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Post by Lost In Thought on Jan 22, 2009 19:33:35 GMT -5
Curious how you guys and girls think relationships in games should be handled.
A few questions:
1) Do you think relationships should be significant to the plot?
Basically, if the game is going to have a main character in a relationship, should it be important or just a small addition?
Or do you think it depends on how it's handled? [if so feel free to give examples]
2) Same-sex couples, and characters who are homo- and bisexual, do you think they can be casual additions to the story, or do you think in would be better to make their sexuality somehow significant if they are going to be something other than heterosexual?
3) Do you think relationships should be included in a game at all, or do you prefer single characters?
That's all I can think of for questions right now, but any other comments and questions are welcome.
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whataface2
RPG Making Novice
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Posts: 105
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Post by whataface2 on Jan 22, 2009 21:18:09 GMT -5
That really all depends on the story. If you want to use the relationship to be a weakness or a strength for the character then it should be important part of the story.
I really don't care either way. The only flaw I could see is that some people might be put off by that. Mostly the closed minded ones.
Yes! Because no one can spend there entire lives without forming relationships. Plus I think it gives the characters added dimension and makes them more realistic.
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nate
RPG Maker-in-Training
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Post by nate on Jan 22, 2009 21:54:14 GMT -5
Some games have the focus of a relationship, others have the world.
Mario, Zelda, Several Final Fantasy's - they have relationships, yes. In a typical RPG there is some signs of them. However, most aren't very significant. FFX has the Tidus/Yuna, FF7 has Cloud/tifa(aerith), and Mario will have until the end of time, his Princess Peach (Unless daisy comes into the picture again... or the original princess from Donkey Kong. Ye-ol' whats her face).
Some add to the plot, yes. Most story's want the character to be able to relate with as much as he/she can possible. Relationships are a big part of life for most, and so adding them in a proper way could make the story more 'pulling'. Some games, however, shouldnt have a relationship type in it. God Of War for some reason instantly popped into my head.
Anyway, when i said adding them in a proper way, that doesnt mean it has to follow the main girl/guy hook ups. Plenty of Anime shows have same sex hookups. Every anime I've watched with it did not subtract in any way. Why couldnt this be done on a video game?
Given, this is a ROLE playing game. that makes the player assume the roll of the characters - and as such playing as a gay/bi may not be something they'll enjoy. But then again, look at Zelda: Wind Waker. It was ridiculed wayyyy before it even came out. But in the end it won, at a very strong finish I might add.
So should relationships be in FPS's? Probably not. Should they be in an RPG? Sure. Doesnt have to be the main focus, but it could add the the depth of the story and characters, and pull the player in that much more. Make the player relate to the character and you've got them.
Should same sex relationships be in? Unless you can find a way for some players to bypass the whole "I'm really not gay/bi" barrier, it should maybe be left out of the Main Character. Make the player accept the characters that are into SS relationships not care about that.
And should relationships be included in a game at all? You can. Many have and they've come out just fine. Though it seems most of them are puzzle/action/shootemups etc like Pikmin, Pokemon, Halo, etc.
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Post by Neo Samurai on Jan 22, 2009 23:04:01 GMT -5
The thing about any form of storytelling in general, it can be about anything. It doesn't have to be either a story about a relationship or not. In the end, it's up to the creator. If it feels right to the creator, then it is right, even if the story ends up sucking. As for the question about gay characters, have you ever played FF7? It's not a significant part of the story, but at one point early on in the game, if you do something special, you meet a group of homosexual bodybuilders.  |
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Post by Lost In Thought on Jan 23, 2009 15:54:35 GMT -5
Nate, I agree with you on most points, but, one of the interesting things about a role playing game is the things that you can't directly relate to - they can provide a new experience.
Including relationships can make the character easier to relate to; but it may be interesting to play as someone who's given up on [intimate] relationships for some reason too, although it would be harder to make such a character easy to relate to - it can be accomplished in other ways though.
Problem is - does this make the character too hard to relate to for such a detail to be only a minor part of the game?
A homo- or Bisexual character would be harder to relate to [For some people anyway], so should making a character homo- or bisexual be made important to the story, in a sort of balancing - giving up ability to relate for a message, or segment of the story?
This mostly applies to main characters though - as Neo Samurai said, Final fantasy 7 had homosexual characters [Well, I assume Neo is correct, I don't remember the early parts of the game very well anymore], however none of them were main, or player-controlled, characters. The minor characters don't need to be as easy to relate to normally [making them useful for tings like this that may otherwise discourage people from playing the game].
What about a 'choose your preferred sex' type of thing? Similar to Fable; you can choose a guy or a girl for the relationship.
Agreed, but gathering opinions is interesting anyway, and can help decision making.
Agreed, I think. Relationships can help develop a character - make them more interesting, be used as a device to show what he is thinking or feeling, reveal things about the character that are otherwise unnoticeable or difficult to reveal; A (somehow significant) habit a character has, for example, would be hard to address through the characters themselves if it doesn't happen very often in the time frame the story is set in, having his/her wife/husband/partner/close friend/etc. point it out can solve such a problem, even if they rarely do much else of importance.
Maybe I phrased my original question poorly though; I meant should it be significant to the key events that happen in the story [assuming a main character is the one in the relationship]?
Edits: Added a response to Poopiness!'s post that I forgot in the original, and changed the spacing to help show where I was switching to separate ideas.
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Post by Doan the Nado on Jan 24, 2009 22:01:55 GMT -5
I for one would applaud a homosexual relationship in a game where it is handled like any other relationship. I feel like in the future, people looking back and seeing us having this debate right now would feel the same we would if we looked back at a message board from the 60s where someone was like, "Should I only put a black character in my game if it's for a significant reason?" That's just silly, and drawing unnecessary attention to people who are different is silly.
Tear down the barriers ;D.
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Post by Lost In Thought on Jan 24, 2009 22:33:01 GMT -5
Well put, Doan.
The only problem I see with this is that it would be hard to make it seem like a neutral addition, a same sex relationship in game might seem like it's significant even if it's meant to be no more important than an opposite sex one.
I guess a new question would be, could a main character in a same sex relationship be added and not be considered significant to the story or message of the game?
I mean, do you think it would be assumed significant just because it's not common, or because it's different, or for some other reason?
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Post by Doan the Nado on Jan 25, 2009 2:22:14 GMT -5
Initially, it might seem significant and even weird, but I think if you just treat it normal in the game, with time it will seem normal. That's kind of the point, right?
Of course, if you're drawing unnecessary attention to it, that would defeat the purpose. But from what you were saying, I don't think you were planning to.
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Post by Lost In Thought on Jan 25, 2009 3:24:43 GMT -5
There really is no point, the idea I'm working on now was modified from a short story idea, and for that the main character had a boyfriend only because I felt like making him have a boyfriend.
Of course I was only thinking of the story out of boredom and never planned on using it for anything, until I decided to try another game, so now I'm getting feedback from the potential audience [potential, because my record consists entirely of abandoned projects] and finding out what people think of this and relationships in general in games.
No I'm not planning to, although just adding questions about it in a topic like this may have already drawn extra attention to a possible character in an unmade game.
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