Porn Game Tropes: The good, the bad, and the fugly

[redknight00]

We Were So Poor, We Could Barely Afford to Live In this Tiny 5000 square foot Home

Apparently, DAZ3d et al don't have a lot of 3d scenery props related to living in modest circumstances, so every MC's home is gigantic and well-furnished, the kitchens have marble surfaces, double door refrigerators, every bed is a California King bed, etc. The home has a large bathroom, usually with a separate bath and shower. Sometimes the bath is jacuzzi/hot tub sized. Often there's a pool in the backyard, mainly as an excuse to show the female characters in skimpy swimsuits. The MC, who lives in a mini-mansion, has to get a part-time job to help pay the bills, since Dad's no longer around and Mom can't get it all done with her modest CEO salary(or whatever it is she does). Ironically, an impoverished or lower-middle class existence might actually make an incest scenario somewhat more plausible, since the stress level is higher, the living conditions might force greater intimacy, and so forth.
Examples too numerous to mention. The Visit has a particularly ludicrous home, though.

Don't forget that those mansions don't even have enough rooms for a family of 4.

 

[RogueKnightUK]

Yay for reductionism. Fear, in that case, is not the fight or flight type fear response. It's a high level cognitive reasoning level of fear. This isn't reactive, it's logical conclusions about what may or may not be the appropriate response. Furthermore, you reduced the phenomena I mentioned, that in a crowd people are more likely to assume someone else will do something, to fear, when that's not at all what it is, it's more like a shifting of the burden of responsibility.

You seem to be constantly striving to somehow take personal offence where none is intended, nor needed. There should be nothing personal about science, or facts. Can you drop the passive aggressive, as it is getting very tiresome?

I actually reduced the shifting of responsibility to "fear of getting involved (commitment)" and to "fear of embarrassment" if you were paying attention. Both are fair.

Look, I get that you don't like the idea of reductionism. But it doesn't change the FACT that pretty much every single thing you ever feel, think, dream, can be absolutely reduced down to the binary of whether or not a given neural path and receptor was activated. A lot like electronics or computers, there's a connection, or there isn't. And just like computers and electronics, you can work a lot of additional complexity on top of that, such as processing the frequency of switching the signal on and off. Or grouping multiple signals together. The more advanced, upper levels of the brain do exactly that.

However you have already conceded agreement with neuroscience that the bit closest to the spinal column, the bit that controls all the main motor skills and reflexes of the body, is the amygdala, which is we agreed, only really equipped to handle either pleasure/desire or fear/threat. All those complex calculations of the upper brain, processing all the complex and esoteric aspects of cognisance, eventually have to tell the amygdala that a given action will react to threat, or will give pleasure.

Science generally is an act of reductionism. Einstein's Theory of Relativity broke down the relationship between matter and energy that make up the entire universe to a single main equation: E = MC^2. All of the matter in the known universe was reduced to letters on the periodic table of elements. Atoms themselves have been reduced to mostly understanding the effects of positive and negative charges. Science is reductionism, and reductionism is science - provided one always remembers Einstein's saying: "As simple as possible... But no simpler."

 

[DarthSeduction]

You seem to be constantly striving to somehow take personal offence where none is intended, nor needed. There should be nothing personal about science, or facts. Can you drop the passive aggressive, as it is getting very tiresome?

Personal? No. Do I find your reductive allowance of problematic ideas offensive? Sure. Now, the issue is, you're not just using science and facts, you're reducing complex things into simplistic things which you then use to come to simple conclusions. My problem with your reasoning isn't that it is too scientific, but rather that it is pseudo-scientific.

I actually reduced the shifting of responsibility to "fear of getting involved (commitment)" and to "fear of embarrassment" if you were paying attention. Both are fair.

Here is a perfect example of what I mean. You're not actually talking about what the phenomena actually is, but what you presume it is based on your biases. You know a little about brains and extrapolate from that small amount of information to make large sweeping generalizations that are, at best, enabling of problematic thought processes, at worst, intentional poisoning of the well in order to promote a specific worldview.

What I was referring to is known as the bystander effect. None of the research I've seen ever reduces it down to fear, but rather diffusion of responsibility, is usually the go to, with the below quoted ambiguity and group cohesiveness making a difference in certain circumstances. If you'd like to learn more about it feel free to check the

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, or follow the sources.

The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a

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phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that one of them will help. Several factors contribute to the bystander effect, including

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,

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, and

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that reinforces mutual denial of a situation's severity.

I feel there's no real reason to quote the rest of what you said. It was all merely justifications for your pseudo-scientific conclusions.

