2 Random World LP
Winner of RPGHQ4 - The Search For Vengeance
1.
Lots of magic needed.
2. Mel Gibson had that film called What Women Want.
Turns out it was wrong, what women really want is gay vampire brothers. Who occasionally also like women, specifically, making an exception for the female protagonist.
Alternatively the gay vampire is gay with his own clone, and also makes an exception for the one female knight. Who is also in love with an edgy werewolf.
A story that will be remembered for the ages.
Duly noted. Good point.rusty_shackleford wrote: β February 24th, 2025, 09:38magic is homosexual and shouldn't be encouraged
Lots of magic needed.
2. Mel Gibson had that film called What Women Want.
Turns out it was wrong, what women really want is gay vampire brothers. Who occasionally also like women, specifically, making an exception for the female protagonist.
Alternatively the gay vampire is gay with his own clone, and also makes an exception for the one female knight. Who is also in love with an edgy werewolf.
A story that will be remembered for the ages.
