I've always seen their intended function as being a record and explicit reminder of the event, something to enhance the experience as a badge. "This was your first conquest / the person you held out for / the first time you were raped" (whichever you prefer). However, I've found the feature more commonly to be either almost useless or an active hindrance as I spend five hours working towards a certain character only to have my virginity stolen by an unavoidable rape scene, especially when it has to be passed before you can finally have sex with the character you wanted, but being raped has no effect on the story for that character's path.
Other games are sometimes full of sex, whether because their combat is sex-focused, they have lots of rape events, whatever. They still have that record though, and it seems counterproductive to me. Having a permanent badge awarded encourages you to aim for a specific character or event, but that means incentivizing you to actively avoid everything the game intends you to be doing, including avoiding the game's entire purpose in particular cases. Maybe some people find it satisfying enough just to have a record in the stats saying "lost their virginity to random bloke", but I feel like this is such a common feature anyway that it wouldn't add much even for the people who do find something in that. Even someone with a fetish for whatever it was is probably desensitized enough to not get significant satisfaction from something like that.
So, is there a greater purpose to this feature in most games? Or is it just a simple-to-implement obligatory feature that might not have much thought put into it? Even so, what good uses are there or might there be for this feature if it was used to it's full potential?
Other games are sometimes full of sex, whether because their combat is sex-focused, they have lots of rape events, whatever. They still have that record though, and it seems counterproductive to me. Having a permanent badge awarded encourages you to aim for a specific character or event, but that means incentivizing you to actively avoid everything the game intends you to be doing, including avoiding the game's entire purpose in particular cases. Maybe some people find it satisfying enough just to have a record in the stats saying "lost their virginity to random bloke", but I feel like this is such a common feature anyway that it wouldn't add much even for the people who do find something in that. Even someone with a fetish for whatever it was is probably desensitized enough to not get significant satisfaction from something like that.
So, is there a greater purpose to this feature in most games? Or is it just a simple-to-implement obligatory feature that might not have much thought put into it? Even so, what good uses are there or might there be for this feature if it was used to it's full potential?
