Breaking Down the Sex in Dragon Age: Origins

The only spoilers in the writeup concern characters and, of course, descriptions of the sex itself. It does not give up any plot spoilers. In summary, here’s what the sexytime does, or doesn’t do, for Dragon Age: Origins.

So what’s the point of all this? Good question. Sex is a very difficult game design challenge, no surprise there, and Dragon Age does it right when it incorporates sex directly into the narrative (the aforementioned spoiler I don’t want to reveal). But the casual sex, which could be used as a tool to deepen your understanding and empathy for the other characters, tends to reinforce the idea of women as alternately jealous, catty, smothering, and weak-willed (easily taking back a lover that has strayed), while perpetuating the stereotype of the promiscuous gay/bisexual man. I guess what I’m saying is…the sex could be better.

Yeah, but so could a pizza. Bottom line, it’s still a pizza. I mean sex. You get the idea.