discussion Your thoughts on MC having a male best friend?

[angband]

Some VNs depict your character having a male "buddy" or sidekick. I'm not talking about a sharing situation, or M-M romance, or anything like that, just a friend who is a part of the plot. Just wondering how others feel about this, because for me, this usually makes it feel sort of awkward or uncomfortable, not to the point of making me want to stop playing, just kind of like I wish the relationship wasn't there.

My problem is that, since these stories are naturally geared toward you hoovering up every available (and sometimes unavailable) female character who so much as says "hi" to you, this leaves your buddy in kind of a bad spot. So the options for dealing with him include

• Making him a guy who just strikes out with women, possibly as comic relief or possibly just sad. He can be portrayed as a bit of a douchebag so that he is basically just getting what is coming to him (but then again why are you friends with this jerk), or he can simply be unlucky in love (in which case it feels bad to be rubbing his nose in your success). Neither way seems all that satisfying.
• Giving him a token girlfriend of his own, hopefully one that isn't one of your potential LIs, although this isn't always the case. This means either having her be rarely or never seen so that it feels obviously shoehorned in, or forcing the dev to spend time rendering and writing for a character that may not matter. Even worse is when you either by choice or fate end up stealing her, which can feel awful. The one that made me feel worst about this was Lost in You, where you end up with the one girl that your friend actually had serious feelings for, after being a playboy for a long time and not really caring about the girls he was with. She rejects him because she has feelings for you, even though you aren't necessarily actively pursuing her. This leads to him walking into traffic in a daze and winding up in the hospital. I can't help feeling sorry and even a little guilty, despite choosing to be respectful of him and his attempt at a relationship.
• Having him be gay or just not interested in a relationship with any girl for whatever reason. This one would probably be the best option because it avoids all the awkwardness and negative feelings, but I can't think of a story where it has been used offhand.

Where do you all stand on this? And if it is going to be included, how do you prefer it to be handled? Is there another way I haven't thought of? Feel free to share any thoughts you have.

 

[DubbleU]

Derek in Being a DIK, he's more complex than seen in the early episodes, even if most of his scenes are humorous or make him the butt of the joke. There's bits and pieces proving this in a lot of his heart to heart scenes with the MC, and he generally always has your back, even when it ends up stinging him.

Liam in Acting Lessons, same developer as BAD, a legit bro, and you actually care about him.

Chris in Leap of Faith, written pretty well, a fan of one of your Love Interests, but never goes passed that. A goofball, that does have trouble with women and you can pitch some of the LI's off on him, but he can pull his own women. It kind of makes sense, when you're in the same circle, that he may end up with someone in your proximity, just like real life.

Jalen in West View Academy, didn't know what to think of him at first, he's a bro, comes off as annoying sometimes, but he's the cool Childhood Friend that is just as talented as the MC. He isn't interested in any of the FMC, as he right away gets interested in a girl that is pretty much facially obscured, as a running gag.

Some things, I dislike when another character is potentially interested in a LI, but as I grew up I understand if you don't go Harem, that girl will have to move on eventually, so if they seek others I'm okay with it. I just generally don't like when it happens in game, if it's an epilogue or after-story, it's fine.

 

[Echo Foxtrot]

I considered it for a long time for my own AVN, but decided not to. My goal was to have a small cast with lots of character development, and I felt like the best friend character would be kinda stuck.
I don't think LR would lend itself well to a comic relief character anyway
Instead, the girls and MC build a friendship on top of their romantic relationship

 

[AlBetGam]

Frankly, my preferred option is "give the best friend a girlfriend and just don't make her a love interest for the main character". No weird gimmicks to make sure players can't see her face or whatever; just make them suck it up and cope with a (fictional) universe where girls exist that they don't have sex with. (I kinda think people who can't handle that are deeply pathetic).

That aside I did like how a couple games handled their best friend characters.

