Zachary Amaranth said:
Okay, moving on....
Legion said:
It is difficult enough to do anything sexual without accusations of pandering as it is.
But as it is, it almost certainly is pandering. I mean, pandering is pretty much mainstream gaming's raison d'être. I think that's why Jim goes on about the difference in terms of pretense. Because one group of games tries to pretend they're adult and classy while treating sex like a game and another markets with "she kicks real high."
I am not sure how to respond, seeing as I said in the next paragraph:
"Granted in a lot of cases it is"
I am aware that it normally is pandering, but my point is that unless the response is "Don't have any sex scenes at all" I am not seeing any suggestions as to how to make mature sex scenes in games. Somebody mentioned Katawa Shoujo, but that is a visual novel based around relationships, it isn't a game in itself, the relationships
are the game when it comes down to it.
Most games that have the not-so-mature sex scenes are not focusing on the romantic relationships of the characters involved as the main point of the story, so how exactly can sex be shown maturely, and even then without it being accused of pandering?
I can think of many ways to have a relationship between two characters mature, but sex scenes are always going to be unnecessary when it comes down to it, so will always get accusations of being included purely for the sake of it.
Imp Emissary said:
Was kind of talking about this with a friend a bit ago.
I really wish they replaced the sex scenes with something a little more interesting to do. Like say taking them out on dates as a mini quest after you make the relationship "official". Get to know the characters, just for the sake of getting to know them. Instead of getting to know them so you can get into their pants easier.
Then the game gets called a dating simulator and the "You need a girlfriend/boyfriend" comments start. On the Bioware forums a lot of people wanted this for Mass Effect 2 as DLC or in Mass Effect 3. The people against it stated the above as the reason for why it shouldn't. They saw it as perpetuating the lonely nerd stereotype.
ColdinT said:
Huh. According to Jim, the definition of the "Friend Zone" has changed a bit from what I remember.
It is one of those words that has been hijacked by the internet to not mean what it did initially. A little like "entitled". The kind of person Jim is referring to are the kind of guys who think being nice to a girl means she "owes" him sex, then complains when she doesn't. It isn't what the term was originally meant to convey, but thanks to those kinds of guys using it, it is what a lot of people associate with it.