The villainous ojou-sama rival character in otome games

[Shinoki]

While reading web novels and light novels with female protagonists, I found that a large amount of the online translated ones are ones where the main character is reincarnated as the villainous Duke's daughter who is the heroine's love rival in an otome game world. Sometimes, it's not the Duke's daughter, but usually, it's some sort of nobility as some sort of villainous ojou love rival.

(To be fair, I've played like two otome games, but I haven't seen much of these types. Though I have read some shoujo manga with the ojou-sama type love rival.)

So, on that topic:

How many otome games have you seen with such a character?
What do you think about such villainous ojou-sama type love rivals?
How would you execute such a character? (Execute as is write the character, not kill the character)
What pros and cons are there in having such a character?

(Personally, I'm technically making a yuri game in which one of the love interest's sister fills the role of a villainous ojou-sama decently well enough, mostly, this is just a topic that interested me.)

[KittyWills]

While protagonist characters can add interesting plot elements to your game, I would avoid making characters that are token character arc types. It's been done a hundred times before and is a turn off for a lot of people.

Make sure your character has a solid reason to exist in you story and is their own unique person rather then try to fit into an already existing arc type.

Maybe others enjoy those type of characters more or newer anime fans, but I've been around to long to really get into anime arc-types anymore. =/ But that's just me.

[gekiganwing]

I searched Google for "character archetypes." One of the first ten results was an article on Great Storybook which discusses how stories can *potentially* benefit from including archetypal characters.

How many otome games have you seen with such a character?

The only one which comes to mind is Mizuki from the original Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side. She can be abrasive. However, even though the game doesn't emphasize characterization much, it's also clear that's she's a lonely person with few friends.

(I looked at TVTropes' article "Oujo" for a couple minutes. There are some examples from shoujo demographic series, though those characters aren't always rivals. Nearly every example in visual novel section is from boy x girl stories. About one-third of the examples in the video game section are from games which focus on BxG pairings.)

What do you think about such villainous ojou-sama type love rivals?
How would you execute such a character?

Giving the protagonist a rival is one way to add conflict to a story. It means that the protag can't just sit back and choose one of several possible love interests. Instead, they need to be proactive. They probably need to show their rival some respect, and not provoke them too much.

The reader should understand who the rival is, and what she wants. What makes her relatable? What makes her competent? Could she become the protagonist's friend or ally?