That’s what I don’t really get. Mason isn’t boyish at all: he has feminine hair, a feminine figure, dresses in a feminine fashion (tight leggings, oversized shirts—even wears lacy lingerie). I don’t remember him wanting surgery or hormone therapy either, although I do admittedly go through his scenes rather quickly, so that might be on me. As far as I can tell, he’s basically what a conservative might have you believe a trans person is: one who presents in a way 100% in line with their biological sex, but just arbitrarily asks to be called the opposite.
Now, personally, I’m not into trans stuff at all, but it makes me wonder, Is this really what people who are into it want out of that content?
There's all kinds of people in that umbrella all with different ideas of their identity or what they're comfortable with. I have seen transmen who, to me anyways, seem to want to stay a girl in practically every way except their pronoun; they're like 'femboy' transmen. Mason seems to be that. Also, keep in mind he has brain injury and is autistic, autistic people are more likely than general population to identify as trans. Don't know if that was author's intent, but interpret that however you want.
From a porn game perspective, well basically only bi/gay men like fully transitioned transmen. If you want to appeal to a (mostly) straight male audience, you keep the transman's femininity completely intact, and the appeal basically becomes a little gayplay through 'he/him' (which I'm definitely into, can't speak for others). That's how I see it, anyways.
Otherwise, for people who aren't into gayplay, but like altgirls/tomboys, can just use 'she/her' and acknowledge their gender outside of sex which keeps you on their good side.
It's also story, yes, but people should remember that at the end of the day, it's still a porn game and so the expected 'rules' of porn games are still there. Plus, whatever the dev's into is obviously what they're going to put into their game. This is basically the only version of a 'transman' that is acceptable to most audiences from a sexual pov. Not a good or a bad thing, just is what it is.
This is kind of the problem that I have with female-to-male transgender in porn games. There is just no point. It's just a girl that identifies as a guy. There is no fetish, no nothing.
I would have preferred a male-to-female transgender, without surgery. But keep the personality of Mason that everyone likes so much.
Counter-argument above if you're curious. The fetish is basically "safe" gayplay (so, not actually gay, but you get to pretend it's sorta gay, like asking your girl to dress as a football player or something
), or for people who aren't into that, altgirl/tomboy. And it's the character the author wanted. So there's definitely a point.