Gato21

Active Member
Oct 16, 2021
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heh.. I'd forgotten about Pong...

Z's origins are for him to reveal (or not).. not for me to say, but Fallout, Stalker and Mad Max are pretty much officially our main sources of inspiration for the game (and a few more cameos of other things here and there)...
It's worth noting that anything fallout and stalker comes from him.. I have never played those games.

I shall leave you to your speculations as to the rest :D
Playing your cards close to your chest. Gotcha. Respect.
 

sortakinda

Newbie
Dec 15, 2020
47
85
This was some good stuff. I loved the trip towards the factory part.

If there is something I'd would complain about, it would be that the green on black wall of text was a complete pain in the ass to read. As in, my eyes were not having a good time at all with that.

Suggestion;
For the future reference, maybe try "amber monochrome"-colors when doing a monochrome-screen, as it's far easier for the eyes due to having less blue light involved.
 

SperryTop

Newbie
Aug 2, 2021
17
32
...[T]here have been a select few [games] that have made me feel in ways I didn't expect I would... Ideally I would like this game to also bring that to a few people...
For some reason I feel like sharing, so I'll delurk for a bit.

So I was playing a game that is relatively well regarded on this site. It wasn't bad, but nevertheless I wasn't too impressed for various reasons, and was about to wrap up my time with it about half way through.

One of the LI, who otherwise wasn't an interesting character, was dealing with deep, hidden pain. The dev put in a scene showing how she dealt with it internally. It was so real and raw that clearly either the dev or someone extremely close to them had wrestled with their pain in this way; it was exactly the same way that I had made it through my darkest times. No other author in any other literature (and I've read quite a bit) had ever represented the hell that I had lived through with that much hope and honesty.

I just sat in front of my computer and bawled for five minutes. And it was a stupid adult VN that brought that out.

So while I haven't reacted to Desert Stalker on that level, I can confidently say that this game is much more than simple smut. I haven't supported it financially yet, but I will sometime. Thank you for bringing it to us.
 

Cynicaladm

Active Member
Oct 21, 2020
679
1,967
This was some good stuff. I loved the trip towards the factory part.

If there is something I'd would complain about, it would be that the green on black wall of text was a complete pain in the ass to read. As in, my eyes were not having a good time at all with that.

Suggestion;
For the future reference, maybe try "amber monochrome"-colors when doing a monochrome-screen, as it's far easier for the eyes due to having less blue light involved.
that device is a callback to the games this game is inspired by, so I doubt ZetanDS will want to change it, even if it makes for more difficult reading.
 
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Cynicaladm

Active Member
Oct 21, 2020
679
1,967
I don't know if I'm mentally ill but I swear there used to be a scene that explains why Ain is wearing a slave collar, that scene doesn't seem to exist anymore in later releases or I can't figure out how to trigger it. At some point she just wears it and it's never explained or commented on.
you are just fine... we somehow took that bit of explanation out of the game... I have no idea when or how.
we put it back in, at the end of Ain's punishment in the basement.
 
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Pr0GamerJohnny

Forum Fanatic
Sep 7, 2022
5,439
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But I realize there are those that self insert, play first person, and they get really wound up as they are more emotionally invested than someone like me. I don't really mind that, to each their own, except when those emotions aren't controlled, other play styles aren't accepted, and the negativity starts. I also realize this place is extremely sexist in general which, given my age and the false assumption of how progressive I thought other areas of the world to be, also really surprised me. (Touched upon by Cynicaladm in a previous post.)
But would you agree that the inverse is a reasonable conclusion - that's to say; if people are getting heavily emotionally invested in these games, they're self-inserting into the MC, and thus my inclusion of their past history with such relationships could be relevant?


I'd wager the vast majority of NTR fans just want to fap to depraved porn without self inserting, and it has nothing to do with personal experiences for them.

And similarly, I'd guess that the majority of anti-NTR people didn't go through some traumatic experience regarding dating. A lot of them tend to self insert so it just feels bad, as expected, when MC gets shit on.
I simply don't buy it. I have absolutely zero evidence or anything of substance to stand on :), so this isn't some harsh indictment, it just seems like there's too much emotional intensity on these ntr rants to excuse it as separate from the real world. People don't really get emotional (positive or negative) about things they can purely compartmentalize from their real life. If you've another theory on why the playerbase reacts to ntr themes with such disproportionate intensity relative to anything else, I'm all ears.
 
