Membership Romantic alignment on character profiles - yay or nay?

[Deep Sea 326]

This is really interesting, because listing this sort of stuff is like, totally in the "in" thing to do on the sites I come from. A lot of people track it like they track the ratio of male to female characters - "Oh, we have four boys and six girls, 3 are bi, 4 are homosexual, 1 is trans," etc.

 

And then I make the mistake of reminding people they can talk about their character's heritage.

[Jaxx 317]

I personally don't care to see a character's romantic status and alignment on their profiles. 95% of threads I do are either ones with no romantic bearing, or ones where it's a ship that I've already agreed to do with someone. So it either doesn't matter or I already know. 

Edited July 25, 2018 by kita
managed to use the wrong word in there, oops

[Jerriah 9]

I'm not really for it but I do have a field for sexuality because nowadays people get so riled up over it. I was cruising sites about a month back and I saw a guest in the cbox of one saying that they thought the site was cool and all and they were going to join until they realized that the site didn't support any other gender other than male and female (which is totally unrelated to romantic alignment, but related to my point). Anyway, nowhere on the site did they say that the character couldn't be any gender but male or female. They got this because in the census, it only stated "male, female, and total".

[Quell 249]

I think both ways have pros and cons. 

 

I usually list my character's sexuality in their plotting area, not in their application or profile. It makes it easier to do my trash ships. Because if I think there is chemistry between your straight guy and my gay guy, at least I know up front this chemistry is one sided. (I also like it for consistency purposes. So people aren't like 'hetero til this ship option came around'.)

 

That said, I am also of the opinion that there is no real reason to put it. Like in any relationship, if you think your characters are interested in one another... you just ask the player or have the character make a move in a thread?

[Morrigan 1,826]

I actually like it and not for the ship/romance reasons that everyone thinks.

 

I have been on too many sites that are flooded with homosexual characters because for a while it was a trend that you were cool if your character is gay. Seeing this in a profile tells me whether or not the site has that issue and actually heavily influences whether or not I'll join. I don't play male homosexuals (I do have some lesbians though) for personal reasons. If I feel like the only way to plot is to play a homosexual character I won't join.

[Sadrienne 242]

It wouldn't affect whether I joined a site or not, but like gender there's so many more variations on sexuality than the English language allows.

 

A required sexuality field forces people to squeeze an identity into a label that may or may not exist, and if you're gathering the information for the purpose of census data (and character balance) that sort of variation may not be ideal for your stats anyway.

 

I prefer to allow people to describe sexuality/gender/etc through the character' history or personality, as they see fit.

[Quell 249]

1 hour ago, Mousie said:

A required sexuality field forces people to squeeze an identity into a label that may or may not exist, and if you're gathering the information for the purpose of census data (and character balance) that sort of variation may not be ideal for your stats anyway.

Along these lines, if the site is romance heavy or based, it might be better to allow someone to describe things to understand compatibility (similar to a personality section) rather than say "homosexual" and just slap that label with no information -- just a thought because I played a character who people would throw characters at for flings because they were both pan and promiscuous, and I was like "Here is the thing. They don't do what you're imagining as a one night stand, though they often have what they would call a ons."

Edited July 25, 2018 by Thyme

[The Rebel 44]

I think for me it would depend on the focus of the board.  If it is very romance-themed board or that is a major component then that makes more sense to me to include something like that on a character profile than for a board that is more war and politics.  Not that there is no crossover and you can't have good romances on war themed sites, but I do think the profile helps set the tone for what the board is about.  Not that this matters at all if that IS what the board is about. It's just far more practical for some sites over others.   Even on sites where it is quite relevant, as mentioned, there is the trickiness of labels, players not knowing exactly, the characters themselves not knowing how to define themselves, or just not having the right word to describe in such a small space.    I think putting it in the history or personality likely gives the player the best opportunity to pick and choose what is important to that character, whether it be gender, sexuality, or some past event that heavily influenced them, and this way they can control how they want to present their character.

[Icewolf 258]

I think it's important to include it so you don't end up in the annoying situation where people chase you for ships, espeaically when they want you to write something you don't want to write. I think we'd all like it where it wouldn't matter, but for some people it does. If it's listed there, and you get someone try to get you to ship your character with theirs and you don't want it, it's clearly in the profile that you aren't interested. It also avoids the awkward situation where a character is LGBTQ and you get a straight character trying to get into a ship with them, or vice versa.

 

(Of course, if people want to do a romance mix-up, they are always free to plan it - I just don't like the unannounced, unplanned situation because it usually ends up with hurt feelings.)

[Rhindeer 217]

On my games, it's not included by default in the character profile, because I don't want people to feel obligated. HOWEVER, our character profile is laid back and you can add or delete fields as needed, so I include sexuality for most of my characters in my profiles. And a lot of people choose to do so, as well. Other people opt out, and that's okay! There's no correct or incorrect preference.

 

I include it myself because I am romance trash. I love romance. |: But also, I want people to know what to expect going in? Like, I will thread my lesbian with your dude, but any romantic feelings are gonna be one-sided. And that's okay! I'm down with unrequited love! BUT, just don't be surprised when my chick rejects your dude. And maybe they can be buddies instead?

 

But it can impact plotting things other than romance, too. On SotE, some locations are totally chill with LGBTQIA* folk, and other areas are hostile. There are differing social and political climates in each area that can impact LGBTQIA* characters differently. So knowing that information can be impactful, and lead to some awesome plots. 8D

[katherineespair 36]

I feel a little late to the party, but here is my two cents.

 

When I made Lochland Grove I felt that the concept of sexuality was unimportant. I left it off the application and went about my day.

 

The thing is, people started posting their character's sexuality everywhere. Signatures, plotters, everywhere. Because it didn't have one nice tidy place to be, the players made one. That's pretty much when I decided to put it back. It stopped that pretty quickly. Obviously it was just something people needed, and I am of the opinion that if my members want something that bad then it is my obligation to make it so.

 

[Hypester 28]

I honestly think this should only really be a thing on romance based sites, melodramas, Real Life sites, arranged marriage, that type of thing. It makes no sense if you have a plot/element dominating your RP that does not revolve around romance, i.e. Supernaturals, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, etc...

[blitzy 8]

Having been both a member and admin of countless sites through my years of roleplaying I've included it in my joining app either plainly stated or had it in my character's history somewhere so people don't waste time trying to make a ship work. I feel as though it should be up to the roleplayer if they would like to state their character's sexuality/preference but it should never be mandatory especially if the roleplay isn't dependent on who you lay with. For instance, if you are part of a war-themed rp, I really don't think it matters who you like, you should focus on the theme and not getting some action. But that's just me ^^