Like a cheesy romance novel, the women in AG3 are almost completely submissive, save for occasional flurries of assertiveness.
Somehow this rings a bell with me on a different tone. At the moment I'm at a writers conference that has a ratio of 80/20 women to men, and merits of the cheesy romance novel are being preached as something to be proud of.
Which leads me to think that perhaps the condemnation of "erotic" games isn't completely justified.
Now, before you think I'm giving a "YAY!" to
eroge, think about it for a moment.
While a large tract of us may condemn
Twilight as the Mormon vampire abstinence pr0n it surely is, how can we when we
will, at some point, feel an attraction to a game character.
Mills and Boon have a series of books that covers upto, and including, some of the 'different' aspects of our sexuality without as much abuse as we fling at flirting games.
The article talks about stalking and hugs to gain "love", but surely a lot of romance novels do almost the same thing.
If someone was to turn
Jane Eyre into a game (No, I don't want to look in case they have), what would you get points for? Coquettish glances towards your eminently handsome suitor? Isn't this parallel to the "hugs"?
What feeds the media frenzy on this subject is the idea that you can create illegal/immoral choices in your love life, rather than if you would ever want to. When writing fiction, I can send my suave, sophisticated computer geek to fall in love with a chinese Wushu expert who has just lost her father to a Thailand Dictator, without condemning myself to a life of ridicule.
People who read "Romeo and Juliet" don't think of two emo kids who suicided because "their families were so whatever!" - they read it for the love story. (Some don't even notice the warring families)
Why should these games be judged on their worst excesses? Because then the positive side, fulfilling fantastical dreams, will never be explored.
(Caveat: In NO way am I saying that playing
eroge leads to great sex, but we all learn through play, and "love" is one of the hardest games to get achievements on.)