Fair enough. I mean I completely disagree but at least I can see your point. You seem to have a very similar view to yossa in this regard.
At the risk of repeating myself I don't see it as a Macguffin at all. Ic was a very core theme to both of Ocean's games. It is obvious. It is explicit. If you refuse to see it, that's on you but it won't change that fact. The games were designed by Ocean with ic at their very core. He can try to backtrack and run from it as fast as he can, he won't ever change that.
It's also very clear he sought to replace the existing ic with something that would keep the very people who supported the initial versions of WiAB. He failed miserably, imo. He failed on all counts. Trying to replace a real taboo with a manufactured one was never going to go very well. He will lose the support of the folk that wanted their kink in the game. Sadly he also failed for lots of us who never cared about ic such as myself. I just wanted something plausible and believable. I wanted something that wouldn't rely on "porn brain" to stand on its own too feet and we didn't get that, like you pointed out, with this silly mafia plotline.
Yossa is gonna mock me for using this word again but the dynamics between the characters are crucial in this sort of game. As such, when you don't "feel" it...it becomes quite hard to enjoy
