TheDevian

Svengali Productions
Game Developer
Mar 8, 2018
15,866
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I sincerely hope that Runey never does the elf ear thing... raceplay is gross
It's cosplay, people dress as elves (and other things) all the time. It's role-play.
If anything, it would be species-play, like furries.
Race is a social construct, and has no basis in science.
Lin dressing as a high elf, that would be closer to "race" play.
Do you complain about Nia dressing as a human? ...I doubt it.
 

SHREDDER1976

Active Member
Feb 25, 2021
501
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188
Well, the alternative is that she breaks out the strap that allows her to wear the bat like a male appendage, for punishing particularly naughty humans.
She got the idea for it from Maria.
your wrong there mate.
Maria would be far more likely to get a strap on that the MC could wear above his Dick so he could double penetrate the girls in both holes at the same time.
 
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ChildofIshtar

Member
Jul 23, 2021
180
469
121
Harem Hotel is a game where what makes it special is the world it has built. Each character is made better as the world expands because Runey pulls from that worldbuilding to inform those characters. For myself, I can't remove the sex in the game from the worldbuilding. As such:

It's cosplay, people dress as elves (and other things) all the time. It's role-play.
In the real world, where Elves don't exist, you're absolutely correct. In Harem Hotel, where the Elves are at times explicitly an allegory for black and indigenous people, it's literally the same as if you had your partner paint their face dark and treated them like a chattel slave. And not in the normal Slave & Master way, which is more than fine. In the the racialized way that emphasizes degradation on the basis of that status as a black or brown person.


If anything, it would be species-play, like furries.
Race is a social construct, and has no basis in science.
Language is also socially constructed, and the word race has taken on multiple meanings throughout time. We have both the concept of race as ethnicity, and the concept of race as an entire species. Both Sci-Fi and Fantasy tend to use this latter version of race when using the word. And often, they'll also take advantage of that distinction to make commentary on race as ethnicity, as Harem Hotel is so effectively doing.

Lin dressing as a high elf, that would be closer to "race" play.
Lin has dressed as a high elf, though I do hope that event gets changed, It makes no sense with the updated version of Sylvia's introduction. But the context for that was one of oppression. Lin was called a dirty ignorant lowlander by a woman from a race of elves who had once colonized her people, before her people led an uprising to end that. Feeling inadequate and fearing MC might prefer her to be better, as is normal for Lin, the slave, she dyed her hair blonde to look more like a high elf.

But that isn't race play. That's racial trauma.


Do you complain about Nia dressing as a human? ...I doubt it.
Speaking of racial trauma, you're right, I don't complain about the enslaved colonized elf hiding ther elf features in order to more effectively traverse human society as she fights for her people's liberation. In the real world, white passing native americans and black people have done this for centuries, because their race could get them killed, deny them work, force them into slums, etc. My roommate literally didn't even know about the fact that she was native in her childhood, because her grandmother hid it to survive. She literally found out near her grandmother's death when she saw a photo of her grandfather in native regalia.

At the end of this, all I have to say is, you don't have to twist facts or draw false equivalences to justify this desire. It's fiction and exploring these types of concepts in fiction can be a safe and non-harmful way to do things. However, just as you have a right to express your desire to see this, I have mine to express that I would prefer not to. It would actually make the game worse for me, as it is antithetical to the messaging the game has gone for.
 

Oldtoothlessbasterd

Active Member
Jan 7, 2019
503
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I am pretty sure that Oldtoothlessbasterd won't let let her 'tap' anyone else. lol He would get mad at me if I even thought about taking his place there. Likely, he would punch me out of the way. XD

But It's not my fault she is jealous, I would give Nia headpats too, if Runey would let me!!! XD
Nah Punchings no good, You might get back up eventually...
But if I eat you I get rid of the problem and have a good dinner.
Thats a win win in my book!.
(hope your not to Boney.) ;)
 