DoubleU mentioned Liam from Acting Lessons, who's a great character in general. But specifically in terms of him having a love interest, he gets two options (that I saw): relatively late game he'll ask if you're interested in one of the main love interests and if you say no he gets together with her; if you say 'yes' he winds up with another girl who you haven't really met yet (if you say 'yes' but are also involved with however many other girls, he stays clear but also points out to you pretty directly that you're being a real jerk to everybody else in the game).

Eternum has your best friend get together pretty early on (and kinda amusingly) with a not-conventionally-attractive girl that most players probably aren't gonna be interested in.

As a side note to your third option though, the game Stay Tuned for the Show (or something like that) had the MC in a sort of Big Brother-like reality TV show. There was one other guy on the show and if I remember right the dev triple excluded him from any potential hanky panky by not just making him gay, not just making him gay and devotedly married, but making him a devotedly married gay man who had also been completely castrated in a freak accident. No kill like overkill I guess...

 

[fallenknight0]

The two well done male friends that came to my mind have been mentioned, Liam in AL and Chang in Eternum. I think they are the best setups for a best friend, as neither of them infringe on your harem building, and you don’t have to feel bad down the road if you go after their girl since you can’t/won’t (probably, maybe someone likes Micaela more than Penny?)

Now, playing devil’s advocate, sometimes you are friends with a guy you get along with, but he’s not a good boyfriend. In RL you might not be willing (or able) to break the bro code and steal his girl, but these are games! Or, maybe he is a great, doting boyfriend… but you’re an irredeemable asshole who’s more than happy to hang his buddies girl. It’s all fantasy, so much like any other kink or activity, let’s make sure there’s a flavor everyone enjoys as an option!

 

[xanxus07]

Male best friend? Ever met Derek? That's da GOAT!!

 

[impisi]

I'm generally okay with it as long as they're the kind that'll stick by the protagonist and isn't just one-note or annoying. Giving them some depth and taking the steps to actually build a relationship (brolationship?) between the two characters helps to make them sympathetic and an actual character rather than having them as the default comic relief guy.

One example comes to mind, It might have been Supernatural where you're at a party with the best friend and he takes you aside and lets you know he set up a threesome with one of the hot slutty cheerleaders, my MC (who had shapeshifted into a woman for the party) was like "bro, better idea; what if I turn into a futa first" and he looks the MC square in the eyes and says "...you're a good friend, MC"

 

[Petermax77]

I don't care if you have a male best friend that has a girlfriend of his own as long as i never have to see the sex scenes with them.

 

[Intorpecido]

Best friends in these games are complicated, comic relief that isn't funny, I'm trying to find one, loser best friends that were supposed to be funny but only force the MC to go down strange paths, selling naked pictures of girls, filming the MC's wife and others are the most annoying, this and willing cuckolds are the only ones who get the girl with pleasure.

But the problem with best friends is that they are always poorly constructed and their world ends up being too small, But it would be cool to have a friend who has a girlfriend or girlfriends who are not there to hit on the MC and who could go on a double date.

What makes a friend strange is not drawing a clear line between his girls and the MC's girls, it would even be interesting to hit on and get dumped by a friend's girl.

And another thing is that not every girl needs to be a LI, they can just be sluts who have quick sex and are good for filling a hole and would like to share it with a friend, or the girl can just be a friends with benefits, just friends or acquaintances.

 

[AlBetGam]

Now, playing devil’s advocate, sometimes you are friends with a guy you get along with, but he’s not a good boyfriend. In RL you might not be willing (or able) to break the bro code and steal his girl, but these are games! Or, maybe he is a great, doting boyfriend… but you’re an irredeemable asshole who’s more than happy to hang his buddies girl. It’s all fantasy, so much like any other kink or activity, let’s make sure there’s a flavor everyone enjoys as an option!

To be honest I'm fine with both of those. I don't mind playing a jerk as much as I mind it when the universe bends itself into pretzels so I'm not a jerk.

I actually kinda liked the thread in Lost in You that OP mentioned (more than most of the rest of the game actually).

 

[setzer]

Chad from Lewd Town Adventures stands out.