 

[DarthSeduction]

We Were So Poor, We Could Barely Afford to Live In this Tiny 5000 square foot Home

Apparently, DAZ3d et al don't have a lot of 3d scenery props related to living in modest circumstances, so every MC's home is gigantic and well-furnished, the kitchens have marble surfaces, double door refrigerators, every bed is a California King bed, etc. The home has a large bathroom, usually with a separate bath and shower. Sometimes the bath is jacuzzi/hot tub sized. Often there's a pool in the backyard, mainly as an excuse to show the female characters in skimpy swimsuits. The MC, who lives in a mini-mansion, has to get a part-time job to help pay the bills, since Dad's no longer around and Mom can't get it all done with her modest CEO salary(or whatever it is she does). Ironically, an impoverished or lower-middle class existence might actually make an incest scenario somewhat more plausible, since the stress level is higher, the living conditions might force greater intimacy, and so forth.
Examples too numerous to mention. The Visit has a particularly ludicrous home, though.

What makes this particularly hilarious is that both parents in Milfy City seem to be high level execs or something at their workplaces, but their family lives in a modest 4 bedroom home with a separate garage and no pool.

 

[RogueKnightUK]

Personal? No. Do I find your reductive allowance of problematic ideas offensive?

You do understand that you finding something personally offensive is, by definition, personal? No, you probably don't.

I simply can't be bothered to keep spelling out the obvious connections you are missing, nor can I be bothered to try to figure out whether your continual self-contradictions are deliberate or just ... whatever. I'm done with you.

 

[DarthSeduction]

You do understand that you finding something personally offensive is, by definition, personal? No, you probably don't.

I simply can't be bothered to keep spelling out the obvious connections you are missing, nor can I be bothered to try to figure out whether your continual self-contradictions are deliberate or just ... whatever. I'm done with you.

You do realize that something can simply be offensive, right? Like, if you say "gay people are degenerates" that is simply offensive. I, personally, don't have to feel offended to recognize that it is offensive. But, you've been reductionist from the start, so why would I ever expect you to understand the nuance of anything?

I simply can't be bothered to keep spelling out the obvious connections you are missing,

You can spell out your pseudo-science all you want, it will still be just that, pseudo-science. And to spell out why it is offensive, since you seemingly don't get it, goes back to the original reason I challenged you. You allowed the argument that the decision to rape or not was pure instinct and fear of punishment. Punishment itself is not shown to be a crime deterrent, people don't consider the fear of punishment when doing illegal things, be that knocking over the liquor store or murdering someone. We are more complex than that. Reducing our decisions to baser animal instincts, and allowing that to be the level of discussion excuses toxic masculine behavior. It means that you can't be held responsible for "grabbing her by the pussy" because you couldn't control yourself. It justifies far right ideologies that put the onus on the woman for not being "modest" because how is a man meant to help himself?

edit: And because I'm worried that there will be backlash on this, there are still laws on the books in several US states allowing for gay panic as a valid defense for murdering someone. Kill a trans woman when you find out she has a dick? Not your fault! So yes, this line of reasoning has real life implications that enable bad people to harm marginalized people.

Yes, what you said is pseudo-scientific bullshit. Yes, it's fucking offensive to men in general, and humanity at large, to reduce us to baser instincts. And you know what, I fully expect, when confronted with these logical conclusions that can be jumped to from your entertaining of this narrative, that you'll recoil, that you'll say that's not what you meant, that it's not like that. But it is what you are allowing by entertaining this narrative.

nor can I be bothered to try to figure out whether your continual self-contradictions are deliberate or just ... whatever. I'm done with you.

Or, you can ignore the critique and go for the ad hominem, don't attack the actual argument, attack the person, imply that they're incompetent, contradictory, or getting too emotional.

 

[Proto Persona]

I kinda figured that F95 would be one of the last places to see a discussion about excusing toxic masculinity, and yet here we are. Can you guys continue the discussion in PMs? None of that psychological motivations stuff really relates to the topic at this point.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

TBH the most ridiculous trope seems to be "mom sees sons dick and cannot resist her primal urges."

Nobody actually thinks like this and while I get the appeal, I honestly just laugh at that dialogue most times.