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Runey

Harem Hotel
Game Developer
May 17, 2018
3,965
20,029
605
It's cosplay, people dress as elves (and other things) all the time. It's role-play.
If anything, it would be species-play, like furries.
Race is a social construct, and has no basis in science.
Lin dressing as a high elf, that would be closer to "race" play.
Do you complain about Nia dressing as a human? ...I doubt it.
I have plans to include something like this in game (humans dressing as elves), but I also plan to show it off as a bad thing. As ChildOfIshtar said, it would be the equivalent of blackface in this world. Only in this world, it would be more acceptable. It might even be a whole holiday. Because it's a bad world. The humans wouldn't see it as bad, but you can bet the elves would have something to say about how they are portrayed by humans in public.

Lin did have a moment where she thought looking more like Sylvia (blonde and blue eyes) would make her prettier due to how Sylvia would call her dirty. MC told her that was very stupid pretty quick though.
 

Evil13

Forum Fanatic
Jun 4, 2019
4,172
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I mean, you can definitely see the similarities between elven ears and "passing" in minorities in our own world. An elf might not pass for a human beyond the obvious trait of their ears, but look at the likes of Maria or Hana, who passed for human, albeit with some ear docking as babies. It's very similar to people being light skinned enough to pass as white. In both instances, its seen a means to escape slavery and to get a better life for your child.

And I can definitely see how humans wearing elf ears can be seen as incredibly offensive. As mentioned, it raises the spectre of blackface but also reminds me of the "pretendians", white people who would pass themselves as Native American or as members of First Nation tribes, despite them not have a trace of Native American or First Nations in their family trees. Its actually disgusting, because its trying to claim an identity that the majority have tried to wipe out for centuries, adding insult to injury.
 
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wablowbilly

Newbie
Jan 18, 2023
66
14
65
was wondering if someone could help me - or point me in the right direction? i seem to be stuck in a loop with moon - where she is stuck on level 2 and tells me she needs training. i pay for the training in the morning, see her later, and it is as is nothing has happened?

i also have exclamation marks on sylvia, but no idea on how to advance the story...
 

TheDevian

Svengali Productions
Game Developer
Mar 8, 2018
15,866
37,573
1,031
At the end of this, all I have to say is, you don't have to twist facts or draw false equivalences to justify this desire. It's fiction and exploring these types of concepts in fiction can be a safe and non-harmful way to do things. However, just as you have a right to express your desire to see this, I have mine to express that I would prefer not to. It would actually make the game worse for me, as it is antithetical to the messaging the game has gone for.
That is my point, it is fiction. No matter what you do, no one is getting hurt.
Just like Eddie Murphy dressing up as an old, white Jew.
I have plans to include something like this in game (humans dressing as elves), but I also plan to show it off as a bad thing. As ChildOfIshtar said, it would be the equivalent of blackface in this world. Only in this world, it would be more acceptable. It might even be a whole holiday. Because it's a bad world. The humans wouldn't see it as bad, but you can bet the elves would have something to say about how they are portrayed by humans in public.

Lin did have a moment where she thought looking more like Sylvia (blonde and blue eyes) would make her prettier due to how Sylvia would call her dirty. MC told her that was very stupid pretty quick though.
I also equated it to blackface in my initial post (not sure if that is the one that the server ate, I tried to make it less 'real' the second time, calling it 'elf ears' instead), but there was a time in our history where that was used to help black people, it was not always a 'bad thing'. Take Al Jolson, he did blackface as a way to get racist white people used to blacks and accept them. While by today's standards, they would have him called out as a racist, at the time, he was one of the most progressive people around, being one of the only people who hired black people for theater then, and even was responsible for production of the first all black musical. He was one of the least racist people of that time.

Context matters, nothing is pure black/and white, it's all grayscale. We cannot look at everything through the lens of our modern world, and the current political environment. Especially history.

In the HH world, even the 1920-40s would be too recent in that regard, since that would have been decades after abolishing slavery. So that would be, socially speaking, the equivalent of the mid 1800's (assuming that we will end slavery in the game's plot).

