- Feb 8, 2019
- 488
- 521
Been a while since I did one of these, so let me know if its better located elsewhere.
Right, so some other discussion here along with elsewhere led me to some conversations regarding the PC/MC, whatever you wanna call em.
I'll start by saying: I am going to use the universal, status quo meanings and uses of things. Yes, sure. You might can point out some remote village in the mountains with an indie game that goes against these. But, nitpicking too deep isn't useful for this guide.
So, for starters: What is the difference on a protagonist NPC and a PC?
A PC in general, has some sort of personality, goals, and needs. They interact with the world around them.
An NPC does not. They are often cardboard cutouts, no needs, goals or anything. They are interacted upon. Can be glorified walking simulators. NPC's are exclusively female. And you are often given control of a random male during sex scenes. Often, following this/these males more than the NPC.
To give an example of each:
Let's use a classic: Gloryhole.
Male PC: You hear about there being a gloryhole somewhere in town. This often opens a quest chain to get to it. Where you need to take action, go search and try to find/unlock the NPC or location, so that you can get to the gloryhole. Almost exclusively an optional quest.
Female PC: You hear about there being a gloryhole somewhere in town. As your sole personality is "needs money", this would be a good way to earn more cash. You are either railroaded to the location, or can go there whenever. Rarely is set-up needed.
Female NPC: Brad told you about a glory hole. Please follow railroad in order to suck off Brad at gloryhole. You may or may not be given control of Brad for this. Alternatively: Railroad to gloryhole in order to unlock a porn scene with some other characters.
Each system having vastly different approaches. The female NPC, being the most drastic. Often flipping a total 180 of the game system.
To use another simple example another game dev made: Imagine pokemon. But if you pick female, you can ONLY progress in the game by losing, and giving money to your opponents.
The reverse is often seen in RoR games. (Run or Rape) As, if you play female, you are the prey. The enemies have urges. You are hunted. You are meek, often loli or loli-eqsue. No endowment to speak off. Yet, if you play male. Most devs try to make it a power fantasy where you are this strong, hyper dick dude that's out to beat em up. And none of the monsters have urges, they only want to "uwu senpai!" and pleasure the male.
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This is where I've seen people clash the most. As, many think the game "feels off". As, many people aren't aware over the massively different rules for male and female PC's.
Like, a common complaint I see with female NPC's, is that people expect to "play a game". Just to be told they aren't allowed to. As, basically: "You're not the protagonist".
Whether it be an incubus controlling the female NPC, "the boss" in the company the NPC works at, or the dude introduced at the start. Most people assume they were following the NPC. But, they're not. The aforementioned male is the protagonist. It's often just following one or more males, with extra steps. In a way, they are often as said: The walking simulators of porn games. You have no say. You're just here to be railroaded to follow some guys story. Not inherently bad. Many people enjoy walking simulators. But, the issue lies in how female PC and NPC are lumped together.
I have looked through the threads here regarding what people think of "female protagonists", and the main complaint is basically that: They are an NPC.
People expected a female PC. But got an NPC.
They expected a character. With goals. Personality. Choices. Not a sock puppet with boobs.
Some years back, I did a post offering people help with their female PC's, and many people were making an NPC without realizing it. Some realize they should just use a male PC to begin with.
-
To further elaborate. Let me lay out the archetypes people use.
I'll also include parts of my conversation, with a maledom exclusive dev in this.
If you make a male PC: You give them agency. They have sexual needs, are dominant, impressive genitals. They act upon the world. Or react based on the game. But they are never powerless. It's pretty classic compared to any and all types of video games. You ARE the protagonist.
If you make a female PC: You give them a goal, and possibly slight agency. They have no sexual needs. Are submissive. No genitals to speak off. Possibly impressive bust however. They interact with the world, but set no rules. They are often lacking power or powerless. They're an underdog protagonist, that never ascends from beign an underdog.
If you make a female NPC: They have no goals. No personality. No needs. Are below submissive, just cumrags. Featureless genitals. The world acts upon them, and they just flow along. Are completely powerless, and are simply a tool in more interesting characters story. They're a side character.
If you flip or change any of these roles drastically, people WILL notice and claim its "wrong". To give some example of this:
Say you need to bribe a guard to get past them. You can play female or male.
The male bribes the F guard, and gets a BJ. Makes perfect senes.
The female bribes the M guard, GIVES a BJ. Makes perfect sense.
The male bribes the F guard, GIVES a beej. Does not compute.
The female bribes the M guard, gets a beej. Error. Error.
Two of those break one of the core tenants in porn: Pleasure the penis. Like: You can't have a sex scene, and NOT pleasure the penis. Like: There's not a single scene where a girl rides cowgirl, cums, and it goes "Okay, we're done!" and the penis never cums. That doesn't happen. (You can have exceptions in ex: cucking, where ONE male cums. But A male still cums. So the rule isn't broken.) The females can be neglected without consequences, but NEVER the male. (Part of why most male PC RoR feel stale or fall flat. It's like a horror game where you can't lose.)
