Being that I'm working on Shield High just about every day, I obviously spend a lot of time thinking about porn games. I also spend a lot of time thinking about the world at large, politics and all that jazz. As I regularly mention, I'm writing a series of (rather unsuccessful) books on Amazon, and being that I've been thinking about politics, I've been weaving some of that into the themes of the books. Not a lot, not enough to make a statement on anything, but I have been trying to explore some ideas, a thing I haven't ever really done before with my writing.
And so the combination of these two factors has me wondering. Can a porn game be more than just a porn game? Obviously games as a whole have faced a similar question before, in the whole debate over if video games were art. Obviously, the conclusion that has been more or less settled on is yes, they are art. And a lot of that comes down to the fact that they can be more than just a game. They can tell a story, share an idea, make you feel something, or question a concept you never heard before.
But can porn games? It's a question I honestly can't answer. Porn games aren't like any other genre of games. Any other game really only needs to meet the criteria "Is it fun" to succeed. Others set secondary goals on that art front, but at the end of the day if they fail them, so long as the game is fun, people will probably still like it. Porn games however, have a different path to success. Before asking if it's fun, first you need to work out if it's hot. Does this game succeed at being porn? If yes, does it succeed at being fun? That dilemma is a whole other musing for another time, so I won't go into it in detail now, but it's a difficult act to balance.
What I think the question ultimately boils down to is, can a message co-exist with porn? Or does the porn cheapen the message? And this isn't just in the same scene. Obviously trying to share some form of political message while Jessica goes down on someone isn't likely to work out. Shy of characters who are a bit silly (I have a vague desire to have a girl who gets off on having "Taxation is theft" whispered in her ear during sex) it can't really work. And on those silly characters, it's really just making fun of something which happens to be political, more than anything else. But in the game as a whole, does having moments that get serious, well before, or after, the sex, and talk about something important. Does that work? Or would that just rob the game of some of it's sex appeal?
I'm certain it would impact the game's sex in some way, but I can't exactly work out how. On the one hand, maybe it would detract from it, maybe it would distract you from it, or disturb your mood. But maybe it would make it better. In my experience the sexiest things are the ones you really care about. To use an example from Fenoxo's latest game, TiTS, I don't care about 90% of the sex. But I swear to god when I get the chance to fuck my cousin, I'm going to jump all over it. Because that's something I'm actually invested in. And maybe, by exploring ideas beyond just sex, maybe it will make people more invested in the characters, and thus the porn.
I don't know, I don't have an answer. I'm probably going to wind up experimenting with this down the track in Shield High. Make the dialogue you can have with most characters properly deep, and give them something a bit more serious to talk about. On reflection, I realize some already were a bit serious, so perhaps it won't go too bad. Who knows? If it does, I'll replace it with something light and silly by the end release.
I hope it was at least a bit interesting.
Pudding Earl
And now to tack on a quick bit of news. I broke Shield High. I have since fixed it. There's now an extra menu to navigate on the interact button. I'm going to have to fix it to go green when you have a non-class interaction around. Almost all the interactions are for progressing through the game, but the changing rooms have the option to get changed or shower. Showering is getting a proper scene since it's been on my mind, and I kind of want to add *something* of content to this update. I'll be adding more options for interacting as the game goes on. After this, I think it'll be house keeping, and making sure that events are in place for next month's update, so I can cram in more content, and then if I have time after, preparing more stuff for the next month. That would be a nice change, being ready well in advance.
I'll toss some ideas out there.
ReplyDeleteI'd go by some of the basic rules of game making (and film). Look at mechanics and ask 'does it service my goals'.
Having a bar maid job mechanic serves a porn game by having potential encounters happening, or the PC changing over time doing the job.
Having a grind fest of killing monsters (talking about you RPG games heh) with no porn content will be taken as padding gametime.
For messages, is the message related? Sure you can talk about sexual power, exploitation, kinks etc. in porn (you almost can't avoid it). But no I don't think you can inject politics, as it's outside of the theme and dangerious anyway (hey it's politics).
That type of injection will be as welcome as the romance part of Pearl Harbour heh. But Pearl Harbour was open to discussion thoughts on war, or even history of Pearl, as opposed to just war action.
And I guess there's the idea of.
DeleteAre you making a porn story that's a game.
Or a game with some porn in it.
One you could have a whole story idea of a PCs year in life (or school heh) set out. With her loss or triumph. Just have to work out how to give the player choices for her path, or more random game mechanics that might make the PC win or lose depending on the player skill.
Or for the other, you take the RPG maker games and remove the monsters and put women in instead. And after each win you screw them. Search around for 40 picture sets, and you're done. Quick, easy and oh so common with 3d animation software now.
