by tlaero » Fri, 16Feb19 05:00
Let's be clear. What Sarah did to Marc in the start of the game was completely unfair to him. Sylvia made it clear in his office that Sarah had prejudged him without so much as even seeing him. And she practically apologized for the evening ahead of time. Sarah wore the outfit she wore as outright entrapment so that she could prove to Sylvia that Marc was scum, like all the others. And the sex thing, while serving the secondary purpose of amping things up with Sylvia, was really another form of entrapment. Sarah assumed Marc wouldn't keep it in his pants and that she'd get to be smug about it.
The suggestion that she pull Marc aside and tell him what's going on would have been completely at odds with the whole point of the scene.
To show character growth, a character needs room to grow. And Sarah grows a lot throughout the game. The line in the bonus where Sylvia says, "You hate all guys" and Sarah replies, "I like Marc," has weight because of the initial scene.
When Marc didn't live "down" to her expectations, it rattled her prejudices. His actions throughout the game continued to drive home how wrong she was. All this talk about how weak he is seems to be based on the fact that he doesn't beat his chest like a gorilla, grab his woman by the hair, and drag her where he wants to go. But he gets results. He convinces a blatant sexist that she's wrong about men (or at least, a man). He halts a depressed person's slide into alcoholism. He gets a band back together. And he plays an important part in saving the lives of hundreds of people. I find those results to be a serious indication of strength. In my opinion, they're a better indication than him storming out would have been. If I asked you to think of great people in history who are remembered for combating various "isms" (racism, sexism, etc), you're more likely to come up with people who stood their ground than people who stormed out when they were mistreated.
There are around 5 exits from that scene where Marc acts like the person Sarah thinks he is. I didn't think to add a 6th exit where he "stands up for his rights" and walks out so that he's not forced to look at two hot women having sex. I'm not sure what purpose that would have served, though. Sarah would have said, "Told you he's a jerk" and wouldn't have changed her prejudiced opinions of him. I'd have written another version of the "Marc brings Jessika home drunk" scene where Sarah doesn't call him a pervert, but also doesn't offer to have him stay on the couch (why would she?). And you wouldn't have enough "good" points to make it with Jess nor enough "lewd" points to go down the other path. It'd be just a long path to a dead end.
I will confess, though, that the thought of a single guy not wanting to watch people have sex, even though they want him there, didn't occur to me. That probably shows some of my own prejudices. I know plenty of wonderful, loving husbands who would close their eyes or leave out of respect for their wives. But single, unattached guys who don't have to feel like they're "cheating"? Before this thread, I'd never have guessed that there are guys who would consider that a bad thing.
Part of the reason my games are well received is that I portray women more realistically than most erotic games do. It seems, though, that I'm guilty of the reverse, and am stereotypical with my guys. That's fair. I'll work on doing better in the next one.
Tlaero