Random Thoughts #3: Realism Vs. Consistency

Hello again! It has been...

looks at calendar

chokes a little

cough Anyway, uhh, a post! And this time it's not about Blender features, but about writing!

This is a topic that has come up a lot in conversation as there are quite a few varied opinions on it. It's a subject that I think a lot of devs tackle, but not necessarily well. And that is the idea of Realism, specifically in the erotic game category. Some devs outright do not care about it, and others treat it as the alter to sacrifice any and all ideas. My opinion sits comfortably in between these two, but not really in a wishy-washy sort of way, as I will get into in a bit. But first, let's talk about what I mean when I say "realism"

What is Realism?

Realism is about being as close to reality as possible. If you are making a story with police, making sure characters go through complete procedure and not, say, making them go on a car chase in a bus through LA causes millions in property damage and dozens of injuries.

You might then take this to mean "simulation" or "unfun nonsense" but it's really more about how the fictional world responds to events. This can take the form of physically accurate (hitting shot should not send a person flying) or historically accurate (a medieval women should not be wearing nylon panties).

The real key is that realism is very detail-oriented. Failing to note details can make realism "fall apart". As I will note later, this is often the fatal flaw.

Why would someone pursue realism?

There are several reasons that someone might pursue it, chief among them being "immersion". The basic idea being, the more close something is to reality, the easier it is to "accept" it.

This post isn't me rejecting the idea out of hand: it's true that players often empathize better with features that seem more real, more tangible. That can sort of be seen in the general preference (in proportion) players have to modern settings, and photorealistic style.

But an interesting thing about realism is that it can only be as real as people's expectations. In the 19th century, it was believed a large head meant a large brain, and therefore a smarter person. Even now that is an expectation people have, so when they see a large headed genius character, they might think "that's fine" and the deductions Sherlock made about a hat he found completely sound.

The bullet physics example is very common here: people are USED to seeing people go flying when shot due to the fact that people see it happen in movies and TV. So when it doesn't happen, it can have the opposite effect of disappointing people and making them disconnect. You need to know what is realistic in this scenario, implicitly.

Selective realism

For this reason, with those who pursue realism, it tends to be a very narrow focus. In porn games, it tends to relate to fetishes:

"She's in her 20's, there is no way she is a virgin".

"There is no way that so many women would accept sharing their lover"

"No way an entire family is ok with incest"

"NTR is natural, people cheat all of the time"

In a realistic fashion, all of these statements are true. None of them are impossible, of course, but they are very improbable. However, in the same game you might have these things appear:

• Cartoon mafia
• Futanari
• Pixies
• Perfect aphrodisiacs

All of these things are fetish related but not at all realistic. So why is realism used as reasoning for the other features? Well, the main reason is because it's hard to say "I don't like that fetish". People take offense! But it's a more honest answer.

If that's your reasoning, then be honest about it. If you say it's about realism, then you just open up your game for more scrutiny for you realism failings. "Harems aren't realistic!" Ok, but a cast of supermodels working at cafes and bookstores is? Being upfront can avoid being ridiculed. This isn't going to make people wanting that fetish content happy, but it's easier to deal with. If not... well, your character who supposed to be poor better not be wearing expensive designer clothes, or else they are coming for you!

Generally speaking, though, people using this reasoning were never actually going for realism. I mean, clearly not if the plot includes pixies and the like. But some people ARE going for that in order to fulfill immersion and they think that realism is what they want. Well, in practice... no.

Consistency

As noted, realism is only as good as your reader/player's understandings. If their understandings are wrong, you might have reality in your defense, but people will still reject you as in the end they are seeking entertainment. It doesn't hurt to accept that you are locking out a bunch of people, but if the goal is immersion in order for people to enjoy... you pretty much have failed already.

But realism isn't the real goal in this case anyway: immersion is! People are still immersed in Sci-fi and fantasy novels, despite much of the content being completely fabricated. Why are people still immersed in these wholly unrealistic scenarios? Consistency.

The most important feature of reality is that it has implicit rules. So long as it has these rules and those rules are followed sufficiently, people will accept anything. People are even willing to ignore some inconsistencies for narrative reasons: game where there are resurrection powers lets character be stabbed and dead forever... fine! Millions of copies sold.

Another example: Clan of the Cave Bears depicted Neanderthals as mostly incapable of vocal speech based on the understanding of the time, but subsequent discovery changed this view, and consequently made the novel's depiction no longer in line with reality. But, that hasn't stopped the books from being popular: that's because in the end, they didn't care about that details being a reflection of the world, just that the details played into the story well. It was immersive, not by being true, but by being honest.

When it comes to porn especially, people are willing to accept many things for the sake of their personal fetishes. As long as you aren't leaning on realism as a crutch in other places, you can bend believability for the sake of porn so long as it is consistent.

Conclusion?

This was more or less just me rambling about dumb stuff, maybe a little incoherent, I dunno. If I'm honest, I just wanted to say something. And it also touches a bit on my own philosophy on realism: don't expect me to follow it. I will always attempt to be consistent, though.

I'm just getting back into the swing of things, and this was a good enough starting point. Expect an SD progress post on Thursday, though temper your expectations. Like I said, I am just getting back into the swing of things. Most of the people reading this will have an idea of what that is about, but it's not something I want to get into on a public forum. Anyway, I hope you see you Thursday!