As a reader, how much do you need the MC to be "like you" in order to engage with the story?

[justanewsub]

This question has come up for me while writing my latest story game.

I'm male and in my 60s, but find it easy to relate to MC's who are portrayed as in their 20's or 30s.

I start my game with a questionnaire to set expectations (and set traits for the MC that match the readers preferences). But, for the game to work, the MC needs to be male, heterosexual, and belong to a certain socieconomic group, and be in their 30s, and to find male sexual submission arousing.

Should I add "Sorry, but I doubt this game is for you" if the reader diverges too much from the MC's character? Or is that failing to give the reader's flexibility and imagination due respect?

In general, are you ok reading stories where the protag is unlike you?

I was just having this conversation. As a submissive male, I could write stories for days to fulfill my own personal fantasies and surely other sub males. I wish there were more stories from the dominant’s perspective as the main character, so I could learn what was driving their brain and pleasure, rather than what drives mine.

 

[TheLobster]

Yet another tidbit that I included in my how to for new authors. Grumble Grumble. Still in pending after almost 7 weeks. (Yes I have deleted and resubmitted, every three weeks)

I wouldn't mess with it. It's the kind of article I bet Laurel wants to review in detail, so just keep it in queue and it will eventually post with an E badge

 

[SteelPoint]

People can read for what I might call detached "light entertainment"... but if you really want them on the edge of their seats and to regard your story as "unputdownable" (I take it that is what you mean by "engagement"), you have to place them in familiar surroundings which they can accept as real or as close-to as makes no difference.

The MC being like them is an impossibility given the broad spectrum of human types... but provided the person described is not outlandish and can be recognisably a type within most people's experience, that would be acceptable.

From the point of view of engagement, verisimilitude is all... a fact sadly outside the comprehension of the bimbo/hunk/tentacled alien/elf/hobbit/witch/time traveller peddlers who abound on this site.

 

[nice90sguy]

The problem is that erotic games have to work on a much more visceral level than stories IMO. Serving up the "wrong kind" is like sticking a big juicy plate of Porterhouse steak to a vegetarian. That's what tags, disclaimers and categories are for with stories. But in a game, where the MC is commonly referred to in the second person, it's NOT quite the same as a story. I know some of the "games" here are really VN's with some branching, but that's not the sort of "game" i like playing. I like my game choices to be like:
"You decide to leave the party early"
"You go out on the balcony and chat to Gina"
etc.

So that's why I'm agonizing about how much the reader needs to identify with the MC.

I guess I should have made that explicit. I'm think morein the context of story games.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

Couldn’t be less important. You know the old saying about how audiences relate to characters in a movie: they either want to be the character or fuck the character*? I’m frankly way more interested in seeing people I’d like to undress and have sex with.

(*I’ve never quite understood where Danny Devito fits into this formulation).

On a more general note, I’d argue that the number one priority is that some aspect of the story has to be interesting. In a piece of erotica, that would be the scenario ideally.

An interesting scenario can support an unexceptional character, even a dull one. And a truly interesting character might be able to support a dull scenario. But if it’s an unexceptional character in a dull scenario, you could make the character as much like me as possible, or as relatable as possible, and it simply wouldn’t matter: I’d click away.

 

[StillStunned]

The problem is that erotic games have to work on a much more visceral level than stories IMO. Serving up the "wrong kind" is like sticking a big juicy plate of Porterhouse steak to a vegetarian. That's what tags, disclaimers and categories are for with stories. But in a game, where the MC is commonly referred to in the second person, it's NOT quite the same as a story. I know some of the "games" here are really VN's with some branching, but that's not the sort of "game" i like playing. I like my game choices to be like:
"You decide to leave the party early"
"You go out on the balcony and chat to Gina"
etc.

So that's why I'm agonizing about how much the reader needs to identify with the MC.

I guess I should have made that explicit. I'm think morein the context of story games.

I don't know about story games, but oooh boy, 2P POV is a whole separate thing.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

verisimilitude is all... a fact sadly outside the comprehension of the bimbo/hunk/tentacled alien/elf/hobbit/witch/time traveller peddlers who abound on this site.

Verisimilitude isn’t about whether something exists in the real world. At least that’s not my understanding.

It’s about whether an aspect of a story has been brought to life - such that it feels as if it could be as real as the real world. (Hence the ‘-similitude’ part of the word).

 

[NuclearFairy]

I guess I should have made that explicit. I'm think morein the context of story games.

Hmm, yeah you're right story games are a whole nother basket of fruit. I do prefer my game protagonists to be a lot more of a blank slate with branching dialog options so I can head cannon what sort of person they are for myself.

(*I’ve never quite understood where Danny Devito fits into this formulation).

Firmly in the want to fuck him option. Have you seen the man smile?

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

I don't know about story games, but oooh boy, 2P POV is a whole separate thing.

