Anthy wrote:
Well, yeah. But liking someone normally isn't considered something "wrong", and people normally don't say "I don't want friends, I don't want relationship" whenever they meet someone the first time. It doesn't even cross their mind until pursuer (honestly, it could be guy or girl doesn't matter) gets TOO nice. I was just trying to provide some more insight, because honestly, I shut off from social situations all the time and it tends to be a misunderstood phenomenon. It's rarely about trying to be mean to or mess with anyone, more like a stress overload.
But on the other hand, if the pursuer does not back off it's not gonna end well. Too much and it turns into harassment. Characters like that have to be handled delicately which is probably why they aren't popular in dating games.
What if the person continues to interact with others though? The shutting off is focused on you. Also, there is a period between the confession and ignoring - after the confession, they say even if they can't return your feelings, they can be better friends, but this never happens. Also, you see them talking with others in a manner that strongly suggests what they told you about their sexuality may have been misleading, but hand-wave it away when confronted. They tell you they're pretty much asexual, not interested in a relationship, etc. but then you find them talking about fetishes they have, or famous people they may liked to date. It may be a misunderstanding - but since they rarely talk to you, it's impossible to sort these things out.
But even after this there are some pleasant exchanges of messages; the full on ignore happens a little after that.
What should the player do in this situation? If you lay off completely, you may never talk to them again, and if you do anyway, then you're acknowledging an abusive relationship where the friend or love interest has power over you that you can't content with - there's nothing you can do to trump them ignoring you, really - if you threaten to cut ties, they won't care. Pursuing it in some fashion may not be a bad idea since you've essentially got nothing to lose. Finding some way to call them out on their bad behaviour would be ideal, but how do you do this without looking like an ass?
(I like complexity & realism in characters)