I'm pretty sure it's been decided that we can't trope particular options in games as if they were a story. So no "Kick Chick: a female PC who uses only kick-based martial arts". They can apply to Let's Play of those games (though the when Let's Play are tropable is a whole other can of worms).
Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
I have literally never heard of that rule before. I think you're oversimplifying the discussion on how to trope Player Characters on character sheets.
I think that if there's a canon love interest, it could apply. Otherwise, no.
Yeah obviously if there's a canon option, I'm not counting that as a problem.
I mean RP Gs where there isn't a canon options, all options are valid.
so in other words your issue is, say, an example like "Player Character has a choice between his childhood best friend or the new transfer student, and if you choose the childhood best friend then First Girl Wins"? i can see how that would be a problem unless the childhood best friend option was the canon ending.
If all options are valid, then listing First Girl Wins and/or Last Girl Wins is kind of meaningless, because won't every single one of those games feature both? (i.e. if you decide to romance the Love Interest introduced first, it's First Girl Wins, and it's Last Girl Wins if you pick the one introduced last) It's unlikely that a game with romance choices would introduce all the romantic options together, after all.
Edited by Adept on Nov 17th 2024 at 10:07:32 PM
Like, in regular media, the first girl tends to win either because she's been on screen the longest, or she's the one who knows the protagonist the most, and the longest.
Meanwhile the Last Girl wins usually happens because she's either more memorable, or coincides with The Call To Adventure so her arrival in the story is more notable.
This is why those are observable trend in media. In a video game where the player has several romance options, those are not necessarily factors, because the players own preferences dictate who they will romance (if anyone). And again, there's also the elephant in the room is when a game has gay options.
What made me write the OP is someone put Last Girl Wins on Bellara in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. On Paper, yes Bellara is the last female companion you meet. In practice, she's the first companion you meet after the prologue, because the only other two female companions you meet before her are part of the Prologue! There's a full 4 other Companions who are all romance Options who join the party after Bellara. 3 are Dudes and one is non-binary.
Edited by Ghilz on Nov 17th 2024 at 11:51:51 AM
It's definitely shoehorn if there are other love interests introduced later. Despite the name, First Girl Wins and Last Girl Wins are not gender-restricted.
Although when it comes to chronology, First Girl Wins has a rather flexible definition of "first" that's unrelated to video game playthroughs.
Is she the first one to appear on-screen? The first to interact with the protagonist? The first one the main character knew (usually before the story starts) even if they only enter the story and introduced to the audience later on?
Last Girl Wins has a similar issue. For instance, Akane from Ranma ½ is listed as both Last Girl Wins (because she's the last love interest whom Ranma meets) and First Girl Wins (because she's the first one the audience get to know)

Last Girl Wins and First Girl Wins are about trend in story telling, that either the first girl, or the last girl is favored as the confirmed romance option in romantic works.
Yet I see this trope applied often to videogame with Romance choices. And I keep wondering, does this apply? There's no "trend" there. The player can pick either, or none. To say nothing of games which have Gay Options where the trope will be shoehorned in for the female love interests but not the male ones.
This feels like this doesn't fit, if its up to the player's choice, there's no trend.
In a videogame, by virtue of how linear time works, someone will be the first, someone will be the last. Without the element of a trend or one being the confirmed winner, it's just chairs.
Edited by Ghilz on Nov 15th 2024 at 12:26:41 PM