How big of a harem is too big?

[Fewmp]

Harems are pretty popular, but what is the right number of girls in a harem? Can it be too big? I think harems are too big when it feels like you have to choose between girls in the harem, or you only ever see a girl when you're having sex with her. I personally like WVM but I feel like it may be pushing that limit. How big is too big for you, and have you ever lost interest in a game because the harem got too big?

Anything more than six. Any more than that is just mentally exhausting!

 

[luciddream]

It depends on how well written the harem members are. It's okay to have different models but I also like that each girl is different in personality as well. But like most it's hard to keep track if it's more than 10. but it can be done.

 

[BoneyM]

Harems are pretty popular, but what is the right number of girls in a harem? Can it be too big? I think harems are too big when it feels like you have to choose between girls in the harem, or you only ever see a girl when you're having sex with her. I personally like WVM but I feel like it may be pushing that limit. How big is too big for you, and have you ever lost interest in a game because the harem got too big?

Since you mentioned WVM...

I think the only time a harem feels to big for me is if, rather than having at least some sort of attempt at a story with a vaguely semi-realistic reason why these women even want to be with the MC, let alone share him with others, it's just that he's got some sort of super-great personality that immediately rewrites all women in the vicinity into polyamorous-but-just-for-MC robots.

Which is why I stopped playing WVM, and a few other similar harem games like From The Eclipse. Also got tired of the repeated crises where oh my god someone is out to get MC! But it's immediately resolved because he's such a good guy that someone new comes out of the woodwork to save him and then, if a woman, join his harem.

... I am cool with it in games that play it for laughs though. Like Solvalley School, where I believe the story is that the MC literally has a magic dick. Well, fair enough

 

[BoinkBanana]

Just piling on.
I am also in the 3-5 range. I would rather have less and have good characters and stories.
The thing I am looking for is the whole experience in a VN. I want all the context and gives meaning and flavor to the relationship that is built.
That is also why a short relationship can be just fine - a quality side-story that leaves a last impression is great.

For me if it is just about completely random sexual interaction I think it would be just as simple just looking up some real porn. Much bigger market and less time to produce.

But I also see a lot of people here have higher numbers than me, so perhaps I am not as "wild" as I think I am

 

[tayloranderson]

Games like WVM and 23 sisters are just too much to keep up with and difficult to follow. Also, accomodating for so many female interests becomes unrealistic. However, the approach of Back 2 School is okay because the storyline happens in stages.

 

[JadedSkywalker]

For me its more about what the creator can handle because personally i'd be King Solomon if i was allowed.

 

[Knoxin4]

It'll have to be over 15 members. Big enough for a small party.

 

[gestved]

when you have a game that have more than 5 characters with no development whatsoever and no scenes, and you keep introducing more characters, you are going too far

unless it's like waifu academy or headmaster when you get introduced to a full classroom of characters, if you stick with those then fine.

You should have core characters either way, but sometimes a good side dish is great

 

[Peter9999]

I think 5-7 is around my limit.

Games that go overboard with the harem (10+) become boring due to lack of character development, lack of focus on specific characters I like, or just fizzle out as there's just too much to do.

Agree

 

[1eyed1]

I advocate for the Inner and outer harem system. Keep 2-3 inner harem members that get majority of the focus and time spent on them. Then you can have a much greater number of outer harem members that you don't need to worry about fleshing out so much.

It lets you have as many harem members as you want and have a greater diversity but also keeps the main ones from becoming cardboard cutouts like most of the outer harem members will be.

 

[SithLord]

As far as story goes? i'd say 4 or 5 is the limit.
As far as sex is concerned? The only limit is the max amount of characters that can fit.

I agree with you, I feel like whenever there's more than 8 romance options, there's barely any character development for the characters

 

[LaVale]

For me the ideal proportion would be the landlady, your two roommates, your landlady's sister and her daughter, the common thing, after that it is only added for the story

Do not criticize me for the names of the characters, I only comply with the rules of Patreon and its derivatives

 

[Waffles]

Harems become too big when the characters start feeling like bland copies of others with a stereotypical personality.

 

[Neurasiatic]

The size is only capped by the developer's ability to create distinctly interesting characters and develop them consistently in updates. For some devs this is 20 characters, for others 3.

 

[clebann]

Basically if I cannot spend time with them all without it becoming a job, there are too many. 4-5 is a good limit.

 

[hentai_acounts]

no such thing as too big

 

[Maggy]

when you start forgetting the names of girls in it

You are right.

 

[Gazz]

When I can no longer keep track of who's who. This is largely going to depend on how the story is written, but probably has an absolute maximum somewhere around 10-15 girls. Generally I'd say about 4-6 is a good size though.

Also when the MC is having sex literally all day to satisfy all his girls. Funatic's branch of The Gamer on CHYOA is one of the latter cases. If your harem is so big you need a blowjob schedule so you can spend time with everyone in the harem while also getting other important things done, it's time to scale back.

 

[Shiva]

As many have said a good range is 5-7. If updates occur on a good timeline and are relatively large 1-2 more can work (this would probably require more than a single Dev).

Having said that there IS an exception. Should the game development continue long enough, then more can be added over time (if the story doesn't suffer). 'Straitened Times' is a good(ish) example. With the how long it's been in development more ladies have been added and a sense of balance HAS been achieved. While the wait for a particular lady to get content may take a few updates, the short(ish)wait between updates and quantity of ladies does make it work.

So, 5-7 to start, with more added SLOWLY so as to NOT cause issues with the story/fun if the game is large enough. My personal thought is that the 'Original' group should be the main focus, with a few able to be added (but getting content over a longer time). I guess the MAIN issue is that development NEEDS to be balanced for content and time between updates.

Just a thought.

 

[Spring]

I'm also in the 10 or less category.
Over that and it becomes too hard to keep a track of individual storylines and characters blur into one another.