What makes a girl character attractive?

[Fawn]

I should have expected to get more agruments/complaints about women then just "I like quiet girls with grey eyes and black hair that are BAMF (aka this lovely lady http://moe.animecharactersdatabase.com/ ... _Akemi.png)" (I will probably get some crap for liking Akemi Homura now... yeesh...)

But anyways uh... It was my mistake not to be specific enough. I just assumed people would be specific themselves. Continue the arguments as you wish, I'll gather data elsewhere (aka the only 3 people I know who are attracted to women ;_; )

[Rewritten Ennui]

I like meganekko because I'm one of them Although the intelligent and clever personality that's attached to them is starting to get cliche, I still like characters who can outsmart others. If she is a bit of tsundere type B, then chances are that's she's going to be one of my favorite characters. I also think that genki girls are funny, but I don't like them if that's all that they are. Maternal types are fine as long as they aren't submissive doormats. In general, I prefer characters who put up a good facade. If the genki acts energetic when people are around but really prefers solitude over anything else, then that means she's got more than just energy laying around. If the nice girl is really a manipulator pulling strings, then that's awesome. If a moeblob is actually an evil femme fatale, then that even more awesome.

Final conclusion: characters with depth and layers are always going to win over flat, one-dimensional characters.

P.S. I hate Gainaxing breasts. Keep those abominations away from me!

[Vynuxys]

:c

Okay, I like girls with long straight hair, personally. And with fringes. Hair colour - anything goes, but I tend to lean towards black and red, and steer away from green, it's just not appealing for me. I also like girls that aren't super tall or tiny-sized. I have... no preference in terms of breast-size, as long as they fit with the girl's posture.

I'd also like to see more chubby girls! Sure, skinny girls are good too, but I've hardly ever played a game where there was a girl that was chubby. What's up with that? Bring those curves on, ladies!

Personality-wise.. anything other than 'quiet, cool, mysterious/*other omg-so-cool attribute here*' and 'shy genius' is a-okay with me.

Is that more what you wanted, Fawn? o:

[Funnyguts]

(I will probably get some crap for liking Akemi Homura now... yeesh...)

Bah, Homura was awesome, ignore those people.

[papillon]

Well, it's also that "girls who are girls" is not very helpful because it relies on the person you're talking to knowing what YOU think is typical girly behavior, rather than you actually explaining it. And those stereotypes really do vary!

[LSDY]

1132 words
good luck reading this to the end buddy!

Looks? Fitting look responding to girl's age, and lifestyle, I guess. If you want to make me pursue that girl all you need to do is to make her look the way she's supposed to look. I hate game where I get five bags of meat with stapled eyes and only reason they're there is because, somewhere in the other half you'll #### one/more of them, then credits roll and you're reaching for tissues. Few months later remembering that game and realizing you don't remember a thing except for maybe setting because characters were there only because without them that game would be even more boring. 2nd year highschool student should look like 2nd year highschool student, not like 24 years old pop idol. doesn't mean she can't be pretty. Sure you HAVE to make the girls look good, but there are many kinds of "looking good". Clothing should be tied to personality and favorite activity (not exaggerated of course. Those daughters of an temple master who run around the city with hime cut in red-ping kimono or kendo trainees with breast binding carrying shinai even to the bathroom are just embarrassing ), but also to general looks. I mean, a "healthy" girl... scratch it, I will give you a real life example to get the picture. I'm not fat or anything, but I don't have a six pack either. That said, I don't like the idea of wearing something tight, for obvious reasons. I'm pretty sure same goes for girls and not only with the issues of abundant fat. IIRC, some girls hate having big breast, so they try to hide them behind layers of clothing. Well... you can say this is also an "abundant fat" issue, but I'm sure there is more, so when making clothes for girls (if you take your work seriously), you should take into consideration even there (little?) details. Personality? My suggestion about giving girls souls? Don't make them stereotypes: If it's a first encounter girl won't talk to you the same way as when you know her for five years. Sure you can make yourself a tsundere or airhead. Just don't make them too obvious. Example: You walk down the school corridor. A girl appears out of nowhere, akimbo stance, frowning at you and calls you nice things for no apparent reason. At this point I'm throwing the PC outta the window (yeah, that would be mighty fine pile of computers under my window by now). thinking "holy mother, why are they always doing this? I want to get to know this girl by myself through the conversation and her reactions, not getting her entire psychological profile thrown in my face first second she appears!" No, it doesn't mean she has to be mysterious. I know a whole bunch of girls that were seriously cold/overly polite towards me first time we met, but then, after we got to know each other I found a variety of personalities. One of them was just shy. Another was on guard because she heard that I'm a masher from another girl who heard it from my ex (yes, it's not true at all). Third was in a bad mood for unknown (well I know what was it but you can't really talk about those things) reasons and two weeks later she was very friendly. I could go on for hours. Hope you get what I'm trying to say. Drama? Just don't force it. I don't like those "I was sexually assaulted by my father. Save me, please!" bull. Everyday life can be tough itself. Don't think so? Go ask all those teenagers who jumped from the bridge because of bad grades, cheating girlfriend or bullying in school.

