No, you didn't ramble, clear answers and gave me what I was seeking!
We seem to share quite a few favorites
I don't really get some of the people who are overly dismissive or ready to give up so quickly on stories/characters. I guess I'm in a minority, because I didn't have a problem with Stacy in the beginning really. The only thing that was floating in my mind was that I was expecting her character to be specifically cuckold stuff, based entirely on the MC's thoughts. She also gives off mega high-maintenance vibes, which I guess is a common male fear
But, you've done a really good job "redeeming" her. She's one of my favorites now!
Yeah. I cringe when I see people fighting, I can't stand it. I get a pit in my stomach when I read news stories about rape & sexual assault.. it's always disturbed me to my core.
But people are so much more complicated than that. Yeah, I have darker fantasies. So do a lot of people, too; including women, who have to repeatedly insist that their fantasies do not reflect their true desires. It's perfectly normal it seems. My fantasies sometimes are the very things I hate to see or read about (though, of course, I have plenty of fantasies that never go there). I can't explain why those darker ones occupy my thoughts from time to time. But I do know that the idea of hurting someone for real is so repulsive & disgusting to me. That's the real psychopath test, right? Not about consequences. If consequences, like getting caught and arrested, is the only thing stopping someone, well they're almost definitely just a high functioning psychopath. But if someone sees other people's suffering itself as the reason they don't do it, well that sounds like a perfectly normal and moral person, regardless of their fantasies.
I do understand people who fear this kind of content, though. Because on the surface, you just can't know whether someone is normal w/ dark fantasies, or whether they're that crazy evil mfer they hear about on the news every so often. It's a scary fucking world for sure. But the normal ppl who dip into the darker content far outnumber the real threats by a huge margin. And that should provide substantial comfort, imo.
And yeah, agreed that the insane ones will find any outlet regardless. Though I'm no expert, so I'm willing to be wrong on that front.
I mean, I think I get what you're saying, but it's a wildly insufficient comparison and tbh probably needlessly insulting to all the normal dark path enjoyers. Which I'm sure wasn't your intent. But, one has to make an effort not to read that implication from your comment
Dahmer is clearly incapable of valuing other people as moral agents. He's a cold-blooded psychopath. On the other hand, I imagine most people playing the dark route don't fall into that camp, though those people are clearly out there. Can't be helped, unfortunately. Most of us consume this content like we do other video games that let you do fucked up shit, like murder civilians, destroy buildings, etc. We wouldn't do it in rl, but having a virtual world completely devoid of any real morality or consequences gives a safe space to explore some of those darker thoughts. And it can be a lot of fun, which I know a lot of people don't want to hear. But it's simply true, and it's 100% innocent for most of us.
No need to be rude or confrontational towards someone who themselves is just having a mild discussion/disagreement.