discussion How big of a harem is too big?

[GeeVerity]

"It's not a harem unless there's at least 80 women" -Sunsetriders7

 

[ice08999]

i think 15 + is enough but the inside of me tell me i need more

 

[NarutoZzoR]

When you start forgetting names, its too many. Maybe more than 5

 

[Wrazzer]

My heart says there is no limit but practically in games probs 10-15. Depends on execution some games pull off having more.

 

[Djehuty]

No more than 7-8. If I start forgetting names and characters it loses all the appeal. And the glacial pace of each character development doesn't help either.

 

[Finwin]

I would go with the no limit for some games like breeding games but for a story telling I stay under 10

 

[dirty36]

I'm working on my first member of my harem, I'll let you know when I get too many

 

[Thuryspochen]

If there are so many that the dev just gets overworked keeping everything straight in his head, it's too much. This might've been what happened to Bluecat with Ecchi Sensei, but the number of girls he was shooting for was insane. Chyos is doing far better, there aren't TOO too many girls, and he's still spinning up content.

 

[User_111574]

5-6 at most. I'm also interested in the characters, and it's impossible to reveal their depth if the LI count starts to number in the dozens. For this reason, I gave up on Reunion and Grandma's House - the number of LIs there is just absurd.

 

[DubbleU]

I agree with 5-7, being about perfect.

 

[xanxus07]

I would say about 5-7

1 for every day, group fun for the weekends

 

[RobBobSlam10]

Too much is like 9 for me. The biggest is the Kingdom manga dude from his light novel.

 

[JadedSkywalker]

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?

Never too big. But it can be too big for a dev to complete a game, or if they have too many different branching paths in a game. It can also impact the story if the Harem has too many girls, that the main girls get less content or less depth and good quality writing.

 

[lcflex]

Depends on the type of game. If it's a nukige, the sky's the limit. If it's a story-based game that has adult content, then the limit happens when one LI has screen time sacrificed just so a different LI can have screen time. Where exactly that happens depends on the author. A good writer can work with more characters before it feels like one is getting short-shrift. Usually it's between 4 and 8.

 

[Moo?]

It's enough when the entire town has turned into a free use clusterfuck and everywhere you go your shoes have that weird sticky feeling like when you visit that questionable McDonalds or that weird hippie commune full of old people.

I am doing this right?

 

[HandholdDegen]

For harem games I generally use a rule of thumb(s). I prefer if there is an MC and a main love interest (two thumbs), and then as many fingers I have left on my hands that is how many more people can be in the harem. Once the harem involves more than 10 people, then it becomes unmanageable as I will start forgetting names, and the devs will not have the time or energy to give content to all of them nor keep track of all variables of decisions made with them.

 

[ddia]

Well, everyone is talking about not having many girls in the harem for them to have personalities and screen time. I can say that a good writer can accomodate all these points, just like the authors of the manga The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really Love You (however, its not porn). Right now the MC has 30+ girlfriends with different personalities that you can recognize, and all of them has screen time to you not forget.

So, I think it will also be possible to have this in a game, but I say it would be a bigger one, with lot of developers to put this on creation.

 

[sentinel13]

As long as you can keep track of them all, and they all get time to shine imo

 

[User_111306]

Honestly, I prefer no more than about 5. Any more than that and you have to wait a bunch of updates to get around to all the LIs.

 

[Harlequin1229]

I think 4 or 5 would be good, with maybe a few side characters for dessert.