To be fair, there aren't a gigantic number of real-world plausible explanations for "mom starts humping son" scenarios:
1. Mom's actually a closet pedo/hebe/ephebo-phile, and son's clumsy attentions finally brought out her inner perv.
2. Genetic Sexual Attraction--son's been away from her so long, and away during his pubescence, so when they get together, the Westermarck effect doesn't apply, and she feels a strong sexual attraction to him.
3. Dad has neglected Mom for years, or she's been divorced/widowed and lonely for years, plus has some underlying attachment issues to son, and son starts showing her attention, and stuff gets out of hand quickly.
4. Son is unusually confident, attractive and manipulative, Mom is unusually submissive and in need of attention...
5. Son is a manipulative, blackmailing, abusive rapist monster who finds a variety of way to gain control over the women in his family.
6. Son is an attractive young adult(say, 25). Mom is an attractive middle aged woman(say, 44). They get together in unusual circumstances and things just happen. No manipulation, no "corruption", no blackmail, no weird impulses(well, except...). A true love story, in a manner of speaking.

Scenarios 1 and 5 are quite dark. 3-4 are middling scenarios where there's some moral ambiguity. Scenario 2 and 6 are the "too good to be true" "innocent incest" scenarios. The problem with 2 and 6 are that they set up scenarios where the family relationship is limited in some ways--they haven't seen each other in years, or he's old enough to have a life that doesn't center around living with his mom.
Beyond those reasons, you then get into the realm of fantasy or magic realism:
7. MC discovers a means of influencing the thoughts, feelings, memories and actions of others--a magic ring; hypnosis; a magic spell(s); a faerie/succubus helps them; actual mental powers; special pheromones; chemicals to put in their drinks; etc.
8. For whatever reasons, small acts and steps are adequate to slowly "corrupt" family members into full blown incestuous acts
9. The entire family is a hotbed of barely suppressed incestuous thoughts and feelings
10. Variations on and combinations of all of the above--both legit and fantastic

 

[Dad of Boy]

To be fair, there aren't a gigantic number of real-world plausible explanations for "mom starts humping son" scenarios:
1. Mom's actually a closet pedo/hebe/ephebo-phile, and son's clumsy attentions finally brought out her inner perv.
2. Genetic Sexual Attraction--son's been away from her so long, and away during his pubescence, so when they get together, the Westermarck effect doesn't apply, and she feels a strong sexual attraction to him.
3. Dad has neglected Mom for years, or she's been divorced/widowed and lonely for years, plus has some underlying attachment issues to son, and son starts showing her attention, and stuff gets out of hand quickly.
4. Son is unusually confident, attractive and manipulative, Mom is unusually submissive and in need of attention...
5. Son is a manipulative, blackmailing, abusive rapist monster who finds a variety of way to gain control over the women in his family.
6. Son is an attractive young adult(say, 25). Mom is an attractive middle aged woman(say, 44). They get together in unusual circumstances and things just happen. No manipulation, no "corruption", no blackmail, no weird impulses(well, except...). A true love story, in a manner of speaking.

Scenarios 1 and 5 are quite dark. 3-4 are middling scenarios where there's some moral ambiguity. Scenario 2 and 6 are the "too good to be true" "innocent incest" scenarios. The problem with 2 and 6 are that they set up scenarios where the family relationship is limited in some ways--they haven't seen each other in years, or he's old enough to have a life that doesn't center around living with his mom.
Beyond those reasons, you then get into the realm of fantasy or magic realism:
7. MC discovers a means of influencing the thoughts, feelings, memories and actions of others--a magic ring; hypnosis; a magic spell(s); a faerie/succubus helps them; actual mental powers; special pheromones; chemicals to put in their drinks; etc.
8. For whatever reasons, small acts and steps are adequate to slowly "corrupt" family members into full blown incestuous acts
9. The entire family is a hotbed of barely suppressed incestuous thoughts and feelings
10. Variations on and combinations of all of the above--both legit and fantastic

I get what you're getting at. Scenarios 1 and 5 are unfortunately the most likely ones to occur IRL, and that doesn't make for a good story most of the time.

Scenarios 2-4 are ones where normal people would 100% be able to control themselves IMO, leading to nothing really and I'm pretty sure number 6 is actually the plot to Oedipus Rex, lmao.

Don't get me wrong, the premises are fine, and I still play and enjoy games like Milfy City, MNL, Corruption, and others. It's just that whenever this stuff happens I always chuckle a little at the sheer ridiculousness.

 

[whiskeyrose]

do ho ho more tropes and more tropes. I just keep being reminded from new lewd games I'm playing. These three tropes come from Lust Epidemic, which despite that I'm about to mock it is a solid game you should check out.