For example (not sure, if you got this far, since I fed you a wall of text already), there is this 2nd year HS girl I've mentioned before. Let's see her looks. She's small. 155cm tall (is that small? I'm 186cm tall so she would be small in my eyes), and she's a daughter of an shop owner and house wife. Two siblings, twin girls in their preschool age. The shop sells... RAMEN! Wait, that's a cliche. Uh, ok, nothing else comes to mind, so we gotta go with ramen but the point is: it's not exactly a golden mine. Mother is busy with the housework and taking care for twins. Father is more than busy with the shop. Our girl helps out on both fronts, while attending school and getting pretty good results, so that should be obvious on both, her physical appearance and wardrobe. She will be probably slim with small breasts. Hair? prolly shorter hair. Can't imagine a poor girl taking care of waist-long hair with all those responsibilities on her back. Clothes? Sorry, darling, we're running short this year, so no, you ain't getting those Nikes for birthday. Maybe next year. She doesn't complain, because she's (old enough?) to understand the situation in their household. What is she like? One of those genki types. She's active and cheerful. Also polite to strangers. If she knows you, she speaks her mind, but she knows where is the line between that and unnecessary arrogance. She cares about her friends. She doesn't act like those motherly types, (yeah, student council president, I'm looking at you) but she'll be the girl (yeah that would be nice surprise) that lets you rest on her lap and gently stroke your hair after a seriously bad day.

I'd definitely go for her even though she isn't the most pretty available girl and she doesn't have the most interesting background.
Would you? Well, it's up to you and your tastes to decide, but here is the main point of this tiring litany: A girl character is good when it's something more than sprite with changing face expressions. All those things i mentioned aren't important because you have to put them inside the story (no you don't have to explain every detail about her life). It's important for YOU when putting her character into the game. Taking these things into consideration creates illusion of living, breathing person with own life, pros and cons, problems and happy moments. That sums it up. I made this post without my personal favorite (the example girl was really just an example) because I think that asking people around about what they like and dislike doesn't cut it. Everyone likes something else and when you make a certain girl really good they may settle for character totally different from their personal favorite. Remember! You are creating a person. A person is being shaped by many little things and when those things come together, the final product is worth every second you put into it.

[HigurashiKira]

^To save the poor souls of future posters, I will summarise the wall of text:
The girl has to have a look fitting of her personality and background. She should also not just be a steryotype with no other personality. Also take into consideration that the character is a human being, therefore for best results, do not make her have a 2D Personality. It will be worth it in the end.

IMO, I like a girl that's calm, reserved, and can kick ass. A good example would be Sakuya Izayoi. She's a perfect and elegant maid, yet she she cack kick you ass into next Tuesday without breaking a sweat.

You know, I also really like girls who are tough or "butch" The kind who can dominate their male partners.