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Gato21

Active Member
Oct 16, 2021
926
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But would you agree that the inverse is a reasonable conclusion - that's to say; if people are getting heavily emotionally invested in these games, they're self-inserting into the MC, and thus my inclusion of their past history with such relationships could be relevant?




I simply don't buy it. I have absolutely zero evidence or anything of substance to stand on :), so this isn't some harsh indictment, it just seems like there's too much emotional intensity on these ntr rants to excuse it as separate from the real world. People don't really get emotional (positive or negative) about things they can purely compartmentalize from their real life. If you've another theory on why the playerbase reacts to ntr themes with such disproportionate intensity relative to anything else, I'm all ears.
There was a theory floated by that video I posted towards the end that suggests it's due to a vestigial monkey brain reproductive strategy. Honestly, my takeaway is there hasn't been many studies on this subject and there is no consensus.
 
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Cynicaladm

Active Member
Oct 21, 2020
679
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My best guess, if we want to buy into this argument and want to find a psychological reason...
aside from personal traumatic experiences which really aren't as common as porn movies would want us believe (the majority of cheaters aren't actually caught balls deep in their lovers when they are caught) is that it's simple insecurity, which is a perfectly fine sentiment to have.
Almost anybody is insecure about at least something in their lives... it doesn't help that there are a lot of cultural stigma attached to this particular brand of insecurity and that in recent years people have started to try and compartimentalise behaviours and "types of reactions" assigning it every letter of the Greek alphabet without there being any actual scientific or factual logic to those definitions.
Way too many countries still have this situation where men are brought up to have a stiff upper lip, to not show emotions, to suck it up and deal with it, and that doing anything different is somehow less than manly and thus automatically gay or defining you as a lesser man/person.
A lot of people with deep rooted insecurities buy into those arguments as a way to externalise the issues they deal with and potentially blame something or someone else... so if you feel unattractive, if you're not scoring a girl, if you're simply too young to know better, if you've had bad luck with your relationships or sex life, if you have body image issues or whatever other impediment... A scene where your character is, in your eyes, victimised, breeds insecurity and to defend yourself from it you lash out at anything that might make you feel less than a top dog macho man, because that's what the society you live in tells you you should be.
To me it's a lot of bull... it's perfectly fine to deal with insecurities, it's perfectly fine to have a human reaction to being exposed to them, it's perfectly fine to indulge in a fantasy that doesn't show you as the ubermale, or that in some marginal way exposes an insecurity. Ultimately games are a safe space because it's just you and your computer/phone... and if you feel angry about a thing, or sad, it may become a positive drive for change.

Note I said it's a reason, not a justification... if you take your issues, your traumas or just your simple insecurities and weaponise them to be mean to people you don't know over the internet, people who might deal with similar or worse situations, that's still an active choice you make, an actual investment of your time spent to spreading your crap on the net, and you need to grow up, find a different outlet for your frustrations (maybe counseling?) or just stop being a dick.

In the context of this forum, that would mean maybe not going out of your way to antagonise people because they have different tastes, tastes that confront you with something you don't like. It's doing you nor anybody else any good..
And if you notice that even the remote possibility of NTR content triggers a strong emotional response in you, to the point that you lash out at people... then maybe you need to either count to ten and see if it's worth it, or take a step back from seeking refuge in playing these games and sort your shit out, talk to someone about it.

still rambling
 
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WuzzyFuzzy

Well-Known Member
Jan 23, 2020
1,431
2,903
For some reason I feel like sharing, so I'll delurk for a bit.

So I was playing a game that is relatively well regarded on this site. It wasn't bad, but nevertheless I wasn't too impressed for various reasons, and was about to wrap up my time with it about half way through.

One of the LI, who otherwise wasn't an interesting character, was dealing with deep, hidden pain. The dev put in a scene showing how she dealt with it internally. It was so real and raw that clearly either the dev or someone extremely close to them had wrestled with their pain in this way; it was exactly the same way that I had made it through my darkest times. No other author in any other literature (and I've read quite a bit) had ever represented the hell that I had lived through with that much hope and honesty.

I just sat in front of my computer and bawled for five minutes. And it was a stupid adult VN that brought that out.