Hmmm. Yes, if that’s the situation, I’d need them to be the same sexual orientation as me.

So, I suppose it still comes down to who the MC/audience wants to fuck. Rather than who they might be.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Not at all, just like in anything else.

 

[StillStunned]

Hmm, yeah you're right story games are a whole nother basket of fruit. I do prefer my game protagonists to be a lot more of a blank slate with branching dialog options so I can head cannon what sort of person they are for myself.

I think the "blank slate" protagonist is important for immersive experiences. Not just games, but some stories as well: the ones where you want the reader to feel slightly powerless as the events or characters take them along for the ride. The story imposes itself on the narrator, and by extension on the reader. The reader becomes a willing participant in an (here on Lit: erotic) experience. Like they're playing a VR game, as it were.

Other stories, by contrast, call for a stronger narrator to impose themselves on the story or the setting. Those narrators are unlikely to be identical to the reader, or even resemble them closely, but I've given up on books where I had absolutely nothing in common with the narrator, or their dominant traits were so annoying that I found myself constantly thinking, "I would never do that, I'd never react that way, this is so contrived!"

 

[NuclearFairy]

I think the "blank slate" protagonist is important for immersive experiences. Not just games, but some stories as well: the ones where you want the reader to feel slightly powerless as the events or characters take them along for the ride. The story imposes itself on the narrator, and by extension on the reader. The reader becomes a willing participant in an (here on Lit: erotic) experience. Like they're playing a VR game, as it were.

Other stories, by contrast, call for a stronger narrator to impose themselves on the story or the setting. Those narrators are unlikely to be identical to the reader, or even resemble them closely, but I've given up on books where I had absolutely nothing in common with the narrator, or their dominant traits were so annoying that I found myself constantly thinking, "I would never do that, I'd never react that way, this is so contrived!"

For me in a non-video game story it's the opposite. The more like me they are the more likely I am to go, "I'd never!" and get thrown out of the immersion. The less like me they are though, the easier I find it to get swept along and enjoy the journey.

 

[crookedletter]

I need characters to be relatable and interesting. I happen to find myself generally relatable and interesting, so in that respect I suppose I want them to be like me.

 

[yowser]

I read your thread title clearly enough but distressingly my eyes skipped the 'game' aspect in your OP. Whole different scene, apologies, ditch whatever I said.

But when did sex become a game?

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

But when did sex become a game?

As soon as some wag started telling us there were bases.

 

[iwatchus]

I read your thread title clearly enough but distressingly my eyes skipped the 'game' aspect in your OP. Whole different scene, apologies, ditch whatever I said.

But when did sex become a game?

Oh I have several stories where sex involves a game. It can be fun that way. My foursome had a stretch of having a game night every wednesday night that everyone was in town. They started with a purchased board game and got more adventurous on their own after that.

 

[Actingup]

As soon as some wag started telling us there were bases.

I guess the equivalent expression for the baseball 'base' for cricket loving nations (UK, Australian, India, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and a few others) would be 'crease'. In order to avoid being run out, you have to ground your bat in the crease. Just noting this in case somebody wants to take it on as a story....

 

[AwkwardlySet]

This question has come up for me while writing my latest story game.

I'm male and in my 60s, but find it easy to relate to MC's who are portrayed as in their 20's or 30s.

I start my game with a questionnaire to set expectations (and set traits for the MC that match the readers preferences). But, for the game to work, the MC needs to be male, heterosexual, and belong to a certain socieconomic group, and be in their 30s, and to find male sexual submission arousing.

Should I add "Sorry, but I doubt this game is for you" if the reader diverges too much from the MC's character? Or is that failing to give the reader's flexibility and imagination due respect?

In general, are you ok reading stories where the protag is unlike you?

I see you mentioned it more in the sense of story games. I don't think readers need the protagonist to be someone who resembles them. They just need someone they can identify with. A younger, good-looking male or female is the most popular choice, as far as I have seen.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

I guess the equivalent expression for the baseball 'base' for cricket loving nations (UK, Australian, India, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and a few others) would be 'crease'. In order to avoid being run out, you have to ground your bat in the crease. Just noting this in case somebody wants to take it on as a story....

Before you do that you have to bowl a maiden over…

 

[yowser]

Before you do that you have to bowl a maiden over…

Stump side or off leg?

 

[UnexpectedLuggage]

It's nice when they do, but not a deal breaker.

Honestly, as long as they're not presented as basically being a porn star with a sixteen inch dick I can usually just enjoy.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

No one should be like me. The farther away, the better.

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

I don't think I have found a Lit story with a MC that bears a strong resemblance to how I see myself.

And I enjoy the heck out of stories with MC who are nothing like me.

Stories like that are easy for me to write. The tell is that the MC is a guy named Til or Tyl, but other stories have come as easily and gotten as much positive feedback.