ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on how sex can be part of quest or mission design in video games. It breaks this dynamic down into three possibilities: sex as the inciting incident of the quest, sex as the actual quest, and sex that is triggered by the end of a quest. Sex at the start of a quest can be due to an event related to a sexual encounter (e.g., a lover stealing your gear), narrative fallout from previous sex (e.g., chasing a cheating husband), or even can be the motive for a quest-giver to give you the quest. Sex as part of the quest can involve giving the player the option to “solve” the problem via consensual sex. And sex as an outcome can involve quest events triggering a sexual encounter afterward (e.g., two lovers being reunited), or more problematically, as a literal quest reward. This latter dynamic should be used sparingly and only in specific circumstances that make sense for the characters. The chapter ends with questions about how sex is integrated with existing game quests, and what the reader’s plans for their own game will be.