So while I haven't reacted to Desert Stalker on that level, I can confidently say that this game is much more than simple smut. I haven't supported it financially yet, but I will sometime. Thank you for bringing it to us.
The game of which you speak, (with 95%+ certainty I know which one you're highlighting) caused emotional responses such as yours in myself and I daresay hundreds of others. The reason? The author lost a daughter to suicide. The 'game' is so well done not only because of its lack of reality distortion field, but the author writes in such a way to weave pleasure with pain and loss. Pain--pleasure. The two are always lurking and one doesn't happen without the other. Such is life.
 

Gato21

Active Member
Oct 16, 2021
926
2,492
Completely off topic; you havent really reached sperg ascension until you have 10+ excel sheets full of bus ratios for Satisfactory or Factorio. Yeah I had a free summer.
You and me sound like birds of a feather. I remember playing Eve online or "spreadsheets in space" just stopping and asking myself what am I doing. I spent literally hours trying to optimize rockets in Kerbal space program, when I could make one big dumb rocket and be done with it. Even when it comes to AVN's I got my strategy to optimize cleaning of the DIKs frat, even though it gives you a wide margin to complete it. Satisfactory is on my list but dare not download it.
My best guess, if we want to buy into this argument and want to find a psychological reason...
aside from personal traumatic experiences which really aren't as common as porn movies would want us believe (the majority of cheaters aren't actually caught balls deep in their lovers when they are caught) is that it's simple insecurity, which is a perfectly fine sentiment to have.
Almost anybody is insecure about at least something in their lives... it doesn't help that there are a lot of cultural stigma attached to this particular brand of insecurity and that in recent years people have started to try and compartimentalise behaviours and "types of reactions" assigning it every letter of the Greek alphabet without there being any actual scientific or factual logic to those definitions.
Way too many countries still have this situation where men are brought up to have a stiff upper lip, to not show emotions, to suck it up and deal with it, and that doing anything different is somehow less than manly and thus automatically gay or defining you as a lesser man/person.
A lot of people with deep rooted insecurities buy into those arguments as a way to externalise the issues they deal with and potentially blame something or someone else... so if you feel unattractive, if you're not scoring a girl, if you're simply too young to know better, if you've had bad luck with your relationships or sex life, if you have body image issues or whatever other impediment... A scene where your character is, in your eyes, victimised, breeds insecurity and to defend yourself from it you lash out at anything that might make you feel less than a top dog macho man, because that's what the society you live in tells you you should be.
To me it's a lot of bull... it's perfectly fine to deal with insecurities, it's perfectly fine to have a human reaction to being exposed to them, it's perfectly fine to indulge in a fantasy that doesn't show you as the ubermale, or that in some marginal way exposes an insecurity. Ultimately games are a safe space because it's just you and your computer/phone... and if you feel angry about a thing, or sad, it may become a positive drive for change.

Note I said it's a reason, not a justification... if you take your issues, your traumas or just your simple insecurities and weaponise them to be mean to people you don't know over the internet, people who might deal with similar or worse situations, that's still an active choice you make, an actual investment of your time spent to spreading your crap on the net, and you need to grow up, find a different outlet for your frustrations (maybe counseling?) or just stop being a dick.

In the context of this forum, that would mean maybe not going out of your way to antagonise people because they have different tastes, tastes that confront you with something you don't like. It's doing you nor anybody else any good..
And if you notice that even the remote possibility of NTR content triggers a strong emotional response in you, to the point that you lash out at people... then maybe you need to either count to ten and see if it's worth it, or take a step back from seeking refuge in playing these games and sort your shit out, talk to someone about it.

still rambling
I mean I kinda agree with you, I am not sold either way. I think it explains insecruities in general and how people cope or don't, but I don't think it gets to the crux of the matter. Why is NTR different? What is the variable that sets it apart? I don't know, maybe we should just stick a pin init and leave it up to the academics.
 
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WuzzyFuzzy

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Jan 23, 2020
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But would you agree that the inverse is a reasonable conclusion - that's to say; if people are getting heavily emotionally invested in these games, they're self-inserting into the MC, and thus my inclusion of their past history with such relationships could be relevant?
Ab.so.lute.ly. There is no doubt. Our actions can never be totally divorced from our experiences. In my mind I have a psychological profile on the demographic and psyche of the typical gamer who gets really bent on the idea of such things as sharing, swinging, etc. ("Typical" as there are always outliers.) But if I were to post it I would get enough facepalms to break the site....heh.

