Is this skirting the line of NTR

[SatinAndIvory]

Hey guys, I'm making a game, a harem romance game (yeah, one of those), except my guiding philosophy is that the tease and anticipation makes the eventual sex so much better, so I want to take the tease to the absolute edge. I know NTR is the polar opposite of the experience that guys want in their harem romance, however as I said, giving the players exactly what they want all the time can get a bit stale.

I have a cheerleader in my game who gets off on jealousy. The MC is not her boyfriend, but she has an interest in him because her boyfriend hates his guts. After getting to know the MC more, she becomes really enamored with him. However, seeing as how the MC already has so many girls after him, she remains with her boyfriend, not one to enjoy sharing the spotlight or the MC's attention. She plays a dangerous game where she uses her boyfriend as a way to get under the skin of the MC, cuddling him, giving him a peck on the cheek, the usual romantic gestures, but never does it go overboard or suggest she's fucking him. She's also clearly only doing this when the MC is nearby, as it's shown to the player (not the MC) that she and her boyfriend have a pretty strained relationship and she actually is not happy. When the MC and the cheerleader eventually fuck again, she brings up all the things she does to make him jealous, in an effort to make him even more jealous, and that feeling of the MC wanting her so badly when he has so many other girls, makes her feel powerful and aroused. Thus, her boyfriend is only there as a tool to make the MC, and the player by extension, jealous though it would never culminate in actual NTR.

I'm hoping this doesn't mean my game will get the dreaded NTR label attached, but I might settle for it being vegan NTR or Diet NTR. What do you think, is it NTR or is this riding the line just enough that it isn't?

 

[Count Morado]

First, the netorare tag is only dreaded when considering a very small vocal minority within the group of people who do not enjoy netorare. Second, the definition of netorare on this site is:

netorare

✏

A love interest has sexual contact with someone else without the approval of the protagonist, either voluntarily or from some form of coercion (eg, drugs, mind control, blackmail, rape).

On this site there is no "vegan" or "diet" netorare. It either is or it isn't.

Until the cheerleader is an actual love interest nothing she does regarding the MC should be considered netorare.

That said - this part of your wall:

When the MC and the cheerleader eventually fuck again, she brings up all the things she does to make him jealous, in an effort to make him even more jealous, and that feeling of the MC wanting her so badly when he has so many other girls, makes her feel powerful and aroused.

Even in my mind this could legitimize the use of the netorare tag - because once they became partners, she is specifically using her past manipulations to elicit the feelings as if it were happening at that moment.

So, yes, you are playing with fire with the harem fans.

 

[holaje12]

You just described one of the worst and most unlikeable LI I have ever heard about and I have played my fair share of games here. You might want to discuss semantics and shit but what you are planning is garbage for anyone that isnt into ntr, even if it is not ntr which is debatable.
Only a huge cuck would find it hot or appropiate for a girl he is fucking to mention how she was "intimate" (even if no sex) with other men. Which is what you describe here:

When the MC and the cheerleader eventually fuck again, she brings up all the things she does to make him jealous, in an effort to make him even more jealous, and that feeling of the MC wanting her so badly when he has so many other girls, makes her feel powerful and aroused.

In fact, I think you just described a slut that would be the perfect female lead in a cuckold game where she is in love with her cuck but also enjoys humilliating him and making him jealous just as a fetish, but "she loves him" and only wants to make him jealous to push him to "reclaim" her. Lmao
Anyway, you might want make one of those ntr/harem mix games if you like those kind of themes because I doubt any non ntr fan would want to play that shit.
If thats your idea of a LI I dont think you are aiming at the right crowd.

 

[qwsaq]

Everything is NTR to the people you see complaining about it here.
If she's not sleeping around while she's acting as a love interest, just leave the tag out and let the moderation team deal with it if it's too on the nose.

 

[Count Morado]

Everything is NTR to the people you see complaining about it here.
If she's not sleeping around while she's acting as a love interest, just leave the tag out and let the moderation team deal with it if it's too on the nose.

Man, you don't know me, do you?
I'm accused of being a cuck by the harem crowd and now you're putting me in the other crowd.

