I don't care if Quinn is like the MC, personally I like Quinn's character more than the MC's but I'll never pass up a chance to butt in and talk about muh queen
Now obviously a DIK MC is infinitely more alike Quinn than a CHICK MC, don't think that's debatable, so let's talk baseline because that's more interesting.
Baseline, we know the MC grew up poor as you said, alike Quinn, so they faced similar class challenges. They both love their father, although I guess you can treat him pretty badly imo in the game so let's just say what we know of the MC's history indicates he only had his father to depend on, like Quinn.
I would argue that the MC's baseline is not more empathetic than Quinn at all, let alone substantially, based on one event - the MC kicking the shit out of that kid in high school during the flashback we see. We know that Quinn is a nasty bully bitch drug dealing whore but she never does anything to anyone approaching that level of violence and aggression. We don't know if Quinn would even want to, I'm not saying she's harmless by any means but when she gets punched in the face in the rain she doesn't try to fight back at all, she becomes timid and defeated. This isn't necessarily an argument as to why Quinn and MC are alike but more stating that they're not as far apart as you make it seem as far as empathy goes.
But as many players have bitterly pointed out, the MC still treats Maya as his friend even if she rejects him in Episode 4. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but compare that to how Quinn treats Tommy at the end of Episode 7. The MC can be self-centered and crude, but even at his worst he never views people around him as chew toys unless they've gone out of their way to antagonize him (like, say, Tybalt by the end of Episode 7).
I'd also debate that the MC follows the lead of others since you can pretty much call the shots with Derek from day 1 on either path, which almost everyone will do in order to wear the dildo at the right time to win Hell Week and not lose points with girls, plus he's effectively leading the DIKs to repair the mansion in the latest episodes. Whatever path you're on, in ep 7 Sage invites the MC to plan the Halloween party with her and Quinn, which shows that both him and Quinn both have leadership potential, a trait that I'd say makes them more alike than the MC and almost any other girl aside from Sage herself and arguably Bella. Don't think I'm alone in assuming that leadership is in the MC's and Quinn's futures at least.
The MC did step into a leadership role after Episode 5, but you'll notice that he does so only in an unofficial capacity. He never contradicts Rusty (or even Tommy), and always gets their support before taking any action; he wouldn't even agree to plan the Halloween party without checking with Rusty first.
Quinn is firmly in the "better to seek forgiveness than ask approval" camp. She routinely conceals things from Sage (to the point she has her own personal redlight district). When things blow up in her face after the Scavenger Hunt, she carefully tailors her report to Sage to maximize the chances Sage will agree with Quinn's preferred course of action. When Sage overrules her, Quinn proceeds to half-ass her task (indeed, I'd argue she deliberately undermines her efforts with Maya).
So again, I see very little in common here. The MC winds up in charge despite his best efforts because he's the only one able to handle the task. Quinn cashes in on Sage's authority but uses it to do whatever she pleases with no regard for Sage's wishes. To the extent both are leaders, their approaches could hardly be more opposite.
I'm going to attempt to explain my viewpoint taking a different approach, because every time I've tried in the past, my point wasn't realized.
In regards to Quinn changing out of love for a guy, in order to understand why this is possible, we have to look at the way her backstory is molding her character. All her life, she was probably only shown true love from her father. Let's say for sake of argument, that her father was taken away (either jailed or dead) while Quinn was still in a developmental stage of her life, such as prepubescent years into early teens. The loss of the one fundamental loving figure in her life, the only one that's ever really shown her any kind of love or kindness, will cause her to adopt a "Me against the world" mentality until she's presented with a replacement loving figure. This is where MC's interactions with Quinn come into play. As far as we know, Quinn doesn't have any kind of romantic/unselfish connection with anyone at B&R. Riona is her closest friend, and the basis of their friendship is a business endeavor. Tommy was supposed to be her friend but it's turning out that Tommy isn't as trustworthy as he used to be with his instability due to drug use, coincidentally caused by Quinn herself.
MC wants nothing from her except her friendship. He's completely genuine in his actions. He doctors her wounds and even offers to help her financially with absolutely no reciprocation expected. This is a completely foreign concept to someone like Quinn. It's taking her by storm and it's going to go one of two ways. Either she's going to hold on to it for dear life, or reject it with every fiber in her being. Episode 7 presented us with evidence of the former.
I've already said my piece on Quinn never being shown kindness, so I won't rehash it here. Besides, I sincerely hope you are right. But I'm going to remain skeptical until I actually see Quinn take an action - any action - that actually shows she would place the MC's interest over her own. Because thus far it just hasn't happened. The only time the MC is able to connect with her is when he's doing things she wants/needs him to do AND is going about it in more or less the manner Quinn would prefer.
That *could* be the setup for the MC to earn her trust and finally encourage her vestigial altruism to surface, but it could just as easily be the case of Quinn taking advantage of the MC the same way she takes advantage of everyone else (it's just more friendly because she didn't need to twist his arm). We won't know until Quinn actually has to make a meaningful choice. So far the closest she's got is saying the MC shouldn't give her his money for nothing, which ain't much - especially when she accepted any money he gave Riona in Episode 5.