What I would really, really love to do is construct a survey which would allow people to anonymously give feedback on how they tick. For example, why are there so many (and I mean a LOT) games that have MCs that are so short in stature? Males are naturally taller than females, that's just a fact, but here, one wonders what's going on. I would really like to find out why they portray males at being shorter, smaller, yet have the males treat females with contempt? I want to know!! lol
 
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Gato21

Active Member
Oct 16, 2021
926
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Ab.so.lute.ly. There is no doubt. Our actions can never be totally divorced from our experiences. In my mind I have a psychological profile on the demographic and psyche of the typical gamer who gets really bent on the idea of such things as sharing, swinging, etc. ("Typical" as there are always outliers.) But if I were to post it I would get enough facepalms to break the site....heh.

What I would really, really love to do is construct a survey which would allow people to anonymously give feedback on how they tick. For example, why are there so many (and I mean a LOT) games that have MCs that are so short in stature? Males are naturally taller than females, that's just a fact, but here, one wonders what's going on. I would really like to find out why they portray males at being shorter, smaller, yet have the males treat females with contempt? I want to know!! lol
Interesting, I guess I never noticed it or haven't played those games. Another thing I find interesting is the prevalence of incest in AVNs. Is that a founders effect i.e. prominent groundbreaking games featured it, so every dev feels the need to include it, or is it just reflecting society at large with the increase of sibling genre porn. Could it be an increase of single child households, so lack of aversion?
Edit: Sorry was Summertime saga main pro tag short? Then maybe I have.
Edit Edit: I did play a game where you are short ugly coach, but I thought that fit under the ugly bastard genre. Same kind of phenomenon still?
 
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desmosome

Conversation Conqueror
Sep 5, 2018
6,186
14,241
I simply don't buy it. I have absolutely zero evidence or anything of substance to stand on :), so this isn't some harsh indictment, it just seems like there's too much emotional intensity on these ntr rants to excuse it as separate from the real world. People don't really get emotional (positive or negative) about things they can purely compartmentalize from their real life. If you've another theory on why the playerbase reacts to ntr themes with such disproportionate intensity relative to anything else, I'm all ears.
Well, I do have poll results that clearly show that a much higher percentage of the general player base self inserts than NTR fans.
https://f95zone.to/threads/poll-do-...ay-games-with-a-third-person-mentality.89596/
https://f95zone.to/threads/poll-ntr-fans-self-insert-roleplay-or-third-person.86527/

If you don't self insert, you are not gonna have a lot of emotional attachment, catharsis, or anything of the sort. It's simply just dark porn, where the situations are immoral and the elements of female corruption are high. Granted, you could still empathize and feel bad for the guy without self inserting, but these types of players still enjoy NTR (at least those that are choosing to play NTR games), though I find that they tend to prefer stories where the cucked guy comes out at least OK at the end, if not outright winning in some revenge ending. They also probably enjoy netorase more than standard NTR stuff.

If you do self insert, it's obviously gonna bring out strong emotional responses. A small percentage of NTR fans do thrive on those bad feelings by self inserting as the cucked MC. They enjoy that. And obviously, the overwhelming majority of anti-NTR players who self insert will blow a fuse when stuff like that happens to "them."

Obviously, self inserting NTR haters and non-self insert NTR enjoyers don't make up the whole player base. There are non-self inserters that just don't like fucked up stories, and the true cuck players that self insert in NTR. But clearly, at least in the NTR fandom, self inserting is the minority by a pretty big margin. It just makes sense intuitively too. Does it make more sense for people to enjoy increasingly fucked up porn stories as they get desensitized to vanilla over the years? Or do you think that the number of masochistic cuckold people in the world is high enough to explain the amount of NTR content produced and consumed? I'm thinking the former.

And before we get too sidetracked, Desert Stalker isn't really NTR or even netorase. It's just "alpha sharing" that is completely power fantasy instead of being thematically derived from cuckoldry or masochistic tendencies like in the typical netorase stories. And before someone loses it again, no, I'm not saying sharing is more alpha than not sharing in this game. It's just two ways to play the same character. MC is completely in control in both routes.
 
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