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

[Xalenda]

If done with care you get great stories with great characters. You can make a point without throwing shit at people.

A good example of how to do this properly would be Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke - the overarching "theme" of the film is the whole pushback against industry, save the forests, go green, etc. It's present in a lot of his works; not the point here.

Never in the movie does anybody scream about how the world is coming to an end; there's no preaching; there is a message, there are points where the characters talk about the values of a more modern world eclipsing the past, and whether or not it is all for the greater good. It's a wonderful way to spark a dialogue while espousing a personal viewpoint.

Having characters speak amongst themselves over the values and good/bad points to a certain subject can be done well, and should be critiqued - but the point a lot of people miss when writing these scenes is that, ultimately, the decision must be left to the viewer/player. As soon as there's a soapbox displayed, it needs to be removed, end of story.

Okay, /rant over, sorry to derail the conversation ^_^

 

[Proto Persona]

Using a Halberd for Brain surgery

Games from all genres are great platforms to explore hard to talk topics like politics, sexuality, religion and real-life horrible stuff like slavery and rape. And you are such a great writer, that you just know you must delve there. But since your knowledge about how good of a writer you are is about as complete as a 0.00000.00.1 alpha release of a game, you decide to preach about it.

It happens when a writers ego and personal convictions overcome their ability. Suddenly their creation isn't just dropping anvils, it's dropping full-blown Iowa class battleships on the player, to tech them how to think without any regard to the story, mood and logic of the story and characters. The bad-ass, veteran, cynical, asshole MC going on a 10 page tangent about internet trolls and how harmful they are, or the pot-smoking, vegan, sexually liberated side chick suddenly trying to explain the value of the "traditional family". Suddenly the player is bombarded with badly written propaganda tangent. Because shouting at your player will change them... right?

Sub trope:

Halberds are for pussies - use a 16.5 inch naval cannon!

Since you are smart enough to at least try and keep your story from devolving but you just must educate people on a topic... you decide to break the 4th wall and directly talk to the player. Because this is what they need, right?


Some more thoughts on the subject:
This is by no means "thou should not write about topics X, Y, Z". We are writers, we should go to places that make people uncomfortable. The problem is when you break your creation to deliver a sermon. A preacher or a religious character scolding the MC about the values of the traditional family is all well and good, so is the middle-class girl going on tangents about how bad trolls are. If done with care you get great stories with great characters. You can make a point without throwing shit at people.

So

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and

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. Starting to feel like we've exhausted all the topics of porn game specific tropes and are veering off into tropes of writing in general.

 

[F22232425]

Thread provides thoughtful discussion of game and story elements that are often misused or used as a crutch, as opposed to being used well and meaningfully to 'shortcut' a longer explanation. Plenty of tips on where a trope is misused, and where it may have been used well. A good discussion for any potential game designer, or serious game fan, to read and consider.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

Chief Coder, Fashion Photographer and Webcam Guru

The Main Character has a job or gets one early on in the game. And it's one of the same basic gigs--he's a coder or programmer of some sort, often not even needing to go in to work to earn money for it. Or he does fashion photography, earning money by taking pictures of beautiful, hot women of varying degrees of moral turpitude. Or he puts a bunch of hidden cameras in his own household, exploiting the members of his own family to earn a living. There's a few other jobs that MCs seem to get a lot--delivery service, gym trainer, mob "floater"--but mostly nobody's a cubicle jockey, dockworker, factory worker or Uber driver.
Examples too numerous to mention, but include Man of the House, Big Brother, New Coral City, Milfy City(MC earns money taking pics of his sister)

 

[Vengel]

The total WAX HOUSE type of models and renders used in 99% of the games ... and this is somewhat liked from the people that play those games
I read a lot of comments from users here about what is beatiful and what not ... in general you can put that into the "taste section" ... but maaaaaann ... "the wax pedo power at maximum engaged" shit is just astonishing

 

[AmazonessKing]

Bad:
Daz3D: I think it kills creativity and looks soulless.
Female PC: I'm a guy, not a woman, so I want to play as a guy.
NTR: Not much to say, should be obvious.

Good:
Incest: Shame that patreon killed it.
Platformers: Not enough of these
Pixel art: Not enough of this

Fugly:
Handling of the scene: It feels like every time someone strikes gold, everyone tries to copy it.

 

[toolkitxx]

Bad:
Daz3D: I think it kills creativity and looks soulless.
Female PC: I'm a guy, not a woman, so I want to play as a guy.
NTR: Not much to say, should be obvious.

Good:
Incest: Shame that patreon killed it.
Platformers: Not enough of these
Pixel art: Not enough of this

Fugly:
Handling of the scene: It feels like every time someone strikes gold, everyone tries to copy it.

Cant help it as this is more of a personal statement than related to tropes - so i go a bit off topic too and comment your bullet points:
Bad:
1. Lego in itself is soulless too but has been used in the most astonishing creative ways. Its not the tool that sucks here but the lack of creativeness
2. Good that half of the planet's population isnt male and deserves some representation in games too besides being the fucktoy
3. As it is a taste there is no truth thus nothing obvious

Good:
1. Just one of many possible genres/topics/tastes - cant see why it stands out
2. Platformers suck. Jumping and bouncing from one place to another was how the first games where and it isnt really relaxing to play them.
3. Pixelart is so out of vogue. I passed the 50s and every game i played when i was young only had pixels. I dont need to be flashed back into those horrible times. High def graphics for the win


If you have the obvious feeling of being trolled my post hit the spot.