Or: You have 3 PC's to pick from.
2 male and 1 female. You enter a club. Both male PC's have 7-9 sex acts each. They can get a BJ from the first NPC they talk to. All NPC's are eager to please.
But, if you pick the female. The first NPC basically tells you to fuck off for not having a dick. And the one sex scene you can find, you have to search the entire place, and even then: It's just blowing some dude with 0 reciprocation. If interacting with the other "PC's", the males can get pleasured. And the female can only offer to pleasure them.
Practically no-one will see any issue with this. And consider that a "female PC"
BUT:If we flip the script: 2 female and 1 male. Both female's have 7-9 sec acts. Can get beej from the first NPC. All NPC's are eager to please the girls.
But when you pick male, the NPC's sneer at you for not having a pussy. The only sex scene you can find is giving a woman oral with no reciprocation. And if you talk to the other PC's, they only offer to let you pleasure them. And if talking to the male as the females, they use him for their needs. People would REFUSE to call that a male PC. (And start drama that would make twitter proud.)
-
Porn at its core has VERY strict rules on who can do what, and who is allowed which. Like the genital roles.
These are rarely actually "enforced", per se. Outside of social pressure. (Some websites do enforce them.)
They are very comparable to the social code of conduct. It's not illegal to do X. But, it's REALLY frowned upon. People just, don't do that.
There's always exceptions. But those are as said: Exceptions to the rule.
They're as common as double jumping in adventure/platform games. You don't have to be aware of them as a dev or player. But, it doesn't really hurt either.
And now, to wrap it up: With all that said: Where do futas lie, you might ask.
Simple: They are males. With occasional extra steps.
As the maledom dev put it: He only makes maledom. Femdom not allowed. And, he has a game where you can play male, or futa.
And if we look closer at them: They exclusively take on the penis genital role. They function like a male PC. They can be replaced with a male PC. But they CANNOT be replaced with a female PC. Female PC's aren't allowed to do what a futa does or has. They share everything with male PC's. Including the "the man with the biggest penis is the top" exception.
This is as said: Just purely game mechanics and archetypes.
There's good reasons you never see a male or futa NPC. It would go against the status quo among others.
All this does apply to non-game porn too. But, that's not as relevant here.
If you got questions, commentary or something to add: Feel free too.
I just wanted to do an in depth dive around this topic, as I've seen people talk about, speculate and argue on all of the above.
I think that's all for now. Let me know if I did a derp anywhere. I'll monitor this thread at least.
Right, so some other discussion here along with elsewhere led me to some conversations regarding the PC/MC, whatever you wanna call em.
I'll start by saying: I am going to use the universal, status quo meanings and uses of things. Yes, sure. You might can point out some remote village in the mountains with an indie game that goes against these. But, nitpicking too deep isn't useful for this guide.
So, for starters: What is the difference on a protagonist NPC and a PC?
A PC in general, has some sort of personality, goals, and needs. They interact with the world around them.
An NPC does not. They are often cardboard cutouts, no needs, goals or anything. They are interacted upon. Can be glorified walking simulators. NPC's are exclusively female. And you are often given control of a random male during sex scenes. Often, following this/these males more than the NPC.
To give an example of each:
Let's use a classic: Gloryhole.
Male PC: You hear about there being a gloryhole somewhere in town. This often opens a quest chain to get to it. Where you need to take action, go search and try to find/unlock the NPC or location, so that you can get to the gloryhole. Almost exclusively an optional quest.
Female PC: You hear about there being a gloryhole somewhere in town. As your sole personality is "needs money", this would be a good way to earn more cash. You are either railroaded to the location, or can go there whenever. Rarely is set-up needed.
Female NPC: Brad told you about a glory hole. Please follow railroad in order to suck off Brad at gloryhole. You may or may not be given control of Brad for this. Alternatively: Railroad to gloryhole in order to unlock a porn scene with some other characters.
Each system having vastly different approaches. The female NPC, being the most drastic. Often flipping a total 180 of the game system.
To use another simple example another game dev made: Imagine pokemon. But if you pick female, you can ONLY progress in the game by losing, and giving money to your opponents.
The reverse is often seen in RoR games. (Run or Rape) As, if you play female, you are the prey. The enemies have urges. You are hunted. You are meek, often loli or loli-eqsue. No endowment to speak off. Yet, if you play male. Most devs try to make it a power fantasy where you are this strong, hyper dick dude that's out to beat em up. And none of the monsters have urges, they only want to "uwu senpai!" and pleasure the male.
-
This is where I've seen people clash the most. As, many think the game "feels off". As, many people aren't aware over the massively different rules for male and female PC's.
Like, a common complaint I see with female NPC's, is that people expect to "play a game". Just to be told they aren't allowed to. As, basically: "You're not the protagonist".
