Adult Analysis Anthology #3

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Video games about sex have existed as long as video games have existed, but you'd never know it by looking at the past several decades of video-game-focused journalism and criticism. Adult games are seen as lesser, their content shameful and sophomoric, embarrassing to even acknowledge - never mind write about. Advertiser prudery more or less guarantees that no large outlets will ever dedicate more than the occasional article to the subject of adult games, and what other coverage that exists on the topic amounts to little more than surface-level reviews of new releases on small-scale enthusiast sites.

And yet - there are thousands of adult games, played by millions of people. From dubiously-translated Japanese imports, to crass, high-energy Flash photo hunts, to experimental Twine explorations of darker kinks, to the current-day crop of Ren'Py-powered visual novels and RPGMaker offerings, adult games have shaped and excited our sexuality through countless experiences. Surely, within all of those experiences, all of that history, all of that craft, there must be SOME things worth writing about!

The third issue brings with it FOURTEEN new essays on just that subject! Weighing in at over 100 pages and more than 30,000 words, this is the longest issue of AAA by a wide margin! Please enjoy this celebration of adult games and adult game culture!

CONTENTS

YES, IT WAS WORTH IT: AN ARGUMENT FOR QUALITY PORN GAMES - Zoquete offers a spirited defence of their decision to make lewd content an integral part of their top-down action/kinetic novel hybrid Deathblossom, in the face of reactions that presume this somehow sullies the work.

CARNAL TACTICS: A NU: CARNIVAL REVIEW - Amenyx brings us a retrospective on the past three years of smash-hit erotic live-service turn-based battler Nu:Carnival, looking all features of the game including its story, characters, visuals, gameplay, and fandom.

PLAYING WITH MYSELF: ASEXUALITY AT PLAY IN COURSE OF TEMPTATION - A piece on the experience playing adult games while asexual by MorganH, covering the simulation of sexual attraction along with the representation of asexuality in porn games like Course of Temptation.

DEMONS ROOTS AN SEX AS "CONTENT" - A look at the idea of games having "core content" and "optional content" as it applies to HRPGs like Demons Roots, which largely segregates its sexual content outside of the main story, and the advantages and drawbacks thereof, by Eithi.

PLEASE LET ME SAY YES: A STUDY OF CONSENT & AGENCY IN EROGE - BáiYù explores expressions of consent within queer erotic game narratives by marginalized developers, and the effect those expressions have on the perceived edginess of those games' sex acts.

"CLICKING AWAY WHILE IMAGINING HOW THINGS WOULD FEEL" - A SURVEY OF GENDER FEELINGS IN PORN GAMES - A series of interviews with players of chat game Bondage Club (and other games) by Faye, a mouse, that digs into the relationship between adult games, adult game communities, and journeys of gender discovery.

CRINGE, REDUX: THE SUBVERSE RE-REVIEW - Someone plays a devilish trick on Bigg and forces him to return to Studio FOW's Subverse and report back on what's changed since the game went gold.

THE MEET 'N' FUCK SAGA - A history of the prolific (and still-running) Meet 'N' Fuck franchise of adult Flash games by Liz Alfos, from its standard-setting explosion onto the scene, to it evolution of style, to its influence (good and bad) on the landscape of internet porn games, to its legacy as a titan of the genre.

THE TENSION BETWEEN "ARTISTIC" ADULT GAMES & PORNOGRAPHY, AND HOW A DISTINCTION CANNOT EXIST UNDER CAPITALISM - A discussion of the friction between developers of games that employ sex and eroticism in "serious", "artistic" ways, and developers of explicitly-pornographic titles, and how under capitalism the difference between the two is much narrower than most people think, by Stanley Baxton.

SEX AND COLOR IN SCARLET MAIDEN - A reflection by MxMorganic on their experiences playing adult games where they found the gameplay just as compelling, if not more so, than the sexual content that they bought the games for in the first place.

BAD END: THE SEDUCTION OF "GAME OVER" - An examination by Mogs K of their own relationship to eroticized failure states in both intentionally-erotic and unintentionally-erotic games, and how this paradoxical reward for failing influences how players might approach these games.

SHE'S NOBODY'S WOMAN, LITERALLY: A DEEP-DIVE INTO THE NTR GENRE & WHY IT'S EVERYWHERE - Leo G. digs into the porn game phenomenon of NTR games and their popularity with gamers and developers alike.

I AM THE TRIGGER: WHAT ADULT GAMES CAN LEARN FROM FANDOM - A celebration of the often-overlooked power of content warnings to inform and titillate players by Lindsay Ishihiro, looking at the lessons adult games can take from fandom spaces and how content warnings can be used to support potentially-challenging subject matter.

THEY SHOULD MAKE 'EM ALL LIKE THIS: THE HARDCODED REVIEW - Bigg is finally permitted to play a good game.