No Such Thing as Monogamy

A Solid Argument
​

For a lewd game MC, fidelity isn't even slightly expected whatsoever. At the first glimpse of a pussy other than the one he's currently dating/married to, he won't hesitate to go all in for a quick romp. It doesn't matter if he's been married to his loving devoted wife of many years, the moment the local nun bends over to pick up a bible he won't stop until he's buttfucking her in a confessional. Our hero doesn't have to worry about being caught, because nobody in lewd games gives a shit that their partner is fucking every woman in town. If caught in the act, romantic partners will attempt more adventurous lewd acts in an attempt to win the MC back, or more likely participate in a threesome with the slut fucking her man. Shortly after the mini-orgy, nobody will care about devoted relationships and will be totally cool with MC fucking anything with legs. Often times Mind Control Juice or magic powers facilitate this shift into a one-sided open relationship.

A Scout is Always Prepared

Now! Do it Now!
​

At the drop of a hat, a lewd game MC can instantly get an erection. Doesn't matter if he's still covered in blood from slain enemies, narrowly avoided death moments prior or was just aimlessly walking down a hall. In a moments notice the MC can drop his trousers and be rocking at full unbreakable mast without any sort of foreplay at all. Forget the fact he just came five times from an orgy involving his mother and extended family members, that was then and this is now. This is especially true when a heroine barges in his room and demands sex, because nothing gets an dick up faster than pressure.

Human Honey

Maybe it's all the girls he fucked on the way here
​

Without fail, every heroine will enjoy the taste of of the MC's dick and especially cum. Virgins giving their first blowjob will be floored at the human deliciousness they've been missing out on from their brother. So potent, that in a short amount of time heroines will be licking jizm out of all kinds of orifices like its life extending ambrosia. While a normal person might be worried that they haven't showered in days and that 10/10 MILF might not appreciate putting her lips on your swamp dick, no worries because she won't care. To a lewd heroine boy sweat just adds extra flavor of her favorite dick snack.

 

[Proto Persona]

do ho ho more tropes and more tropes. I just keep being reminded from new lewd games I'm playing. These three tropes come from Lust Epidemic, which despite that I'm about to mock it is a solid game you should check out.

No Such Thing as Monogamy
View attachment 269275
A Solid Argument
​

For a lewd game MC, fidelity isn't even slightly expected whatsoever. At the first glimpse of a pussy other than the one he's currently dating/married to, he won't hesitate to go all in for a quick romp. It doesn't matter if he's been married to his loving devoted wife of many years, the moment the local nun bends over to pick up a bible he won't stop until he's buttfucking her in a confessional. Our hero doesn't have to worry about being caught, because nobody in lewd games gives a shit that their partner is fucking every woman in town. If caught in the act, romantic partners will attempt more adventurous lewd acts in an attempt to win the MC back, or more likely participate in a threesome with the slut fucking her man. Shortly after the mini-orgy, nobody will care about devoted relationships and will be totally cool with MC fucking anything with legs. Often times Mind Control Juice or magic powers facilitate this shift into a one-sided open relationship.

A Scout is Always Prepared
View attachment 269566
Now! Do it Now!
​

At the drop of a hat, a lewd game MC can instantly get an erection. Doesn't matter if he's still covered in blood from slain enemies, narrowly avoided death moments prior or was just aimlessly walking down a hall. In a moments notice the MC can drop his trousers and be rocking at full unbreakable mast without any sort of foreplay at all. Forget the fact he just came five times from an orgy involving his mother and extended family members, that was then and this is now. This is especially true when a heroine barges in his room and demands sex, because nothing gets an dick up faster than pressure.

Human Honey
View attachment 269564
Maybe it's all the girls he fucked on the way here
​

Without fail, every heroine will enjoy the taste of of the MC's dick and especially cum. Virgins giving their first blowjob will be floored at the human deliciousness they've been missing out on from their brother. So potent, that in a short amount of time heroines will be licking jizm out of all kinds of orifices like its life extending ambrosia. While a normal person might be worried that they haven't showered in days and that 10/10 MILF might not appreciate putting her lips on your swamp dick, no worries because she won't care. To a lewd heroine boy sweat just adds extra flavor of her favorite dick snack.

Man I really liked these.

 

[list101]

I'm late on that thread maybe someone already mention it - I'll do it anyway
The tropes are reflection of the market - to make a game takes time and resources with the expectation of satisfactory reward Obviously in the adult market there is high demand for Creepers, No Life Dads, Sluts, Corruptible Virgins etc... - the game makers simply deliver.
The majority of consumers crave these tropes - they EXPECT arousal and discard any game which "blue balls".
IMHO there is vast poorly developed adult games market for the female population and I really wonder what kind of tropes will that market segment develop: "The Smart Sexy Hacker MC"? "The Cunning Cunt"? "The Rich Handsome Prince"? "His Loser Friend"?