Whether it be an incubus controlling the female NPC, "the boss" in the company the NPC works at, or the dude introduced at the start. Most people assume they were following the NPC. But, they're not. The aforementioned male is the protagonist. It's often just following one or more males, with extra steps. In a way, they are often as said: The walking simulators of porn games. You have no say. You're just here to be railroaded to follow some guys story. Not inherently bad. Many people enjoy walking simulators. But, the issue lies in how female PC and NPC are lumped together.
I have looked through the threads here regarding what people think of "female protagonists", and the main complaint is basically that: They are an NPC.
People expected a female PC. But got an NPC.
They expected a character. With goals. Personality. Choices. Not a sock puppet with boobs.
Some years back, I did a post offering people help with their female PC's, and many people were making an NPC without realizing it. Some realize they should just use a male PC to begin with.
-
To further elaborate. Let me lay out the archetypes people use.
I'll also include parts of my conversation, with a maledom exclusive dev in this.
If you make a male PC: You give them agency. They have sexual needs, are dominant, impressive genitals. They act upon the world. Or react based on the game. But they are never powerless. It's pretty classic compared to any and all types of video games. You ARE the protagonist.
If you make a female PC: You give them a goal, and possibly slight agency. They have no sexual needs. Are submissive. No genitals to speak off. Possibly impressive bust however. They interact with the world, but set no rules. They are often lacking power or powerless. They're an underdog protagonist, that never ascends from beign an underdog.
If you make a female NPC: They have no goals. No personality. No needs. Are below submissive, just cumrags. Featureless genitals. The world acts upon them, and they just flow along. Are completely powerless, and are simply a tool in more interesting characters story. They're a side character.
If you flip or change any of these roles drastically, people WILL notice and claim its "wrong". To give some example of this:
Say you need to bribe a guard to get past them. You can play female or male.
The male bribes the F guard, and gets a BJ. Makes perfect senes.
The female bribes the M guard, GIVES a BJ. Makes perfect sense.
The male bribes the F guard, GIVES a beej. Does not compute.
The female bribes the M guard, gets a beej. Error. Error.
Two of those break one of the core tenants in porn: Pleasure the penis. Like: You can't have a sex scene, and NOT pleasure the penis. Like: There's not a single scene where a girl rides cowgirl, cums, and it goes "Okay, we're done!" and the penis never cums. That doesn't happen. (You can have exceptions in ex: cucking, where ONE male cums. But A male still cums. So the rule isn't broken.) The females can be neglected without consequences, but NEVER the male. (Part of why most male PC RoR feel stale or fall flat. It's like a horror game where you can't lose.)
Or: You have 3 PC's to pick from.
2 male and 1 female. You enter a club. Both male PC's have 7-9 sex acts each. They can get a BJ from the first NPC they talk to. All NPC's are eager to please.
But, if you pick the female. The first NPC basically tells you to fuck off for not having a dick. And the one sex scene you can find, you have to search the entire place, and even then: It's just blowing some dude with 0 reciprocation. If interacting with the other "PC's", the males can get pleasured. And the female can only offer to pleasure them.
Practically no-one will see any issue with this. And consider that a "female PC"
BUT:If we flip the script: 2 female and 1 male. Both female's have 7-9 sec acts. Can get beej from the first NPC. All NPC's are eager to please the girls.
But when you pick male, the NPC's sneer at you for not having a pussy. The only sex scene you can find is giving a woman oral with no reciprocation. And if you talk to the other PC's, they only offer to let you pleasure them. And if talking to the male as the females, they use him for their needs. People would REFUSE to call that a male PC. (And start drama that would make twitter proud.)
-
Porn at its core has VERY strict rules on who can do what, and who is allowed which. Like the genital roles.
These are rarely actually "enforced", per se. Outside of social pressure. (Some websites do enforce them.)
They are very comparable to the social code of conduct. It's not illegal to do X. But, it's REALLY frowned upon. People just, don't do that.
There's always exceptions. But those are as said: Exceptions to the rule.
They're as common as double jumping in adventure/platform games. You don't have to be aware of them as a dev or player. But, it doesn't really hurt either.
And now, to wrap it up: With all that said: Where do futas lie, you might ask.
Simple: They are males. With occasional extra steps.
As the maledom dev put it: He only makes maledom. Femdom not allowed. And, he has a game where you can play male, or futa.
And if we look closer at them: They exclusively take on the penis genital role. They function like a male PC. They can be replaced with a male PC. But they CANNOT be replaced with a female PC. Female PC's aren't allowed to do what a futa does or has. They share everything with male PC's. Including the "the man with the biggest penis is the top" exception.
This is as said: Just purely game mechanics and archetypes.
There's good reasons you never see a male or futa NPC. It would go against the status quo among others.
All this does apply to non-game porn too. But, that's not as relevant here.
If you got questions, commentary or something to add: Feel free too.
I just wanted to do an in depth dive around this topic, as I've seen people talk about, speculate and argue on all of the above.
I think that's all for now. Let me know if I did a derp anywhere. I'll monitor this thread at least.