[emovampire1]

Big boobs and an intelligent demeanor but with spice

[Sapphi]

Remember! You are creating a person. A person is being shaped by many little things and when those things come together, the final product is worth every second you put into it.

Very well said, sir!

[yummy]

Teh teh teh! *moves pointed finger from left to right* Sapphi, creating fictional characters and describing real life persons isn't the same at all.
I wouldn't say that it is creating a person, but rather try to catch glimpses of reality that are so well put together that it reflects an ambition.
That ambition would be to create a reflection of real persons, because that construction is a lie by itself, as comedy script writers in the XVIIIth century used to say. It is trying to make the lie so convincing that it looks true.

As for definitions of girls, it's weird to see people going for the classic tautology (maybe is it because of the japanese way to say things? Or due to commercials?), like "girls who are girls" (that sentence in itself is priceless) or "HS boys that should look like HS boys"...
There is nothing that could really strictly define a person past a certain time. And that time would be after important events like entering full adulthood, graduate from school, recover from a mental or physical wound...

But well, I guess it's not really meant that way, that it might be just a weird formulation, some way to try to convey one's opinion about this matter.

[Samu-kun]

I think anyone who tries to write a girl as if she's a real human being is in for failure. Real life has too many variables to be summarized into language. The English language is limited to a finite amount of adjectives and adverbs, so no matter what you write, you will never achieve reality.

Also, you will never achieve that goal through 2D imagery. You're missing one entire dimension. Modern technology is nowhere great enough to map a real girl in a 3D space as of yet.

Tropes are actually more believable than reality. I think this topic proves that, since it's a modern progressive trope that women should be well defined and individualistic. I think everyone's real definition of what women should be like is all different, but it's all being simplified to that simple, progressive trope, just because it's easier to say.

[Samu-kun]

Why people are so intent on restricting the attractiveness of girls to the limitations of reality when the medium of the imagination allows their beauty to be limitless is beyond me.

[Desu_Cake]

Looks-wise: I mostly prefer realistic hair colours to outlandish ones. That said, I do like long purple hair very very much. I greatly dislike supposedly adult women who look eight years old, and also ten-year-olds who are far too developed.Large boobs are fun in hentai, but silly elsewhere.

Personality: I hate tsunderes. Why? Several reasons, the main ones being the fact that she likes the protagonist from the beginning, meaning the entire relationship is based on the protagonist being too thick to realise it, in other words, she lowers his intelligence level, also, since she already likes him, it gives a feeling of pointlessness to the player. Really, there's no point to playing a village idiot who already has a love interest before the game starts.
As for personalities I do like: Shy girls, ladylike girls, and snarkers. Snarkers are fun to read.

[LVUER]

One important thing... (almost) everything that make a girl character cute/fun/moe... makes me want to slap her if she is a REAL life character.

[PyTom]

Tropes are actually more believable than reality. I think this topic proves that, since it's a modern progressive trope that women should be well defined and individualistic. I think everyone's real definition of what women should be like is all different, but it's all being simplified to that simple, progressive trope, just because it's easier to say.

First of all, you're right about this - even in reality, the progressive trope is just one possible outcome. It tends to be promoted by the media and so on, but we shouldn't confuse that with the only way someone can live their life.

Second, any VN that expects you to be attracted to a 2D character is - almost definitionally - escapist. And that means that we can go with a range of character types that don't make sense in 3D reality. The girl that pops out of nowhere to clean your room and make you lunch isn't something one would expect to see in reality, but that's a fine archetype in a game.

Most Ren'Ai games are inherently sexist, insofar as they're designed to appeal to one gender or another. But there isn't anything wrong with sexism, when it's merely discriminating as to target audience. (It would be wrong if you only sold the game to someone of the appropriate gender - but simply saying that "this game appeals to guys" or "this game appeals to girls" is fine.) And if that turns people outside the target segment off - that's fine.

In conclusion, I like glasses-wearing girls, and the tropes that go with them. Those are the characters I tend to go for first in games where there is an option.