iksanabot wrote: I think an artist has a responsibility to think about the promotion issue, but I don't think that an artist is responsible for the way people may react to their art.
Hmm, I'm not sure if I was misunderstood (is "bolded it" internet slang for "bullshit"? I'm asking seriously).
I am definitely not saying that an artist is responsible if someone reads their book, watches their movie, listens to their song or plays their game or whatever, and gets all fired up, then goes out and hurts somebody. But I do think that behaving morally (and it seems that this is one of the issues raised here) means actually considering the consequence of anything you do. If you make the game and someone does something nasty after playing it, specifically because of the desires the game provoked in them at that moment, it's still not your fault. But if you refuse to consider that your game could have a consequence like that, then I think your'e behaving irresponsibly. It doesn't mean don't make it, it means don't make it lightly. A good person might think about the consequences, and still decide to make it because the idea is so good, the emotion is so strong that drives them, and the contribution to culture is worth the potential one-in-a-million chance that someone gets hurt directly as a result of the game.
I'm glad Eminem wrote The Real Slim Shady, even if it means some people ate onion rings with spit on them that wouldn't have if fewer kids working at Burger King had ever heard that song. I'm glad Nabokov wrote Lolita (even younger than 16), even if it added to the number of horny old men harassing the young women in their environments after reading it. I'm not saying that I think some 16 year old girl is going to get coerced into sex and then kill herself a year later because some asshole played your game. I'm just saying that the act of full and honest consideration of the potential consequences and is the act of a good, responsible person. Recognize that there is possible harm in promoting or glorifying underage sex (even between two consenting minors), and decide if that risk is worth it.
Please realize that I'm not getting all high and mighty here - I mean, c'mon, my characters do horrible things. I recognize that it is entirely possible that some guy out there played Living with Temptation and then cheated on his wife. It's not very likely that my game turned a committed husband into a cheat, but it's possible. I think the risk that my game was going to be the single contributor to a broken marriage (even just one) was very, very small, and the value of the game and the inspiration and drive I had to write it were worth it. So it's out there now. And maybe some nannies are getting leered at because their boss can't help looking at them through the lens of a nymphomaniac seductress like Lisa, but probably not (just mine - kidding, I don't have a nanny).
If you decide to make it, given what I know of you from your presence here, I will trust it's tasteful and well-intentioned, I will probably play it, and I bet I'll like it. And I am 100% sure that I won't bother any young girls afterward.