What Do You Expect from "Harem" Tag

[FranceToast]

I am assuming that Harem means the MC can pursue more than one (or all?) of the eligible candidates in the game.

Do you expect the MC to be able to do this secretly, so each relationship is fraught with discovery/recriminations (part of the spice of life, and part of the game is hiding them) I guess this is also the Cheating tag?

Do you expect the harem members to embrace and accept the concept, or at least not care about your other activities but not be involved in any other way (i.e. their stories are basically unrelated side stories)?

Do you expect the harem members to not only embrace and accept the concept, but also want to join in multiple partner activities (group sex) ?

Is it important that the VN author make it clear from the start which of these directions is possible/inevitable?

 

[Ataios]

When I think of the concept of a harem, I assume the MC is openly in relationships with multiple women. Otherwise it would just be cheating, not a harem. On the other hand, not all the characters involved have to like the idea or be without jealousy. There may be blackmail or other forms of coercion involved. Same goes for groupsex. Some members of the harem may love it, others may reject it and avoid it, if possible. There may be one woman in the harem, who enjoys dominating the others, while another woman just wants to be in monogamous relationship with the MC, even going as far as murdering her rivals.

I'm not quite sure, wether the author should explain his approach in the description of the game. On one hand, some players have fetish for certain concepts like groupsex and they would be disappointed, if a certain game doesn't have it. On the other, by explaining your approach in detail, you would likely give away spoilers regarding the story.

As a rule of thumb I'd say, the more simplistic a game is, the more information you can give freely. If the plot is simply to "collect" girls for your harem and have orgies with them, you can tell that to your players as well. If your plot is a crime story set in the Sultan's harem in the Ottoman Empire, where the player doesn't know whom of the ladies to trust, giving away too much information could ruin the game.

 

[Retro]

To me "Harem" = the harem ending in a typical Japanese game, where you have sex with all of them at once. Otherwise you're just in a relationship with more that one person, which isnt a fucking harem.

 

[FranceToast]

To me "Harem" = the harem ending in a typical Japanese game, where you have sex with all of them at once. Otherwise you're just in a relationship with more that one person, which isnt a fucking harem.

LOL, so what would that tag be-'multiple partners' ?

 

[FranceToast]

I'm not quite sure, wether the author should explain his approach in the description of the game. On one hand, some players have fetish for certain concepts like groupsex and they would be disappointed, if a certain game doesn't have it. On the other, by explaining your approach in detail, you would likely give away spoilers regarding the story.

I agree-I see a lot of comments in threads hoping/fearing how the story is going to go, but wonder if it is more of a "wow, can't wait to see how this comes out" or a "shit this better not end up with my favorite character breaking up with me or I will never play a game from this person again"

 

[GuyFreely]

I agree that in a broad sense harem means the MC ends up having multiple simultaneous non-exclusive relationships of a carnal nature. It's the pokemon mantra of gotta catch em all. Obviously, there can be variations on this idea, but this is the core concept. If one girl has to be the only girl or one girl excludes another, that's not true harem. If the MC can have some, but not ALL, maybe it's polyamory? If the MC can bang them all, but has to choose one, it's more like a waifu selector.

 

[bas]

I won't swear everyone on the forum follows it to the letter, but I use our tag list when uploading games and reviewing tags.

Here's what it says:

"harem [1 person being courted by at least 3 others, all engaging in consensual sex simultaneously.]"

You must be registered to see the links

 

[FranceToast]

If one girl has to be the only girl or one girl excludes another, that's not true harem. If the MC can have some, but not ALL, maybe it's polyamory? If the MC can bang them all, but has to choose one, it's more like a waifu selector.

Ok, this makes sense!
1) Only choose one/stay true: waifu selector
2) Choose some but not all: Polyamory
3) Choose 3 or more (h/t bossapplesauce above): harem

The next step would be:
4a) Chosen ones don't know they are not the only chosen ones (Cheating)
4b) Chosen ones know but don't care/accept it is not exclusive
4c) Only *some* of the chosen ones know but don't care/accept/find it exciting (kind of NTR? OK based on the tag list definition, no )
4d) Chosen ones know and want to get in on some group action

 

[FranceToast]

I won't swear everyone on the forum follows it to the letter, but I use our tag list when uploading games and reviewing tags.

Here's what it says:

"harem [1 person being courted by at least 3 others, all engaging in consensual sex simultaneously.]"

You must be registered to see the links

Thanks for the great link!

 

[Tataro]

If the MC can get multiple women to embrace him and his desire for multiple women, and embrace each other in that role even if they're not sexual with each other but just with MC then the Harem tag is deserved. Bonus points if they know their place (Monday is for Sarah, Tuesday is Becca etc...)

The rest is cheating or polyamory

 

[DarthSeduction]

I am assuming that Harem means the MC can pursue more than one (or all?) of the eligible candidates in the game.

Do you expect the MC to be able to do this secretly, so each relationship is fraught with discovery/recriminations (part of the spice of life, and part of the game is hiding them) I guess this is also the Cheating tag?

Do you expect the harem members to embrace and accept the concept, or at least not care about your other activities but not be involved in any other way (i.e. their stories are basically unrelated side stories)?

Do you expect the harem members to not only embrace and accept the concept, but also want to join in multiple partner activities (group sex) ?

Is it important that the VN author make it clear from the start which of these directions is possible/inevitable?

I think it's important for the player to be able to pick up on context, verbal, and body language clues within any story with any tag to determine how to best move forward. It is not the game designer's job to hold your hand. Many of us go to great lengths to foreshadow and signal when a character will like or dislike an action already, but remember, we are trying to immerse you in a story. We aren't going to have characters say things explicitly and we aren't going to give you a popup every time you are in danger of doing something stupid. Play the game.

As to my expectation with the tag, the only one is that the MC is allowed to pursue multiple characters. Again, any further delineation of the tag, whether or not it's going to be open relationships, orgies, or whatnot, are gonna be more up to the gameplay to make clear.

Sometimes you'll find tags like orgy or threesome in the game as well, these also signal. However, it's important to note that F95 intentionally keeps the tag system simple. There are definitely other tags that they could have, but for the sake of simplicity they don't. As a result, you'll never get a specific delineated tag like "consensual harem" or "cheating harem" and while proper tagging may give you some of that information, the Harem tag itself with always exist as a big tent for all types of harem games.

 

[DarthSeduction]

Ok, this makes sense!
1) Only choose one/stay true: waifu selector
2) Choose some but not all: Polyamory
3) Choose 3 or more (h/t bossapplesauce above): harem

The next step would be:
4a) Chosen ones don't know they are not the only chosen ones (Cheating)
4b) Chosen ones know but don't care/accept it is not exclusive
4c) Only *some* of the chosen ones know but don't care/accept/find it exciting (kind of NTR? OK based on the tag list definition, no )
4d) Chosen ones know and want to get in on some group action

As I mentioned in my first post, they keep the tags simple. I can say for sure, because I am the one who requested the tag be added, we do not have a polyamory tag. I tried, it was something I wanted for my current project, but it was denied.

 

[Bridget_The_Nun]

To be honest I expect the traditional "Western/Japanese" version of the Harem... but oh well people can't handle more then a single penis in the room as they do usually....

 

[Newpthx]

Ataois basically has my thoughts up in the first post. I hear Harem game and think "varied and colorful cast of potential romantic options that can be pursued simultaneously, with the expectation that the game will never ask me to choose only one." After that is room for nuance.