I do understand what you're saying but at the same time I'm not calling for "absolute realism". I would be happy with the 'better than your average porn game' realism that existed for the first couple of years or so. Remember it was L&P who set his own bar high & if he didn't always reach up to it, at least there was a sense that it was a real goal & that he was committed to making something good. It was so good that I found that other games just didn't match up & I stopped playing most of them. This was because I was in pursuit of erotica not porn. I've read, seen & heard enough porn to be actually bored by it. Jaded, some would contend but I know I'm not. Rather, I appreciate quality, whether in renders or writing but preferably both.
There has indeed been & will continue to be, far too much analysis of every teaser, outfit & storyline implication. I used to do this myself. If a fly appeared on a wall behind any character there'd be half a dozen theories about it in less time than it took for it to fly away. Part of the reason lies in the amazing amount of interest that AWAM has generated over the years. Interest I believe that wouldn't have occurred with a lesser product. Another part of the reason is the interminable waiting that L&P's working pace entails. This is interest that could have increased L&P's earning power, had he capitalised on it. So, it might suggest that income & creativity are in balance from the Dev's POV, because he has singularly failed to properly exploit AWAM's hard-won popularity.
I've played games with even slower roll-out schedules which don't create a tenth of the discussions & controversy surrounding Sophia & co. If the Dev had been willing &/or capable of sustaining his original production rate, much of it would never have taken place. That's a decision that's down to the Dev. Whether or not he reads the stuff these days, we don't know but he could see it all as a back-handed compliment. You can love or hate AWAM but it's hard to be indifferent to it, once you've played.
Tamaris makes a good point above when he talks about "variables" which can be used to increase the logical progression of multi-faceted story routes. I've played corruption games with these in place & they work. It's still the case, however, that in his wish to continually add characters, branches & kinks, L&P has made his work harder, or maybe not, given the torpid approach of the last couple of years.
So, to attempt to summarise & leaving render quality (never less than good) aside, what we had was a well written piece of semi-realistic 3D erotica, what we've got now is a standard porn game that's too slow & doesn't contain much porn. Somehow, despite this, the interest won't die down.
