Can a protagonist that engages in incestuous acts ever be truly likeable?

[Nottravis]

I'm going to stick my neck out and say "yes" but it's very much a "yes...but".

It, in my little opinion, massively depends upon the scenario, the writing and the characterisation and motivations.

The usual run of sibling spying, blackmailing, manipulating, drugging etc that we've seen so many times does not and, I feel, can not make for a likeable character for many of the reasons outlined above, and solid ones they've been too.

But it can be done, and we've had a few examples in this thread. I've even tried to tackle it myself (as much for it being a writing challenge as anything) and I was able to come up with an optional path that made sense and didn't leave me feeling icky at the end of it. Surprisingly it ended up more funny than distasteful. Of course whether others agree with that we'll see in a few releases time.

 

[GuyFreely]

The short answer is yes, they just have to be well written.

I'm being slightly repetitive here, but any character can be likeable. It will be subjective, but there are ways to make a character interesting or charming or endearing even if they are doing terrible things.

Let's step away from incest for a minute, think about torture. Can a torturer be sympathetic? Let's paint the scene. A masked man holds a pair of clippers tightly around the pinky of another man tied to a chair, he asks for the combination to the safe. The wife and children are bound and gagged nearby. Who do you side with here? Without context, you tend to lean toward the man being tied up and tortured. What if the tied up man is a drug lord? What if the masked man's family was killed by the drug lord's goons? What if the formula for a new super cheap, highly addictive drug is in the safe? Who's side are you on now?

Similarly, the context of an incestuous relationship can alter our perception of the MC. If the MC slips drugs to his little sister (or hot cousin) then creeps into her room and assaults her in her sleep, he can come off as unlikable. Let's try another approach. The MC's sister has had a string of terrible boyfriends and she comes home late after her latest break up. The MC wakes up with her on all fours looming over him in his bed, almost falling out of her clothes. "What are you doing? What time is it?" "You're the only one that loves me." Her breath heavy with the smell of alcohol. "Yeah, yeah, I love you, now go sleep it off in your own bed, drunky." "I love you too." She leans down and kisses the MC deeply, her tongue probing his mouth.

As was stated before, the NPC being the aggressor does help. Generally, if the MC is the aggressor, but you want him to be sympathetic, you have to give him some inner turmoil. Which can be frustrating for some people. So he's constantly thinking "I shouldn't do this" then doing it anyway. So it's simpler to just not make him conflicted, to pursue an incestuous relationship whole-heartedly. I mean you can try to romance a sister or mother, but if you want to do it in a realistic(ish) way then it's relationship hard mode. It's slower than a normal relationship, etc.

So yes, it's possible.

 

[Ataios]

A character could also become more likeable by giving him an extremely repulsive enemy. E.g. a son could protect his mother from his abusive father and get closer to her in the process.

There is still another possibility of making a character more likeable. Likeable doesn't necessary mean virtuous or good. Though this archetype has not been common in porn games, the MC could be a kind of cool villain, much like Darth Vader or the Joker. Most evil MCs in porn games are annoying teenage virgins who stumble upon drugs they should not have, so both players and developers may easily overlook the possibility of a more appealing evil character.

 

[GuyFreely]

You can also make the conquests total bitches. When the incest is seen as comeuppance, it at least justifies it more (in a porn logic way). Like maybe the mother/sister treats the MC like shit. You establish that she is just an awful person, then the MC gets some leverage and exploits it. Something along the lines of the Fashion Business bitch route. It doesn't necessarily make the MC more likeable, but maybe more sympathetic.

 

[BobKels0]

This is the conundrum I have. I'm currently in the early stages of a game that ideally will include incest, but I worry that it may be at the expense of a sympathetic, relatable and all in all likeable main character. I ask this because from my experience playing countless incest related games, I don't think I've ever truly rooted for a character after he's say fucked his mother or sister. Do any of you experience this? Or is it something you're truly able to look past?

If you skip the dumb thoughts that I see in 90% of theses VN where the MC thought something like that "OMG look at that mom's big kissable ass" , "who don't want to bang that lil' sis' pussy?!", I have no problem with any taboo content.

Most of the time I don't want to look at what the MC thoughs.


And seeing what others think when you play a first person VN is stupid too "OMG the MC is so hot (noooo?!), I'd like to bang him!". Just play with their facial expression, maybe?

 

[greysaber]

Going to go against the grain here as well and say, Yes. Incest is a sexual act, more common than most like to admit (if the not the act then at least considering it). Sexual acts are not good, bad, moral etc.

Force is, coercion is, blackmail is, and most certainly physical assault (rape) is - bad/immoral (bad for reproductive health and damaging/disliked by society). But if none of those things apply than an incestuous person - is just a person.

Not sure what the OP was pushing for I guess. Like asking if anyone from any sexual preference can be "good" (whatever that means) or liked. Sure they can, by some anyone, if only those that agree with them. Some won't like it, but that is just part of being in society.

 

[Segnbora]

You can also make the conquests total bitches. When the incest is seen as comeuppance, it at least justifies it more (in a porn logic way). Like maybe the mother/sister treats the MC like shit. You establish that she is just an awful person, then the MC gets some leverage and exploits it.