What this tells me is that my centrist position on this topic is the correct place to be.

I said "could" I didn't said "must" or "shall" --- I essentially stated the same thing you said, just phrased differently.

In the end, you have to admit that the person is playing with fire with the harem crowd (something I am not a member of, by the way -- nor am I a member of the netorare crowd. I can live with or without either genre. It's the gameplay that is important).

Hey JoeKent - Get a load of this guy!

 

[Meaning Less]

Just make the game you want to make and stop worrying about what tags are going to be applied to it or not...

The people that complain about the tag also don't play games skirting the line, so it won't change anything wheter your game gets the tag or not.

 

[SatinAndIvory]

Just make the game you want to make and stop worrying about what tags are going to be applied to it or not...

The people that complain about the tag also don't play games skirting the line, so it won't change anything wheter your game gets the tag or not.

Yeah, I hate that answer but I think that's what it ultimately boils down to. I'd say I'm a member of the harem romance fandom and, lacking all the context of the specifics of how I am executing it, what I have written above might seem like NTR to some, others not so much. I think in this case, I'll probably just defer to my own judgement, being able to see the bigger picture. Even if this means my game gets labeled as such, I'm still going to develop it as I intended. IMO, it's just too boring and cookie cutter if every love interest falls for the MC in the same way and express their love and sexuality in the same way.

 

[qwsaq]

Man, you don't know me, do you?
I'm accused of being a cuck by the harem crowd and now you're putting me in the other crowd.

What this tells me is that my centrist position on this topic is the correct place to be.

I said "could" I didn't said "must" or "shall" --- I essentially stated the same thing you said, just phrased differently.

In the end, you have to admit that the person is playing with fire with the harem crowd (something I am not a member of, by the way -- nor am I a member of the netorare crowd. I can live with or without either genre. It's the gameplay that is important).

Hey JoeKent - Get a load of this guy!

Lol, I wasn't saying anything about you. I'm more on the side of "exercise extra caution when applying an over-applied label."
In this particular case: NTR fans wouldn't be interested in the "NTR" as presented so it's misleading to them and most normal people wouldn't be too distraught by it so long as it's not a core element of the game. So the only people this would offend are the easily offended and those are exactly the right people to offend.

 

[holaje12]

IMO, it's just too boring and cookie cutter if every love interest falls for the MC in the same way and express their love and sexuality in the same way.

I agree, but if that scenario is the only one you can come up with to spice things up or get some variety then that just says more about your limitations as a writer or perhaps your personal inclinations on what kind of content you like producing.
A lot of succesful devs here dont add ntr or Ntr-ish elements to their games and their games are not boring or have all of their LIs being the same. I think saying it like that is very dismissive to them, just because they dont think like you.
If anything the ntr/ jealousy plot to add cheap drama is the cookie cutter option when a writer cant come up with actual original ideas to make the plot or romance interesting.

And also you can notice that the people encouraging with your idea are famous ntr lovers so, you can get an idea of where you can get your support. Maybe give ntr a try. Since thats what you seem to like. Good luck

 

[SatinAndIvory]

I agree, but if that scenario is the only one you can come up with to spice things up or get some variety then that just says more about your limitations as a writer or perhaps your personal inclinations on what kind of content you like producing.
A lot of succesful devs here dont add ntr or Ntr-ish elements to their games and their games are not boring or have all of their LIs being the same. I think saying it like that is very dismissive to them, just because they dont think like you.
If anything the ntr/ jealousy plot to add cheap drama is the cookie cutter option when I writer cant come up with actual original ideas to make the plot or romance interesting.

And also you can notice that the people encouraging with your idea are famous ntr lovers so, you can get an idea of where you can get your support. Maybe give ntr a try. Since thats what you seem to like. Peace

Wow, seems like I struck a nerve . No, it's not the only idea I have, but I find it useful to take things to the extreme and then reign it back from there. This idea is that extreme, but thanks for your opinion regardless.