 

[duckydoodoo]

nope. too often the best friend is obnoxious in a way that only people who self identify as a prepubescent boy would think is funny. and when they have a got gf either MC cant cuck them or you dont want MC to cause you know where she has been. like donny from last challenge, i cant stand the guy, and i dont want any scene with anything he has touched, and why the fuck is he constantly swinging his dick at MC. male buddies should only exist in VNs so MC can cuck them banding their moms sisters and gf, like life in santa county, not only did i have MC impregnate his buddies mom, but left him in the closet when the crazy girl kidnapped him, so MC could dick her down like she needed. away from home MCs cousin, buahaha thats great.

 

[Azraelith]

Every man needs a bro.

 

[JulianK]

I'm for having male friends and characters in the game if they are well written. I think that they should be able to have their own girlfriend (or even multiple girlfriends - if it's good enough for us, why not for them too) that the MC doesn't get involved with. It makes the world seem more alive and real if it isn't solely revolving around the MC. I always find it odd when everyone else in the world is a woman that the MC will eventually add to their harem.

Also, on the topic of the gay best friend, why stop at him just being gay and having a boyfriend. Why not have him have an ever growing harem of men the same way the MC has an ever growing harem of women. The MC can be getting all these women because his BFF is stealing all the men.

 

[gestved]

usually it's pretty hard to justify having a best friend while also building a harem while keeping all girls to yourself and probably using that friend to build the harem even more. Usually friends are used just as a plot device to bail the MC out of some situation. If it doesn't add to the plot in any way and it won't be used in h-scenes, why add it at all?

 

[angband]

I'm for having male friends and characters in the game if they are well written. I think that they should be able to have their own girlfriend (or even multiple girlfriends - if it's good enough for us, why not for them too) that the MC doesn't get involved with. It makes the world seem more alive and real if it isn't solely revolving around the MC. I always find it odd when everyone else in the world is a woman that the MC will eventually add to their harem.

I agree that giving your friend a girlfriend makes the world seem more real, and in fact part of my original point was that it feels bad to be almost rubbing it in your friend's face as you get girl after girl and he is basically a third wheel (I've been a third wheel before and I know it sucks). But it does bring a few problems: one being, it adds to the dev's work rendering additional characters & dialogue and possibly fleshing out a backstory that you the player never interact with; and another being that the dev has to either intentionally make her somewhat plain and uninteresting or risk frustration from players that an attractive character isn't available as a LI.

One way to avoid the problem would be to use featureless shadow rendering like what is typically used for background characters not involved in the plot, although this might seem insulting to your friend's character. Another way that I like a lot is to make it a running gag that you never actually see her face, either obscured by scenery (Austin Powers style), or like Maris on Frasier where she never actually appears on screen, maybe with increasingly ridiculous reasons why she can't make it to wherever you are. Your character could have internal monologues about how gorgeous she is, and that he would be jealous if he didn't have a harem of his own, that would be humorous because of the player's inability to see her.

Also, on the topic of the gay best friend, why stop at him just being gay and having a boyfriend. Why not have him have an ever growing harem of men the same way the MC has an ever growing harem of women. The MC can be getting all these women because his BFF is stealing all the men.

I love this idea. You could even have a competitive undertone to it, where you try to see whose harem gets bigger. Maybe every time you add to your harem, it triggers the introduction of the next character in his, and the MC could always be annoyed that every time he thinks he is up on his friend, he finds out that he's not.

 

[Deleted member 112230]

I'm not against. But they use to be very awkwardly written. Being a Dick is the goat on making great male buddies.

 

[xatfx]

I don't care

 

[MercurioC]

Depend on how the character is written. If the best friend actually adds something to the story — like emotional support, humor, or helping move the plot forward — then he can be a great addition. But if he turns into a constant obstacle, gets overly involved in every decision, or just exists to drag things out, then he becomes more of a nuisance than a valuable character. In short, it works as long as the best friend doesn’t become dead weight or annoy the player more than he helps.

 

[Karamchad]

As always, it depends on the writing and the role of the friend.
Action centered games always need a brother-in-arms, because women can not fit properly on that role.