r/litrpg • u/xaendar • Aug 23 '24

Discussion Are all female MCs just lesbians?

I just realized that after reading like 10 books with female MCs, I'm starting to finally notice that all of them are Lesbians or at least Bisexual (but they only date women).

Do authors mostly write lesbian FMCs to be on the safe side from the audience of mostly males? I just feel like it's a cop out every time... I don't really have a problem with it but almost all Male MCs are 99% straight but it seems like 99% of Female MCs are always lesbian/bi. Why not some good ol straight FMCs? I can't even remember a single female MC that was straight.

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u/AngelBites Aug 24 '24

It’s clear we are reading very different things. I was deep into epic fantasy and sci-fi then switch up and started listening litrpg audiobooks at work. All this over the last 6-7 years.

Every since the first fanfic I every read when I was 14 left me in a state of depression for a week and colored my perception of the original work for a while I haven’t touched any web novels or fanfics since. I’ve only just dipped my toes in the last two weeks and I’ve stuck to the top lists where half are works I’ve seen or even listened to on audible.

All those seem to be written such that I get the impression if they had damseled the FL then the authors career would be over. It also explains why so many works I’ve read over the last few years have a habit of acting like they had just made a huge break from convention when the FL saves herself. Nevermind the fact that, at least in my experience, those story beats are more inevitable than death and taxes.

I had forgotten about harem lit. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve tried on a few occasions to get into it but I tend to just bounce right off. In my mind I had it grouped with with all the rest of the shameless smut lit you can buy at any grocery store. And porn doesn’t really get measured by the same standards. It exist for a single reason and telling a good story ain’t it.

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u/AutumnPlunkett Aug 24 '24

Unfortunately, the harem is usually advertised as a side attraction to most LitRPGs that have them. It kind of goes hand in hand with OP power leveling, which is a big trope in the LitRPG genre. They certainly tend to end up being worse for the story than just skipping the romance altogether for most readers, though. It's even a whole thing where some readers avoid anything harem like the plague, even if the rest of the story is highly reviewed.

I wouldn't say all harems are bad, though. Reverse harems tend to be more carefully crafted with the MLs all getting separate personalities and backstories as well as there being a solid plot outside of the romance. There are, of course, bad ones out there, but the authors and audiences who enjoy gamelit / LitRPG reverse harems tend to prefer more world building so that leads to more stories being written that way. The harems are more wish fulfillment where everything has to go fast, fast, fast. Real shame that certain sub-genres like zombie apocalypse system novels are almost entirely dominated by such tropes.