Romantic Interactions and Sexually Explicit Content
Added 2020-10-17 16:47:21 +0000 UTCI'm working on a new romantic interaction with an NPC in Safe Haven and would like your thoughts on how detailed to make this interaction. I realize some players may not want to see explicit or descriptive sexual content, while others may be extremely interested in this style of content. Of course those are the two extremes and most players fit somewhere in between. While I don't normally like to ask questions directly to the player (what some call, "breaking the fourth wall"), I feel inclined to do so in this game. My biggest concern is that it breaks immersion which I strive never to do.
So I thought of checking with my patron this first. How do you think I should approach asking the players the level of content they'd like to read?
For example, the question will be — "What level of content would you like to read in romantic interactions?"
I'm happy to hear other thoughts in the comments.
Comments
Another option would be to ask the reader's age when starting the game, which would provide a way to filter the more explicit content without specifically asking if the reader wants explicit content or not. I'm thinking that 99% of adults that purchase your game would expect (or in my case, want) something for a more mature audience, providing a way to limit the heavier profanity and sexual content would probably be a good idea and would likely help in marketing the game to a larger audience.
Phil Clark
2020-10-26 13:13:12 +0000 UTCThe option to skip explicit content should be there, simply for younger readers. Shooting a zombie's face off with a shotgun is pretty much standard in the games younger teenagers play, but sexual content isn't. Only saying this because, once the game is fully released, I would like my 13 year old son to read it, as he enjoyed ZE1. Nothing to do with being British 😉
Sarah Winters
2020-10-21 22:44:14 +0000 UTCI've actually been wrestling with this question myself for my WIP. I did add an option to turn off or on sexual content accesable via the stats menu, however, that doesn't solve the problem as I still need to decide how graphic the sexual content will be when turned on. On one hand, as I'm new to this, I'd like it to be something I'd feel safe sharing with family, friends, and coworkers...on the other hand I have this really cool stamina mechanic that I originally made for combat that also has other potential uses, etc. etc. Decisions to make. I'll probably go for some sort of middle route between the two extremes, but yeah. Good to know this is something that other CYOA style game writers also have to decide and deal on.
Larry Behrendt
2020-10-19 13:04:05 +0000 UTCThank you for all of the comments!
Jim Dattilo
2020-10-19 01:12:02 +0000 UTCI mean, I GM a Zombie Apocalypse TRPG, and everyone kind of agreed that if we were going to be killing zombies, a little bit of ‘fun’ explicit content was appropriate. I thinks it’s great to have a fade to black option for more sensitive players, but having the fade to black be non-optional is a punishment (from a certain point of view) for players looking for mature content.
Watcher9132
2020-10-18 18:09:29 +0000 UTCI definitely like R rated content but maybe put a fade to black option for those who don't especially if you have more British readers (they tend to get offended over the slightest thing though I am British and I enjoy the explicit scenes).
Emily Smith
2020-10-18 15:35:15 +0000 UTCfor those who don't want to read explicit content but want it kept in the storyline, maybe an option to just hide all explicit content, replace it with an appropriate "and then we did the thing," summary to signal what have you?
irrelevant
2020-10-17 19:15:04 +0000 UTCI think having a pg-13 vs M rating option is totally fine and I dont think it will break immersion IF you do it at the very beginning! Like making it an update on part 1 of ZESH and having it carry through. Would definitely break immersion if it happened in the middle of a scene or something.
Spencer from Earth
2020-10-17 17:42:09 +0000 UTCA lot of games have an option when things are about to get frisky where the characters think in their heads “I want to do this” or “nah let’s just hold hands all night.” It’s always a little heavy-handed, but it’s still technically in-character. I don’t know how coding works, but if possible you could just add a settings choice at the beginning to replace a scene with a fade to black. Just my two cents.
Clayton Drenner
2020-10-17 17:21:45 +0000 UTC
