Definitely a thing. You can see a clear agenda in some of these games.Might be, though my points still stand. Regardless of a developer's personal life, introducing main LIs in a game and then saying to the player: "Don't chase them; do all of these other unrelated things" is bad development / storytelling practice. Let's say he had started with an uncle and a couple of sons instead, and all of the side content was available but with men. I'd be saying the same thing: all of these extra random dudes on the side aren't germane to the story and mere distractions. Generally, speaking, you should establish your LIs fairly early on and then focus on them — not on some random gang member in a Dark Alley or some ditsy moron on a bus ride.