When I got in the game, Brandon and Danny’s characters were waiting outside the beginning area.
“First quest is this way.”Brandon's eager tone matched the way his avatar bounced around me.
The quest wasHunt Five Droidlingsif the text on the right side of my screen was accurate.“I mean…” I didn’t want to kill Brandon’s excitement, but “Do I have to do the beginner questsnow?I was promised orgies and nudity.Hunting droidlings isn’t the kind of sword play I signed up for.”
Danny and Brandon looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.
“I thought you wanted to play the game,” Brandon said.
“I do.”I hadn’t gone into this completely clueless—I wasn’t a gamer, but I understood the basics.“But right now I want toexperienceit.”
Danny nudged Brandon.“There’s that strip club that Sonya and Phillip are really proud of.”
I stared at Danny with disbelief.“Astrip club?Seriously?”
“No, he’s right.If you want to experience the game, that’s as good a starting point as any.”Brandon grinned.“You don’t have to believe me, but trust Danny on this.”
It took me a minute or two of fiddling with my keyboard to get the hang of walking.I followed them through some stunning and vibrant scenery, to a part of the game town that was lit with a lot of neon.I had to admit, that looked pretty neat.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the silhouette on the sign outside the club we walked up to, but when we stepped through the door and the new setting loaded, it all made sense.It was a male strip club, with some scantily clad orcs both on stage and serving drinks.
“Wow.”I wasn’t sure if it was a good exclamation or a bad one.This was certainly fascinating.I wasn’t going to yuck anyone’s yum, but this wasn’t doing anything sexual for me.“It’s warped and weird and fantastic.What else do you have like this?”
“This way, my dear.”Danny’s avatar made a sweeping bow motion as he spoke.
As they led me through the town—a vast maze that would take me days to get comfortable with on my own—they pointed out different spots.Training halls, brothels, clothing, upgrade shops, and more.I saw Phillip’s and Dustin’s influence in the art, and even in a few places where hints of Adrienne’s influence showed through, though she hadn’t been with the company long enough for a lot of her art to be released.
I recognized Sonya’s nearly fourth wall breaking sense of humor in some of the NPC’s, based on the few conversations I’d had with her.
And overlapping all of it, Brandon’s scores brought it all together.His music was seamless and stayed in the background unless one was looking for it.I was, and the sound was incredible.
There was one thing missing from my experience still.“Where’s this explicit sex I keep hearing about?”
“Brothel, hotel, any club that advertises public sex.Do you have a preference?”Brandon asked.
I shrugged.“Whatever lets me see what the hype is about.”
We got a room at a nearby hotel.As my character went to walk through a door, a series of on-screen confirmations popped up.The warnings were directly blunt that I was about to see nudity and sexual content.I should leave if I didn’t want to experience it, and I could walk away at any time I was uncomfortable.
I accepted all of it, and my screen loaded a cyberpunk looking hotel room with mirrored ceilings, a round bed in the middle, and borderline seventies porn music.A glance away from my screen showed Brandon watching me with expectation.
“Is the room for the gamer, or for you and Dustin to show off your mad skills?”I asked.
He raised his brows.“It can be both.”
I didn’t have an argument.“So how does this work?”
They walked me through the different emotes, and how the matching on screen actions changed, depending on if one, two, or all three of us were involved.“It’s cartoon people having sex.”I tilted my head as Danny’s avatar took Brandon’s cock in his mouth, and Brandon’s character fingered mine.It was definitely pornographic, and the art was stunning and anatomically correct.“It’s certainly beautiful work, but…”
“It’s a different kind of role playing,” Brandon said.
“I get the appeal, I do.But it’s not doing it for me.”I felt a little bad saying so.Like I was missing a bigger picture.
Danny stood and moved to stand behind me.What in the…?
“It’s not?”he asked.
I shook my head.