Like anything, these things can be done in a way that is good, bad, or (usually) somewhere in between. Ranging from offensive to helpful. It all depends on the context.
Nah Punchings no good, You might get back up eventually...
But if I eat you I get rid of the problem and have a good dinner.
Thats a win win in my book!.
(hope your not to Boney.) ;)
That would take time away from bonking though.
And yes, I am VERY crunchy, and wiry. Not tender at all. ...except around the belly area. XD
 
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TheDevian

Svengali Productions
Game Developer
Mar 8, 2018
15,866
37,573
1,031
was wondering if someone could help me - or point me in the right direction? i seem to be stuck in a loop with moon - where she is stuck on level 2 and tells me she needs training. i pay for the training in the morning, see her later, and it is as is nothing has happened?

i also have exclamation marks on sylvia, but no idea on how to advance the story...
Check
and .
 
Oct 16, 2017
34
53
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It was a legitimate question: are they to subtle? If you need a costume, clicking on the door to visit the girl will tell you. If you need to wait, the loading icon won't be full. If you're trying to do a new event for one of the girls and it's co-dependent, while it won't give you the specific level, it does tell you to increase the affection of said-dependent. The only outliers to these that I'm aware of are the side girls from the schools - they're on a timer to call you and just show up. Runey said he's working to address event handling.

If the in-game options are to subtle, then it is a legitimate concern for new players.

Believe it or not I'm not out to bully you or attempt to make myself look superior. From a game-design perspective I think what is currently in game is more than adequate but that doesn't mean it's above criticism and can't be improved upon.
It's by no means bad, in fact it's usually quite good. However I might be looking at this from a specific perspective of replaying the game, as has been required a few times due to save compatibility and whatnot. When replaying the game, I'm trying to get to the new content as quickly as possible and so its nice have the mod so that I'm not wasting time and can streamline my playthrough to get to the new content.
 
Oct 16, 2017
34
53
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All of that is already in the game. You can click the "i" button to see which level you are with each character and if they have another event ready or not. Going to their door should tell you what you need to do to get to that event if it doesn't just start the event there.

All of that is already in the base game. I think it's literally impossible to miss. How have you not noticed the stats screen? Or that clicking " *Talk* " on a door will tell you what you need to do / buy in order to start the event? I'm sorry if this is coming off as dickish too, but it must be incredibly hard to miss these hints if you've ever been stuck.

If there is anywhere specific you can remember getting stuck I would love to look into that. It's definitely possible that the few times you were stuck were the few times a hint wasn't given.
It's not a matter of getting stuck. I just mentioned this in my reply to someone else, but I think I might be looking at this from a fairly specific lens that's not just normally playing the game. I'm coming at this from the perspective of replays of the game being necessary at points due to save compatibility and whatnot as the game evolves and matures. The mod has been invaluable to me in those scenarios because it streamlines the playthrough to get to the new content. I don't always have a ton of free time so it's nice to have a tool that gives me exact information so I know I have X days to do stuff with other girls while I wait for the next story event to trigger for someone else.

And when it comes to friendship levels for the girls, it can be annoying on replays to get to points where you hit a roadblock with one girl because you need to advance the story with another girl. Like with Kali and Android for example. But it's annoying not knowing exactly how many events you need to go through with Android before the next Kali event will trigger. I find that it results in wasting a lot of time by focusing on a single character just to move on with another character because you don't always know how many days you might need to wait for something. With the mod, it makes it super easy to multitask with all the girls and saves a ton of time.
 

TheDevian

Svengali Productions
Game Developer
Mar 8, 2018
15,866
37,573
1,031
It's by no means bad, in fact it's usually quite good. However I might be looking at this from a specific perspective of replaying the game, as has been required a few times due to save compatibility and whatnot. When replaying the game, I'm trying to get to the new content as quickly as possible and so its nice have the mod so that I'm not wasting time and can streamline my playthrough to get to the new content.
To be fair, if not for the mod, there would not have been save compatibility issues either. :p
 
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