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Err... None of the above.
Most of my story ideas would be told in 3rd person, with focus on both sides of the relationship. And half of them don't have romance at all.
I suppose my current story could be considered BxG, since there is romance and it has male protagonist, but it's an action story so I don't really consider it as such.

I'm personally a GxB or a BxG person. I'm fine having to do any that fits the story fine, but I'm just most comfortable writing GxB or BxG. I draw a lot of my writings and emotion from personal experience, or ways I can relate to certain situations. I'm a 80% straight female (and the other 20% bicurious. Sadly no room for straight female attraction. :C ) with way too many experiences with boys, so writing about all of these situations and drawing from my experiences or "what would I do?" really helps to make my story realistic and grounded. BxG is a little harder for me, but I have a lot of guy friends and I just try my best and do some research on "what would you be doing if this happened?"

I may be slightly stereotypical in saying this, but Japan - indeed a good portion of Eastern Asia at the moment my own country included, unfortunately - is not exactly a haven for feminism. Doormatty personalities is seen as a socially desirable quality. In return, the guys are still expected to be the one 'in charge' in both the romantic relationship and in running the household. Otome games simply reflect this way of thinking. That attitude is changing with the course of global integration, yes. But it will be a while - can't really say how long - until they (Or should I say 'we'?) comes to term with Euro-American standards in women's rights and feminism

This is a very big misrepresentation of Japanese culture...

In traditional Japanese culture, women are the master of the household. Men do not get involved in household matters. Most family decisions are made by women. Men are supposed to be the master of business and commerce, while women are supposed to be the master of the house and family. The roles are very defined and both men and women are expected to fulfill their roles to the letter.

Traditionally, a domineering personality is looked down upon in Japanese society, regardless of gender. Both men and women are expected to ignore their individualistic wills and submit to what is best for society. It's bad form to speak your mind and go against the established system.

In contemporary Japan, this culture has starved men of much of their virility and led to a generation of "herbivore" men who stay home with their parents and do not want to chase after women. If straight cultural generalizations can be made, I'd say Western men are much more domineering and controlling of women than Japanese men.

Hmm, if I am to take your statement for granted, does that not make

In contemporary Japan, this culture has starved men of much of their virility and led to a generation of "herbivore" men who stay home with their parents and do not want to chase after women. If straight cultural generalizations can be made, I'd say Western men are much more domineering and controlling of women than Japanese men.

a good reason as to why in popular Japanese culture there is such a strong propensity to represent women as objects of desire and as a collection of favorable/desirable/fetishy tropes rather than character proper? That is a major reason why they drew the ire of contemporary Western artists - objectifying women, AFAIK.

Either way, I have to say that your explanation actually contradicts with the sources I have had thus far. Could I request your sources?

nyaatrap wrote:

Auro-Cyanide wrote:And I agree that it is a good opportunity for us to make games with more positive and varied relationship dynamics, no matter what genders are involved. It's one of my major goals in creating VNs is to have girl characters that doesn't make me want facepalm.

Please do. Many Japanese creators just reproduce the same estimated plots to sell their games well. Even though they know they're hackneyed, but they don't change their position because of their selling

Best thing about doing hobby/indie work: Doing what you want without having to cater to the largest dominator. Whooooo~

Either way, I have to say that your explanation actually contradicts with the sources I have had thus far. Could I request your sources?

I lived there for five months.

But then, I realize this conversation is too off topic and could go on forever, so I think it's better to just stop and let people talk about what they came here to talk about.

What Samu-kun said is true. Source is me, my family, my friends and people heard from them.
Domineering characters appeared in otome games are representation of western men otomes dream of. They don't exist in real Japan.

Before I used to make GxB or BxG, now with the recent games I try to put as many combos as possible (without making it seems forced).

I tend to write and make BxB just because I love it and somehow I feel comfortable doing it. Since I'm a girl so I know how girl's feeling work like but I have no idea about male so that's why I want to experiment what a guy feel like and will act like in some situations.

I can draw both genders and write story about both genders. But in the end I still prefer BxB if you would say. I only make GxB for fun and not that serious. About GxG... I'm not that comfortable with writing and playing GxG but I guess I need to get used to it somehow because my current project has GxG option in there.

My opinions are pretty similar; I tend to stick to what I know, so I'm most comfortable with writing either GxB or GxG.

Actually, now that I think about a little more: I wonder, what differentiates a male narrator from a female one?
(You know, apart from that fact being written out in the summary, for example. I mean, purely in the narration.)

aestate wrote:Actually, now that I think about a little more: I wonder, what differentiates a male narrator from a female one?
(You know, apart from that fact being written out in the summary, for example. I mean, purely in the narration.)

Nothing, really, especially in dating sims. Usually the MCs are just walking windows so that you can pretend to be the MC. That's why I've come to dislike romance/comedy/drama triforce.

pfft triforce.

Anyway, I'm good with GxB or BxG. I like trying to write in a male's perspective - though I mainly base it off the guys I know. It's still so difficult though. The ???? story that I'm trying to write is really hard for me when it comes to dialogue because I'm mainly scared of making these guys sound like clichéd alcoholics when I've only sipped beer for all of my life.

Agh I want to ask about how people who do speak their minds are treated in Japan but it's irrelevant to this thread ;w;

My VNs never really focus on the romance, it's always a sub-plot of the bigger story and so far it's mostly been canon couples.

The romance-types I included so far were: GxB and BxG, because of the protagonist's gender and personality. Actually, a girl in one of those couples is bi, so she could have ended up with a girl just as well. I like all kinds of romance, as long as they are interesting, add something to the story and fit the characters. That said, I want to add GxG and BxB once, because I think it would be interesting to write about :)!

My Nanoreno project was Bx1G, and my recently released second visual novel was mainly a story-focused Bx1G, but with a bonus Gx1B one-off thing. Within the next two years, I will probably be able to say that I've released visual novels of all four types. Why? Because it will be what those stories and its characters call for. Out of the four, I'm the least experienced with writing BxB. Even though it won't be strictly BxB, my next visual novel release will most likely be a BxBG one (and people can finally choose who they want to end up with if they want to ).