1 Year of Service
No plot progression/excessive side stories: Most indie porn games are going to inevitably become abandoned. I go in knowing that and just hope to get as much of a good narrative and characters as I can out of it. However, it is very annoying when a dev just starts spinning the wheel on the plot and either significantly slows down the pace of the narrative or starts doing a bunch of side stories (worse if they are separate games) that don't move the main narrative forward. I'll abandon a game if I feel the plot is starting to go nowhere fast.
Insecurity bleed through: It's annoying when a dev's insecurities bleed through in their writing. Things like the love interests consistently commenting on how they aren't going to cheat on you, even though that wasn't a concern within the narrative.
Too much hypocrisy: I understand that these games are a fantasy so I obviously give leeway to some inconsistencies and ideal situations. However, that only goes so far and hypocrisy is one of my biggest pet peeves IRL. A game that is unnecessarily, constantly drawing attention to a double-standard can greatly annoy me. The most common, of course, is when the MC will regularly shit on the LIs for being whores/sluts/etc. because they have/had relationships outside of that with the MC, when he himself is fucking every hole (sometimes literally) that comes within eyesight. Complaining about unfaithful LIs when the MC is a textbook example of an unfaithful partner really annoys me. Just don't bring attention to it by shitting on the LIs for doing things the MC is more guilty of.
Demon (or other) transformation/possession: This can be done well in a game with choices, in which case I will always take the nicer/good route. The thing that annoys me about this narrative device is that it's usually just an excuse to turn the MC into an aggressive douche bag. If that is the type of MC you want to make, just do that from the start.
Excessively large harem: The obvious issue here is that the more LIs you have, the less time you spend with each of them. Some games will even start off with a large main LI cast (10+) and then continue adding new side, or even main, LIs every update. This always leads to many LIs being forgotten or ignored and if your favorites are the ones that were left behind, it will naturally lower your interest in continuing the game.
Excessive narration/dialog: Show, don't tell. This is something that annoys me with anime as well. These games exist within a visual medium, so you don't need to write a 10-page essay for every sex scene to get the player to understand what is happening in a scene, just show it with visuals. Also, having long dialog sequences that don't move the plot forward and don't really add to character development can exhausting to read. This is very common in games with witty dialog, where it's clear the developer just likes writing jokes. Even if the jokes/gags are good, when the sequences are 30+ minutes long, it can get old fast.
Mind reading: I can sometimes understand that for narrative/storytelling reasons, you detach from the MC to show something that is happening elsewhere, though generally speaking, I prefer that you to know as much as the MC knows. As such, it really annoys me when you get the internal monologue of other characters. A little bit here and there I can deal with, but in some games, you are just constantly in other people's heads, hearing their thoughts. Unless your character actually has mind reading powers, I just really don't like this narrative device, and it goes back to my previous suggestion of show, don't tell.
Insecurity bleed through: It's annoying when a dev's insecurities bleed through in their writing. Things like the love interests consistently commenting on how they aren't going to cheat on you, even though that wasn't a concern within the narrative.
Too much hypocrisy: I understand that these games are a fantasy so I obviously give leeway to some inconsistencies and ideal situations. However, that only goes so far and hypocrisy is one of my biggest pet peeves IRL. A game that is unnecessarily, constantly drawing attention to a double-standard can greatly annoy me. The most common, of course, is when the MC will regularly shit on the LIs for being whores/sluts/etc. because they have/had relationships outside of that with the MC, when he himself is fucking every hole (sometimes literally) that comes within eyesight. Complaining about unfaithful LIs when the MC is a textbook example of an unfaithful partner really annoys me. Just don't bring attention to it by shitting on the LIs for doing things the MC is more guilty of.
Demon (or other) transformation/possession: This can be done well in a game with choices, in which case I will always take the nicer/good route. The thing that annoys me about this narrative device is that it's usually just an excuse to turn the MC into an aggressive douche bag. If that is the type of MC you want to make, just do that from the start.
Excessively large harem: The obvious issue here is that the more LIs you have, the less time you spend with each of them. Some games will even start off with a large main LI cast (10+) and then continue adding new side, or even main, LIs every update. This always leads to many LIs being forgotten or ignored and if your favorites are the ones that were left behind, it will naturally lower your interest in continuing the game.
Excessive narration/dialog: Show, don't tell. This is something that annoys me with anime as well. These games exist within a visual medium, so you don't need to write a 10-page essay for every sex scene to get the player to understand what is happening in a scene, just show it with visuals. Also, having long dialog sequences that don't move the plot forward and don't really add to character development can exhausting to read. This is very common in games with witty dialog, where it's clear the developer just likes writing jokes. Even if the jokes/gags are good, when the sequences are 30+ minutes long, it can get old fast.
Mind reading: I can sometimes understand that for narrative/storytelling reasons, you detach from the MC to show something that is happening elsewhere, though generally speaking, I prefer that you to know as much as the MC knows. As such, it really annoys me when you get the internal monologue of other characters. A little bit here and there I can deal with, but in some games, you are just constantly in other people's heads, hearing their thoughts. Unless your character actually has mind reading powers, I just really don't like this narrative device, and it goes back to my previous suggestion of show, don't tell.
