I can't think of a single RPG that depicts sex in a healthy way.

[Lord_Potato]

Sex is a tool. That alone is a good reason to have it in an RPG.

A tool in two meanings: an instrument for advancing the plot and an instrument for characters (both PCs and NPCs) to advance their goals.

 

[Serus]

Sex is a tool. That alone is a good reason to have it in an RPG.

A tool in two meanings: an instrument for advancing the plot and an instrument for characters (both PCs and NPCs) to advance their goals.

This is a tool difficult to use. Most developers can't even use the simplest ones. Neither they can make romances. What's more, sex if included is immediately used as a tool, yes, but for getting people who are interested less in gameplay and more in sex (or romances) to buy the game. Sex and romances are both very similar in that. If done really well, sex or romances could, in theory, add something positive to certain subgenres of CRPGs. In practice it almost never works so it is much better to avoid it.

 

[Roguey]

I just realized that I've accidentally lied about the W1 cards being the only act. I've also managed to persuade Tandi from Fallout 1 to have a nice time with my character.

Tandi rejects both male and female Vault Dwellers. Prostitutes are your only option.

 

[sser]

I thought it was handled well in the Witcher series. Helps that Geralt is a sterile turbo-chad so it makes sense he'd chow down on a bunch of high-strung wizard ladies who probably can't find a masculine equal to their energy. Yennefer and Triss have really lively interactions that make it all seem rather realistic, especially if you bang them both. The lack of commodification makes it more legit, compared to the BioWare-approach of trading for sex like some sort of caveman, and every character swinging both ways which damages suspension of disbelief, or the BG3-way which is basically to insert sex into every single conversation like you're on the march with a bunch of horny teenagers.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I thought it was handled well in the Witcher series. Helps that Geralt is a sterile turbo-chad so it makes sense he'd chow down on a bunch of high-strung wizard ladies who probably can't find a masculine equal to their energy. Yennefer and Triss have really lively interactions that make it all seem rather realistic, especially if you bang them both. The lack of commodification makes it more legit, compared to the BioWare-approach of trading for sex like some sort of caveman, and every character swinging both ways which damages suspension of disbelief, or the BG3-way which is basically to insert sex into every single conversation like you're on the march with a bunch of horny teenagers.

Same with CP2077. Seems like CDPR has the best romance writers in the industry (except for MCA perhaps, but he mostly wrote sexless romances in the style of Fall-from-Grace).

 

[Gandalf]

I just realized that I've accidentally lied about the W1 cards being the only act. I've also managed to persuade Tandi from Fallout 1 to have a nice time with my character.

Tandi rejects both male and female Vault Dwellers. Prostitutes are your only option.

It seems my memory has played a trick on me (again). I do remember prostitutes in Planescape:T. That game has interesting renders in the bestiary, as I remember.

 

[Hell Swarm]

Sex is a tool. That alone is a good reason to have it in an RPG.

A tool in two meanings: an instrument for advancing the plot and an instrument for characters (both PCs and NPCs) to advance their goals.

This is a tool difficult to use. Most developers can't even use the simplest ones. Neither they can make romances. What's more, sex if included is immediately used as a tool, yes, but for getting people who are interested less in gameplay and more in sex (or romances) to buy the game. Sex and romances are both very similar in that. If done really well, sex or romances could, in theory, add something positive to certain subgenres of CRPGs. In practice it almost never works so it is much better to avoid it.

Women want the sex options. They want RPGs to be vehicles for romance plots and that's why every character's quest line now ends with you fucking them. BG3 sped things up and skipped the relationship building.