Oh yeah, that's a whole other musing one day, which essentially boils down to "plz stop ruining the potential of this wonderful thing". I genuinely think porn games have so much room to grow if there's a bit more professionalism in the scene.
DeleteAs for the politics point, I think it can be done, so long as it's subtle, takes a back seat, and most importantly isn't a commentary on proper current events. A message condemning or praising Trump for instance would be horrendously out of place. However, an exploration of the idea of haves and have nots, the powerful elite vs the poor masses could certainly work, if only because looking over Shield High I've kind of already accidentally weaved that theme in a bit with the whole, third years vs first years thing.
Still tricky, although I don't know how it would effect folks in a game, maybe differently as opposed to a direct conversation. But with all the passions and ignorance out there, I'd think best avoided.
DeleteLike even basic discussions on say universal health care. That can instantly come back as 'what are you, communist'.
Because the rhetoric and knowledge is so bad, it's just one line knee jerk reactions... and the folks don't even know the difference between basic terms.
Even the have and have nots have been through the media, with any talk of touching the haves covered with the catch phrase 'can't touch the job creators'. Or talk of workers going for a better deal it's unions = communism.
A bit like the Trump election, it's mostly down to one line rhetoric which just inspires a snap back. Fits with the attention span and the everyday knowledge of the reality TV mass market.
My rant in :). But yeah one thing maybe have a power setup in place (3rd vs 1st grades) just like rich vs poor, danger is if you put viewpoints in (judgements). You always need some setting after all.
BTW, if you're interested. Oliver Stone 'untold history of the US' is amazing. It's just a compact dump of history (lots backed up with original film footage), but of history you didn't know. Makes a big difference how you view the old empire builders of the day, and todays.
Damn man, you're being way too level for me to think of a clear knee-jerk accusation to make. :P But yeah, I get what you mean about it.
DeleteObviously avoiding judgement is the key in really putting a message into any form of thing meant to be enjoyed. The goal isn't to preach so much as explore and entertain, look over the situation from both sides. Really, the sign of success is if no one ever notices it until they have to write an english paper on it.
Alternately you could go full modern arts, and include a message that's deep and meaningful that everyone has already worked out for themselves and concluded isn't really a problem.
And I may well check that out sometime, if I have the time and patience for such a thing. Or more accurately, if I find myself bored and remember it exists.
I agree with Tonto's comments. If you want to tell a complex story or send an important message, there's no rule saying it can't happen through porn... the ratings line doesn't mean anything unless you tell yourself there's a distinction. But it definitely helps to take a good look at the medium and its potential.
DeleteNow, is it easier to sell about anything with smut? Abso-friggin-lutely. But that doesn't have to cheapen the value of it. Especially if you embrace why it sells easier... it's because, whatever our political or social or even sexual interests, we're all in the same boat when it comes to our want to accept our baser instincts. Though despite that being the core of why we're drawn to porn, that's actually a criminally unexplored subject in porn games!
Sex is, as they say, a powerful tool. It can be used as well as anything to engage and connect with your audience's emotions... Ladykiller in a Bind, if you've played it, is a fantastic example of how to pull something like that off. It works well because the sex is neither thoughtless banging or shelved into its own little corner away from the rest of the story...sex IS the story. It's a game that forces the player to wonder about their impulses, to see what happens when they embrace or shy away from them...far from realistic, but it's still those kind of themes that more porn games ought to explore.
Heh, yeah that's the thing with many people. You just try and start to explore... but the mention of anything that's not their binary belief it's shut down. Not even why it MAY be better (not preaching), just any point about it, is shut down as everyone knows it's ALL bad (no discussion warrented). But maybe that's just me from living beside the last Western country without it. Couple of topics that you just can't start a conversation with most of the folks.
ReplyDeleteBut good luck if you try. Not sure how you'll do politics/economics with schoolgirls... better to just have one mention how she knows there is no God ;).
The show has multiple episodes on topics. From WW 1 to present. Some special topics like the Bomb, and why really it was dropped (and that's so F.ed up)
Edit: need a edit function, so just copied and edited the parts before deleting orig. :).
>Implying I'll intentionally do politics with schoolgirls.
Delete>Implying schoolgirls isn't just phase one in my master plan.
Nah, I don't have any big plans for Shield High. I mean, I might explore some ideas with a few characters, but overall I'll stick to the overall plan I've got right now. This was more pondering for the future. If Patreon goes well enough that this is an actual viable sort of career for me, I intend to move on to other games, where I might actually have proper messages and themes and shit to go into between all the porn.