So, after reading certain stories, I have noticed a tendency for it to devolve into a harem, where the only reason to use RGRE is to have the main character surrounded by eager mares to jump into their beds.

There are exceptions to that of course, some stories are well written like:

"Oh to be Old Again", Link
"The Anomaly in a Mare's World" Link

And such. Now, I think RGRE is hard to write, fun to read, especially, if you want to make it right. However, writing a story that blends both RGRE and the plot is not as easy as it seems. If anything, exploring these concepts seems fine at the beginning, until you realize you pretty much have to add "Alt.Universe" tag, as it doesn't make sense in canon Equestria.

I think it's a fertile ground to explore stories that feature 'manly men' by our standards to RGRE Equestria. I am talking characters that would be rightfully annoyed to be delegated to a househusband from series such as: Halo, Fallout, Mad Max, Batman, etc. Basically any series with a competent male lead by our world standard.

However, how much RGRE is too much, before it devolves into a harem wannabe? For example, let's say Courier 6 from Fallout NV arrives in Equestria. I can see it turn out two ways:

a) Male Courier with plethora of skills gathers a harem on his own, without RGRE being needed, as they are simply that attractive. Think how alicorns have to be attractive to pretty much everypony in Equestria. Hell, you can even include some elements from RGRE like herds, etc.

b) Male Courier arrives in RGRE Equestria, kicks butt, acts as janefilly and still gathers a harem, because he is so different than the stalions of RGRE.

At this point, it seems adding RGRE only serves to make the character seem desirable or to give them a harem. It could be done right, not arguing against that. However, without clear plan and premise, maybe it's better to just avoid RGRE tag and just write harem in the description? Just my thoughts on the subject.

I'm not a harem fan but I like RGRE as a neat little "How do I navigate this as a guy?". It's not easy to pull off though, they usually devolve into wish fulfilment.

Basic wish fulfillment fics are unfortunately unavoidable when a genre becomes popular enough to become subject to Sturgeon's Law. Someone who wants to make a harem fic sees RGRE has "harems" as a normal part of pony society, so they make their fic RGRE without considering the subtle aspects of the genre or considering how a relationship with multiple partners works. Basic bitch harem fics often have the women only 'together' because they care about the man and often have no feelings for one another, while well written RGRE fics often consider the relationship between the mares of the herd.

I think the main problem is that most that use the RGRE setting/theme are just not very creative when they go about useing it, there just putting 50s era men in the mares place and expecting a story to for around it. RGRE is not a theme that can stand up on its own it needs to be apart of a bigger story to make it work. That when it is in a story it's just kinda there, no explation or anything, and how would it affect there society in other ways then ooo look at all the wifes the dudes get. we can do a lot with this and I'm sad its been so limited.

Example: mares out number stallions 2:1 not a bad split like some story's, how would this effect the society, i think it would be that stallions are a under class of hard labor but are a desired class to have, there strong, durable, reliable if trained, and are a uncommon resource, there be stallions that are just for studding, some that are for hard labor and if the country is risky earth ponies might make great shock troops, and we don't even need to emasculate them.

No, that's fair. And it's something too many writers miss.
If the society culture, which would be based on biology for, if not more than, then at least half the reason for the reverse gender roles to occur, then one of the primary reasons that 'MC Harems' shouldn't happen for the most part, even in universes where the gender-ratio is severely out of whack, is that it would be a total turn off for a large majority of the female public the MC should deal with.

That said, this then means that a male MC could pretty regularly get a consistent male-harem (but that isn't what is typically seen in these stories).

7841697
Rarity's Colt is a great example of RGRE.
When I started the series it was just an experiment but it's grown to show it's not about harems but about emotional bonding and support as well as protection and love.
Sure a lot of girls want him, but they respect his NO and they let their actions dictate their place in his life.

I really do like the RGRE worlds. "The Long and Short of It" is the Spotlight for it and I love every single moment for that story. But I wonder if people have read "To Love A Pony" or "Xenophilia." Another really good one is "Boundry Point," or "All's Fair in Love and War." Even stories like: "Follows a Little Spark" or "This is Farewell!", these stories are all so more surreal, and there are different websites that will explore RGRE. I have seen many areas, and have seen the bascially a dead fic, but (this is "To Love a Pony") it's basically a good story that I wish somebody adopted and finished for the sake of the story. Not everything is perfect, but I can expect the whole Heram Story montage because it's an easier media to follow. All in all, I love the alien folklore between Earth and Equus/Faust. I can see quite the interesting culture exchange when seeing fantasy or science fiction. If you don't like it, that the blessing of the internet. If your a pony and you feel exploited... ya sorry. And... not sorry.

7841711

Wouldn’t that be just RG or just RE? With Stalions staying manly, while still being scarce.

I like the idea of it, but can it be classified as RGRE? Honest question. It seems easier to work with than reversing everything.

Let’s assume we do that. How does it differ from standard Equestria? Shining Armour and such would still exist. There would be more females in male oriented Jobs. Think how men act when nice looking girl joins the group/job, but reverse the gender and apply the same here.

I can definitely see mares being protective of their stallions, but I don’t see stallions devolving into a role of househusband and foal sitter, especially if they are stronger physically.

Truth to be told, it sounds a bit like Xenophilia, which was fairly light on RGRE (it was mostly clop)

Hey! I'm glad my story is being used as an example of a well written story.

While I like RGRE as a genre, I think there's still potential. There are many stories that are wonderful out there. A bit hard to find, but they are out there.

Here are links to all the stories mentioned in this thread so far
Rarity's Colt
The Long and Short of It
To Love A Pony
Xenophilia
Boundary Point
All's Fair In Love and War
Follows A Little Spark
This Is Farewell!

Additionally, I think that there are many other stories on the website that utilize RGRE elements, but it is more of a bullet point in the story and not the major focus. One example is Twisted Fate. There is a small part of that story that said, "'Tis only proper. After all, a mare should be willing to defend her stallion." However, the rest of the story was filled with general worldbuilding. If anyone wants to read that story, be aware that there is a bit of clop in the beginning, but it trails off to nearly nothing in the second half and even during the clop, there are some very good storybuilding elements introduced.

7841728
Can I have a link to that story?

7841910
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/448987/raritys-colt

Wholeheartedly agree on the earlier points. It’s often difficult to find stories that don’t just use a harem as a main plot point, especially for the longer stories. I’ve found that it comes down to the creativity and ability of the writer to make it really work. I think a key issue is that a number of writers will struggle with choosing the female focus and just use the Mane 6. Most of the stories that work best either just use one of them or a different character set.

I will recommend Uh-Hmm for their many one shots and would highly recommend looking at some of the greentexts on Ponepaste.org for the rgre tag

7841925
Thanks

7841830
Thanks for the links my friend