 

[AmazonessKing]

Cant help it as this is more of a personal statement than related to tropes - so i go a bit off topic too and comment your bullet points:
Bad:
1. Lego in itself is soulless too but has been used in the most astonishing creative ways. Its not the tool that sucks here but the lack of creativeness
2. Good that half of the planet's population isnt male and deserves some representation in games too besides being the fucktoy
3. As it is a taste there is no truth thus nothing obvious

Good:
1. Just one of many possible genres/topics/tastes - cant see why it stands out
2. Platformers suck. Jumping and bouncing from one place to another was how the first games where and it isnt really relaxing to play them.
3. Pixelart is so out of vogue. I passed the 50s and every game i played when i was young only had pixels. I dont need to be flashed back into those horrible times. High def graphics for the win


If you have the obvious feeling of being trolled my post hit the spot.

Bad
1. Lego can look appealing even with minimum effort. Daz3D does not.
2. Good sentiment, a shame that the majority of people playing these games are males.
3. If that was true it wouldn't be so controversial in this very site. Or literally anywhere else.

Good
1. Reignited the scene of western porn games and the game making more money right now is an incest game despite the developer's self-censorship.
2. Maybe you should get better at playing games.
3. See? This is literally a personal opinion.

 

[toolkitxx]

3. See? This is literally a personal opinion.

Great - you actually found the point. Your entire list was exactltly that. Not helpful in the context of this thread dealing with tropes

 

[AmazonessKing]

Great - you actually found the point. Your entire list was exactltly that. Not helpful in the context of this thread dealing with tropes

Not really.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

I think the liveliness of 3d models is dependent upon the skill of the render artist. Using more realistic skin models, showing small "imperfections" which enhance the realism of the character model, and not simply recycling popular models from other games are all important. The problem with hand-drawn art is that either you like the art or you don't. If you don't, that's it. And the talent pool for hand-drawn is smaller.

 

[Proto Persona]

Not really.

Actually it is. This thread is for overused tropes. Tropes are creative devices that have been relied on so much that they have become a cookie cutter method for creating something. This thread isn't about what you personally like or not. That you think something is good or bad is not relevant.

 

[AmazonessKing]

And those are tropes, even if you don't like them.

 

[Deleted member 229118]

And those are tropes, even if you don't like them.

How exactly are they tropes.
Dislikes sure but tropes?
Nothing is mention of there purpose, the general uses of them, etc. there just complaints.
It is fine if you dont like them but this isnt a thread about dislikes.

 

[AmazonessKing]

Tell me a single game after summertime saga or even before that wasn't an incest game, or tried to copy it, for that matter. That's a trope. Tell me a single game that doesn't use NTR as a gimmick to attract people, like Seeds of Chaos and Taffy Tales., hell, the later fits game fits the former trope. Creating DAZ3D games because it's easy and trendy not a trope?

I'm sorry you don't agree with me, but those are still tropes.

 

[toolkitxx]

Tell me a single game after summertime saga or even before that wasn't an incest game, or tried to copy it, for that matter. That's a trope. Tell me a single game that doesn't use NTR as a gimmick to attract people, like Seeds of Chaos and Taffy Tales., hell, the later fits game fits the former trope. Creating DAZ3D games because it's easy and trendy not a trope?

I'm sorry you don't agree with me, but those are still tropes.

A trope is a stylish design element to be used to create certain effects - like using a cliff hanger in an episode based TV show for example.
If your original post was actually not a troll but a serious atempt to participate you failed miserably. Not only because you didnt read the rest of the thread and noticed that at least half of your listed elements where described as proper tropes in some form or another already. But also because you styled your post in a form that could just be read as a personal like/dislike list of 'something' but most definitely not as a serious provision of arguments or tropes themselves.

 

[Baka plays]

And those are tropes, even if you don't like them.

Saying DAZ is bad and kills creativity is an OPINION and not a trope

 

[Deleted member 229118]

Tell me a single game after summertime saga or even before that wasn't an incest game, or tried to copy it, for that matter.

Pollerity, stationmaster, most management and brothel games, etc.

Tell me a single game that doesn't use NTR as a gimmick to attract people

Headmaster, superpowered, hentai highschool+ stationmaster, most management and brothel games, etc.

Creating DAZ3D games because it's easy and trendy not a trope?

It is a tool for those who cant or dont want to create there own woman.
A cliché meaby but not a trope.
No more then gun texture, sword movement, runing animations, strategy interface, etc are tropes.
There just stuff we instantly understand and that is why dev's use them.

I'm sorry you don't agree with me, but those are still tropes.

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On topic:
Size to age ratio:
The young teenager is useally smaller, has small boobs and is often a virgin.
The young adult is useally a head shorter then the main charater, has breast size B or rarely C has had some sexual intercourse before.
The milf useally has mountian sized tits, is sexualy frustrated and has the stamina of a racing horse.

As seen in most incest games.
It is a usefull tool for:

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Aswhile as an tv trope:

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This tropes make it easy to see how old everyone is at a glance.
Finding out the smaller one is accauly older is often a plot twist.

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[AmazonessKing]

Saying DAZ is bad and kills creativity is an OPINION and not a trope

The trope is DAZ, the rest is my opinion.

 

[hameleona]

Daz3D is as much of a trope as printing is a trope.