All of the marriageable characters in farming simulator Stardew Valley are "playersexual", meaning they will marry the player regardless of gender.
2018, Alayna Cole, "Categories of representation: Improving the discussion and depiction of diversity", TEXT, October 2018, page 10:
Similarly, the most recent title in Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls series – Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios 2011) – features playersexual romanceable characters, who lack even the minor characterisation attributed to companions in Fallout 4.
But, those games often take on a “playersexual” aspect of having any character be willing to date the player.
2019, Heidi McDonald, "Writing Romance and Sexuality in Games", "The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox", in The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox (ed. Tobias Heussner), page 31:
In some games, the nonplayer characters are of a sexual orientation that's jokingly referred to as “playersexual,” meaning that any NPC can be romanced by any player.
2019, Sam Stockton, "Dating Ga(y)mes: Queer Performance in Farming Simulation Roleplay Games", thesis submitted to the University of Calgary, page 32:
Queering within the context of gift-giving mechanisms looks at creating more nuanced systems whereby NPCs have more agency and the ability to reject the character, and not all romance candidates are inherently playersexual (Cole, 2016).
2020, Alayna Cole & Dakoda Barker, Games as Texts: A Practical Application of Textual Analysis to Games, unnumbered page:
The fact that 65 characters can be interested in a same-sex relationship within Skyrim but only with the player is indicative of the fact that these characters are not bisexual, pansexual, or some other form of plurisexual—they are playersexual.
2020, Alayna Cole & Jessica Zammit, Cooperative Gaming: Diversity in the Games Industry and How to Cultivate Inclusion, page 17:
These playersexual characters outnumber plurisexual characters, with 303 titles listed as featuring playersexual protagonists and 234 including playersexual NPCs.
2020, Alexandra M. Lucas, "Innovative Origins, Playersexuality, & Complex Inquisition: The Evolution of Relationship Mechanics in Dragon Age", in Love and Electronic Affection: A Design Primer (eds. Lindsay D. Grace), page 183:
DA2 provides a notable contrast with both Origins and Inquisition in that all non-DLC romanceable characters are “playersexual”; […]
2020, Vincent Oliveri, "Roles of Structures-in-Use in the Outcomes of Online Political Talk", thesis submitted to the University of Washington, page 82:
However, in Dragon Age 2, the designers made the decision to make many characters “playersexual.”
2021, Christine Tomlinson, "Priority pixels: The social and cultural implications of romance in video games", Information, Communication, & Society, Volume 24 (2021):
For players across the sample, an easy romance is not necessarily the most enticing, despite the common tactic of companies providing playersexual options that respond to any interest expressed by the player and that show little agency.
