MC Pronoun Choice

[timepatches]

Hey peeps! A talking point for y'all 0;
I'm currently brainstorming the details of my first major project, and I'd I'd always intended for the main character to have the player's choice of she/her/they pronouns (with a different sprite to suit) - it's not that much harder to code that I know of, and I always appreciate the choice in games I've played. All the details I'd developed for the MC so far had been pretty stock standard, so I was going to make them pretty plain on purpose, for the player to better use them as a surrogate.
But, the more I develop and flesh out this character's backstory and attitude, the more I get the feeling that they are a female character, and that there's 'too much' of a character there for them to be pure self-insert, if you see what I mean?
So, what are your opinions on pronoun choice? Should it be across the board on a lot of otome, player-insert style games, or only the ones with on-purposely cookie-cutter / easy to identify with MCs? Have you ever used them?
Discuss away ;w;

[Zelan]

It's really up to you and the story that you want to tell. While there are definitely people who are appreciative of the option to play as a non-binary character, NOT including this option doesn't make you a bad or close-minded person. It simply may not work for your story. The same goes for any diversity in any story. Take the movie Brave, if you've seen that. While there's definitely a strong female lead, which made a lot of people happy, every character is white. Why? Because it took place in the Dark Ages of Scotland. Just about everyone was white, and those who weren't probably didn't consort much with royalty.

If it still concerns you, consider making a side character who is agender (maybe even more than one) and/or shelving the pronoun choice idea for another project. c: Good luck on your project!

[fmjaye]

If your main character has developed beyond being a player surrogate I can't see a reason to keep her pronouns optional. Personally I don't like the self-insert type main character anyway. An "easy to identify with MC" is never really easy to identify with. They're always going to make choices that I wouldn't make because being bland doesn't make them relatable. I don't like playing as characters that I'm supposed to see myself in; I'd rather they be their own person with their own flaws, strengths and passions.

My anti- blank slate character propaganda personal preferences aside... If you did have a self-insert player character, having a lot of pronoun options would be preferred. Being someone who uses 'they/them', I think you get used to having to choose male/female in video games (I have, anyway) so it's not like... super egregious, but it would be really nice to be able to choose my real gender & pronouns.

[Googaboga]

One of my current projects, A Foretold Affair, has a fully defined character and allows players to choose pronouns (she/he/they). So far no one has raised an eyebrow at the fact that the MC isn't a self-insert but you can also choose their gender.

But not everyone could have their gender changed and still be exactly the same personalty/background-wise. If that's the kind of character you made, you don't need to feel obligated to change it.

[timepatches]

Thanks everyone for the help!
I feel a bit more clear about the direction I want to take the MC now (and it definitely helps to be a bit more aware that just because she's an MC doesn't means she has to be a bland player surrogate, because I was really on the fence about how far to take her). I was mostly worried that going 'backwards' on pronoun choice would be closed-minded, but as long as I'm careful about not being an assbutt, I won't worry about it so much now c:

If it still concerns you, consider making a side character who is agender (maybe even more than one) and/or shelving the pronoun choice idea for another project. c: Good luck on your project!

This is definitely something I'll be considering!
Thankyou for the input (and for your good luck! it's much appreciated c:)


Thanks guys for the help (and bless this forum for being wonderful, you're all lovely!)

[RotGtIE]

Developed protagonists are vastly superior to avatar protagonists.