 

[megaplayboy10k]

I'm late on that thread maybe someone already mention it - I'll do it anyway
The tropes are reflection of the market - to make a game takes time and resources with the expectation of satisfactory reward Obviously in the adult market there is high demand for Creepers, No Life Dads, Sluts, Corruptible Virgins etc... - the game makers simply deliver.
The majority of consumers crave these tropes - they EXPECT arousal and discard any game which "blue balls".
IMHO there is vast poorly developed adult games market for the female population and I really wonder what kind of tropes will that market segment develop: "The Smart Sexy Hacker MC"? "The Cunning Cunt"? "The Rich Handsome Prince"? "His Loser Friend"?

The Bad Boy
The Hot Stranger
The Submissive Husband
The Boring Husband/Boyfriend
The Hot Bisexual BFF
The Naive Hunk
The Smoldering Introvert

Dunno. Women's tastes are often quite different from what men imagine them to be.

 

[Segnbora]

A Simple Kind of Man​

You're just an everyday guy living an entirely normal life like anyone else, even though literally everyone else you know isn't anything like you. You know this because it's the first line of your game's description, though because it's in Engrish there might be at least a morsel of doubt on this point. Don't worry, though. Everyone who plays your game will immediately identify with your all-encompassing anonymity....because immersion, amirite? There is absolutely nothing even slightly remarkable or interesting about you, except of course for the fact that every single woman you meet is almost desperate to fuck you. It's true that you thought things like that only happened to George Clooney or Brad Pitt, but you have no idea just how much the empty vessel of your personality and your utter characterlessness energizes the female libido. And granted, the idea that you're a normal, everyday sort of guy is slightly contradicted by the fact that you have a dick the size of Florida, but kudos to you for making such a concerted and successful effort to hide that from the female populace for so long. Thank goodness someone finally decided to make a game about you, because otherwise you probably never, ever would've gotten laid. All that said, your day job as a Bitcoin trader who never actually trades Bitcoins or as a game designer who somehow doesn't have to work 25-hour days and 8-day weeks — you know, the job that allows you to stay home and perv on your family members while they shower — is a danger to your claim to True Neutral blandness. Knock that off and at least have the decency to be unemployed...sorry, "down on your luck"...would you?

 

[megaplayboy10k]

An actual male protagonist with a personality, a backstory, a 9 to 5 job, and some moral scruples? What is this madness of which you speak?!

 

[megaplayboy10k]

I know that there are cliche' female personality types in anime, particularly harem anime--tsundere, moe, yandere et al. There are certainly cliche' types in fap games--the bratty younger sister, the innocent virginal younger sister, the tomboyish sister, the bitchy older sister, the bullying older sister, the cockteasing sister, the mom with a wild past, the overly smothering mom, the distant mom, the angry disapproving mom, the evil stepmom, the adventurous aunt(actually, this seems to be pretty much every aunt ever in one of these games--the aunt is never the mature, restrained, more responsible sister), the sexually frustrated mom, the mom who wants it as much as the son/MC, the absentee dad, the sexless beta dad, the evil stepdad, the fondly remembered dead dad, pervy dad, competitor/NTR dad, sister and/or mom's asshole boyfriend, the rare cool boyfriend, the MC's cool girlfriend, cheating girlfriend, crazy girlfriend or ex-girlfriend, too good to be true perfect girlfriend(and why in God's name is he still cheating on her if she's so perfect?), and so forth. Some of these are okay, but it's certainly a breath of fresh air when these expectations are inverted or subverted, and these characters have personalities different from what's typical in these games.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

Incidentally I learned a new word today. "Narratology" is the study of narrative in fiction--characterization, plot, theme, tone, perspective, etc--including tropes and cliches. People have been commenting on this stuff since the days of Ancient Greece.

 

[RogueKnightUK]

People have been commenting on this stuff since the days of Ancient Greece.

Absolutely. It was, after all, the Ancient Greeks who claimed there were really only 11 unique stories/plots, and that all narrative was just through twisting or combining those in novel ways.

This later got simplified to just 7 -

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[megaplayboy10k]

It's interesting...short stories, novels, plays, musical compositions, paintings, sculpture, films and television shows, even comic books are now taken seriously as art forms. But video and computer games? Not yet. Roger Ebert wrote an essay before he died about why he didn't see video games as an art form. But you could have written the same essay about comic books in the early 1960s. At this point you can definitely see artistic elements in game design--the art, various aspects of game narrative, and so forth.

 

[Antiochus]

Dem Greeks, drama progenitors. I really don't see the reasoning behind not including games as an art form. The forms meet all the criteria of the currently accepted forms. I think that the relative newness of the form may be the intellectual stumbling block to these luddites.