Wanting to wonder and building up hype are two very different things that I think you're conflating. Sure, he wants you to wonder who she is, but that whole scene is just a very small part of only one path. There's very little hype around it beyond what you yourself put on it.It's not the biggest mystery in the episode by a long shot and its definitely not a part that was highlighted by DPC. It's just a girl who wanted to be mysterious and have no strings attached in her Halloween costume. Why can't it be just that? It's cool to theorize about what it could be, but if you go into next episode expecting it to be anything but an easter egg, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Like, damn the pregnancy thing was hyped way harder last season and it just turned out to be Arieth, probably the least important girl in the HOTs.
Can we both just agree that we've already talked way more about "mystery girl" than the subject warrants and leave it at that? All I was trying to say was that it would be more narratively satisfying for this to be setting up something new, as opposed to shoe-horning in some minor character for a one-off. At this point though I honestly just don't care anymore.
I imagine possibly because allowing minor infractions leave some possibility to get out of trouble, while it'd be basically no excuse for more serious actions, and then you'd have players up in arms why they're allowed to sabotage their game with no warning how serious consequences they'd face, and why the game forces them to take such self-defeating actions if they want to see associated scenes.
As you pointed out, though, there's a significant difference between grabbing someone's butt and getting a blowjob. One you might be able to talk your way out of, but the other? I think common sense would be all the warning of potential consequences the player would need. Also, the game wouldn't force them into the actions to see those scenes, because not being in a relationship at all is a path unto itself, one where you can currently see all such content without the consequences.
The variable is completely hidden from the player so that's not an option. And i really don't see why it's so supposedly puzzling to you that the MC is allowed to perform minor infidelities but not serious one. As you note yourself there's clear difference between these two types of actions, you don't need to be shown any variable to figure it out.
The variable already exists in the game right now. And has different values for different actions, and is hidden from the player. Not only is it an option, it's already in place... it simply isn't applied as broadly as it could be. Also, as you say, "there's a clear difference between these two types of actions, you don't need to be shown any variable to figure it out", so whether you see it or not doesn't matter.
You might as well ask why the MC is allowed to punch people in the face but not smash their skulls open. The answer should be just as obvious.
Last I checked, there are no options anywhere in this game to smash anyone's skull open. There are, however, options to cheat on your girlfriend, it's just that some are inexplicably walled off under certain circumstances. So no, those two things are not equivalent.
MC knows Vinnie is a former DIK with much clout and he's likely heard quite a few stories from the other DIKs about him during his fraternity days. He knows the sort of person he's dealing with. Oscar *isn't* an amateur fighter nor is he a former DIK with much clout and stories surrounding him. They aren't the same sort of people, so am not sure why you say that treating them differently doesn't make sense.
We don't know that they aren't the same sort of people, because we know next to nothing about Vinny and literally nothing about Oscar. The amateur fighter hypothetical was meant to show precisely that.
Thankfully it doesn't matter, because none of this has anything to do with my point, which is simply this: we have a game that allows you to do self-destructive things (like fighting or cheating), but only sometimes and in some ways, and is not always consistent in terms of the hierarchy of said events. I am of the opinion that, given that this content already exists in the game, that the game already tracks how your actions impact other people, and that the game going forward is supposedly about how your actions will impact your relationships with those people, that a more open approach to player choice would make for deeper and more interesting gameplay. If you put behaviors in the game as choices, I don't see the value in walling the player off from certain choices merely because they are negative, in a game about the ramifications of one's choices.
If you don't have a problem with that, or don't see it the way I do, that's totally fine. I'm not in the business of trying to talk people into enjoying something LESS... I'm just not that big an asshole. I'm merely sharing my personal opinion on how the mechanics of the game seem to be evolving.