Now Quinn has been less of an asshole towards him recently; that's not saying much, but it is at least a start. So maybe this will eventually show us some actual depth from Quinn. But if so I think it will be a ways off, because we're barely at the start of her journey.
Not the same. Any normal person would not take at face value if there was a rumor floating around bout free tuition. They would investigate it. Maya took it at face value which makes it her fault. Slapping Quinn because she's mad at herself for believing there was free tuition is weak sauce. She's lucky Sage feels sorry for her. Otherwise, she'd be out on her ear.
Maya DID ask about it. The problem is that Quinn flat out lied to her. Since she was the HOT VP and Maya's official contact person (even if she raised an objection), Maya assumed that Quinn wouldn't be able to blatantly lie about that without the rest of the HOTs knowing about it. Unfortunately, Sage was asleep at the switch for the first 6.25 episodes, so Quinn was free to lie.
And therein lies the problem. It's easy to point to Quinn's faults but it's also easy to point to her strengths. Sage has strengths. Bella has strengths. Even Jill has strengths. Josy and Maya are weak sauce. Especially Maya. She has only weaknesses. At least Josy had the courage to slap Steve. My MC ain't got time for all this weakness. He's got his own shit going on. He's not going to be an enabler.
Yeah, if only Maya had the courage to slap someone who behaved inappropriately towards her...
I said it before, I'll say it again. The problem is Quinn's attitude to them and Maya. If Quinn wasn't a "mean bitch" to others, didn't fuck with Maya, didn't show she didn't care what others think about her, didn't fuck with people they wouldn't at least act that way. Saw some people saying she should get killed and thrown inside garbage truck
Because of her attitude, when people decide to shit on her they automatically throw the drug and restaurant cards in. Half of the characters in the game use drugs, almost every DIK used the reastaurant at least once, mind you.
Basically every other character is relatable whatever they do in their eyes, except Quinn. Someone with a drug dealer father and a junkie mother who used so much crack she lost her senses. She doesn't recognize her own daughter. Her dad is either in jail or got killed. Her father's best friend/partner, essentially their "family friend" is her "supplier" now. She was born into this life and she had no choice. She grew up in
that house. Now she goes back there to get supplies and sell them so she can make a living with her "cut".
We also don't know when she lost her dad. Cuz after that point, she couldn't rely on anyone anymore.
But hey, fuck her sideways. She doesn't deserve empathy, she obviously chose that life you know. She should have known better and leave that life behind her when she was 6 years old, after she learnt how to read and write.
Meanwhile, let's all emphatize with Maya, she's gone through hell, what did she to do to deserve this? If we do a recap, I believe she has both her parents and a twin brother who is and was there all her life. Yeah, her father is a cunt, but he's still there. She has something can be called "family". When did her issues start with her dad? A few years ago? When she discovered her sexual identity and started a relationship with Josy.
Like all this was not enough, poor thing believed Quinn of all girls that a free tuition existed, didn't even bother asking the actual person who was responsible with how things went around the frat house. Imagine going through this for a month meanwhile getting support and help from Josy and MC. Now Sage decided to help her honestly too.
What the fuck is what Quinn went through compared to that? She is a criminal needs to be shunned, locked up, even killed.
Maya is certainly the most illustrative example of Quinn's problem, because Quinn has gone so far out of her way to make Maya's life as much of a living hell as she can manage despite Maya never doing anything worse to Quinn than (probably) letting her disapproval of Quinn's lifestyle show. You don't have to be a Maya fan to recognize that's a bad look.
But it does go beyond that. Quinn will berate and slap Riona when she doesn't rubber stamp Quinn's idiotic plans. She ditches the DIKs on an important occasion purely to avoid an uncomfortable conversation that was - as Tommy said - inevitably going to happen anyway. When Mona runs away, Quinn is eager to wash her hands of the whole matter. As I said above, she routinely abuses Sage's trust. Quinn is an unpleasant person, even to her nominal friends.
And again, it's difficult to blame that all on her past, because growing up with criminals doesn't FORCE you to become a complete asshole. Does Quinn really deserve more slack for her background that Maya? Hard to say. Yes, Maya's family is still around, but it's unclear if that's a good thing given how far her father has gone to break her will. The specific problem with regards to Josy is only a year old, but we know that Patrick wouldn't let her work a summer job even before that. Her dad is clearly a control freak, and I doubt that's a recent development.
With Quinn, all we know for sure is that she grew up in a drug den. That can cover a lot of ground. The small snippets of backstory could indicate she was routinely terrorized by a drugged out dad and his uncaring friends; that would definitely mitigate the problems she shows. But those snippets could also indicate that her 'family' was trying to do the best they could for her despite some difficult circumstances; if anything, that would make it look like Quinn was squandering the chance they tried to give her.
We can't say for sure until we learn more. So for now I think Quinn's actions need to stand on their own (lack of) merits.