It think that's already pretty common, though; it's the older sister trope, where she typically hates and/or is awful to the MC for reasons rarely made clear. (The younger sister is an MC-adoring virginal-but-horny angel.)

 

[GuyFreely]

It think that's already pretty common, though; it's the older sister trope, where she typically hates and/or is awful to the MC for reasons rarely made clear. (The younger sister is an MC-adoring virginal-but-horny angel.)

Yeah, it's not uncommon to have the stand offish older sister and the adoring younger sister. I'm speaking more of someone who actively makes the MC's life miserable. Like the MC manages to get a cute girl over and while he's in the bathroom the sister tells her that the MC jerks off while watching My Little Pony some some other petty shit. Maybe she smashes the family car and blames it on the MC, the parents believe her and he has to pay to fix it. A list of transgressions she has to pay for ultimately.

 

[Deleted member 710237]

the shy down to earth shota's are the best MC,
they can be extremely cute & relatable,
& can be a challenging target for seductions by both his female family members & the world around him,
--------------
the other's are just blackmailing cunts that spy's on ppl in the shower & takes advantage of them in there sleep[or even going too far to drugs them],
or use a magic plot-device to have there way's with them,
soooo yes they are unlikable

 

[ItsEricBoi]

Im only human after all

 

[ItsEricBoi]

This is the conundrum I have. I'm currently in the early stages of a game that ideally will include incest, but I worry that it may be at the expense of a sympathetic, relatable and all in all likeable main character. I ask this because from my experience playing countless incest related games, I don't think I've ever truly rooted for a character after he's say fucked his mother or sister. Do any of you experience this? Or is it something you're truly able to look past?

In other words...
View attachment 214786

Is she worth becoming despicable for?

Yes²

 

[sdibolcrif]

Without reading the rest of this tread and just responding to the OP question:

Why the hell not?!

No, really. The incest taboo IRL exists for 2 reasons:
1. Carryover from ancient times when birth control and general genetic sciences didn't exist, plus a sort of cultural charades: "huh, apparently ten generations in a row of fucking our cousins is bad"somehow became "a perfectly healthy pair of siblings would 100% create super mutants if they fucked" (in truth, an unrelated couple where the woman is in her mid-late 40s is significantly more prone to birth defects than siblings with no history of inbreeding).
2. Entirely valid concerns about grooming. In an ideal world this wouldn't be a problem, but reality intervenes.

In the context of a porn game though, where consent isn't in question and unscientific assumptions can be ignored? There's literally no harm done - in fact it can, somewhat ironically, allow for entirely wholesome relationships that reality wouldn't.

 

[Goblin Baily: DILF]

This is the conundrum I have. I'm currently in the early stages of a game that ideally will include incest, but I worry that it may be at the expense of a sympathetic, relatable and all in all likeable main character. I ask this because from my experience playing countless incest related games, I don't think I've ever truly rooted for a character after he's say fucked his mother or sister. Do any of you experience this? Or is it something you're truly able to look past?

In other words...
View attachment 214786

Is she worth becoming despicable for?

just a scenario that came to mind seeing this... Immagine the MC was down on his luck, going through hell , havning shit thrown at him (figuarively speaking) and this hot woman was the only being on his side.if you show his struggle with the feelings he feels readers/players will likely have a positive reaction. a nice piece of ass is not enough for the purpose of creating a likeable incestous relationship

 

[Rijin]

Well i guess it is a very difficult question to answer in one way but a very simple one, too, on the other hand.

Many writers just fail to make a good game, with or without the MC being liked or not. This isn't a question of incest in the first place. Of course having an sexual interaction with your family makes it more complicated, cause of the fact, that it has to trigger a moral discussion with the player- and has to find a solution that favors the taken option. Otherwise it isn't a good game but only there to fap.

That said, most games give a fuck instead of plausibility. Like "oh yes, the sister is secretly into the MC anyway and has a total submissive character (never shown before the MC starts to be a creep and rapes her)" and " oh look i mastered hypnosis to a degree where i can do as i like with everyone in just one week" or "superman is a loser, look at me"... i think there are enough games like that out here and those approaches will only the thoughts: "oh one of these again... well i have time to spent on nonsense and i'm bored enough not to care - decent renders at least"

Incest is not one of my fetishes, but i'm really bored all the time so started to play such games, too. And by doing that, i somewhat got "dulled" by the fact, that the game presents such content. i gave up playing a lot of them, to be honest, but never because of hating the dude for fucking his sis... only because of bad writing.

I personally see a huge deficit in games, with no laboratory coincidences or magic (invented drugs/accidental superpowers/pacts with daemons)...
But then again I'm totally into villains, so consent is for me, in games, not necessary to like the MC. What destroys a game, not only the MC, for me, in most games is if he is a creep (as already mentioned by others here). Sneaking around in the night looking for a rapeoption, that, surprisingly often, won't wake the woman/sis/mum/etc. C'mon who likes such a weasel?

I also always wondered, why there is never a second son (who stays male and/or in the same household). Is it because incestuous rape/relations being gay/bi is even "less likable"? But i guess this a discussion for another thread...

So to conclude it: Yes it is possible, because it's depending on the options given in the game and the style in which it is written.