 

[TAGELD]

what you described is clearly not NTR, as other people pointed out, and labeling your game as NTR will just piss off everyone: the NTR fans will complain there's not real NTR, and the NTR haters (myself included) likely will see the tag and not give your game a second glance. But my understanding is, you want to know if the scenario you described will turn away the average harem AVN enjoyer. As you can see by some of the responses, you'll definetly drive away some of them (holaje12 for a very vocal example). I'd personally be fine with it. if you want to be safe, maybe you can have an option at the beginning to disable romantic events with that specific LI? Or just go with it, and accept some people will not like that (can't please everyone). Or cut that scenario entirely, if you think the response is too negative.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Vax Morale]

Kind of seems like a cheap way for some drama in a game imo. But I would honestly take that over the typical rape or attempted rape that's so overused. That being said I would play the game if that LI was avoidable. Just seems unlikable to me based on your description.

 

[scrumbles]

I have the proper tag for you (soon™):

netori

✨

The protagonist has sexual contact with another character's love interest or partner, without the approval of said character

 

[DawnCry]

What you described is by any means a NTR situation, be aware that in theory what NTR is focused on is just jealously, it isn't based on anything else and that's purely the intention of the female character you describe.

Having said that I tend to recommend that in harem games if you wanna add that type of situation it tends to work better with a futa x female or female x female, because it could end up in threesomes and other more desirable situation for your public, most of them have 0 interest in another male character.

But well, that's about it, to be fair the tag you will get it no matter what you do if you have a character that has sex with another, especially related to many harem fans that are very sensible to that topic and that games like fire emblem would be NTR for them.

 

[woody554]

when she's hurting mc by having sex with her boyfriend (in a hurtful way), it's textbook ntr. not just any sex counts, but if the scenes are built in a way that's designed to make mc hurt - it's netorare. nothing diet about it.

but as it sounds that this specific story is important to you, you should lean into it instead of watering it down. there's no point in making watered down ntr, it'll just be shit for both ntr lovers and haters. anti-ntr people will still hate it and ntr-lovers won't get anything out of if. lose-lose.

 

[Jaike]

Hey guys, I'm making a game, a harem romance game (yeah, one of those), except my guiding philosophy is that the tease and anticipation makes the eventual sex so much better, so I want to take the tease to the absolute edge. I know NTR is the polar opposite of the experience that guys want in their harem romance, however as I said, giving the players exactly what they want all the time can get a bit stale.

I have a cheerleader in my game who gets off on jealousy. The MC is not her boyfriend, but she has an interest in him because her boyfriend hates his guts. After getting to know the MC more, she becomes really enamored with him. However, seeing as how the MC already has so many girls after him, she remains with her boyfriend, not one to enjoy sharing the spotlight or the MC's attention. She plays a dangerous game where she uses her boyfriend as a way to get under the skin of the MC, cuddling him, giving him a peck on the cheek, the usual romantic gestures, but never does it go overboard or suggest she's fucking him. She's also clearly only doing this when the MC is nearby, as it's shown to the player (not the MC) that she and her boyfriend have a pretty strained relationship and she actually is not happy. When the MC and the cheerleader eventually fuck again, she brings up all the things she does to make him jealous, in an effort to make him even more jealous, and that feeling of the MC wanting her so badly when he has so many other girls, makes her feel powerful and aroused. Thus, her boyfriend is only there as a tool to make the MC, and the player by extension, jealous though it would never culminate in actual NTR.

I'm hoping this doesn't mean my game will get the dreaded NTR label attached, but I might settle for it being vegan NTR or Diet NTR. What do you think, is it NTR or is this riding the line just enough that it isn't?

Though it sounds like "designed to cause jealousy by having the romantic interest involved with someone other than the MC" if you read it literally, it just isn't netorare at all when there's no sex. So no, don't add the tag. It's supposed to be for sexual content.

But cause you're making a "harem romance" game, you may want to drop a little warning in the tags or dev notes of your game thread when you get to that point. Especially if you're gonna try monetise it.

 

[Ying Ko]

First, the netorare tag is only dreaded when considering a very small vocal minority within the group of people who do not enjoy hate netorare.

Generally male protagonist games explicitly marketed as containing Netorare struggle compared to games that aren't. Many people do not enjoy foot fetistism, but games explicitly marketed as containing foot fetistism do not struggle.