Indie Rock: Consensual Torture Simulator

My usual worry whenever I write about sex is that I seem only a step removed from asinine middle-school braggary. I’ve totally done it. I’ve gone fully all the way with a girl. I know, cool, right?

This week I want to talk about Merritt Kopas’ Consensual Torture Simulator, which comes with it’s own unique set of concerns. Chiefly, that I’m going to be too open about kink and it’s going to be upsetting for everyone reading to imagine my stupid face while I write it. Sorry. In order for my opinion on the game to have any real weight I have to tell you that in the right setting (candles, wine, a mix-tape of 90s ska hits) and with shared agreement I can totally enjoy a dom/sub relation.

And I suppose now is the correct time to offer a content warning for that topic. [The topic being BDSM, in case you’re not familiar with the jargon – Ed.]

The game, made in Twine and available for purchase at the link above, opens with you discussing the terms of bludgeoning your partner until she cries. This introduction is as much about making the player comfortable with what you’ll be asked to do as it is about setting up your sub’s absolute willingness to sustain agony. The game doesn’t automatically assume that you’re excited by the prospect and takes time letting you know that what you’re doing has a purpose, is absolutely being done for gratification, but not really at anyone’s expense. You’re in a loving relationship and on both sides this is an act of expression.

You’re given choices of what implement you’d like to use, then where you’ll strike her. Your partner offers suggestions, initially, of what she’d prefer. You pay attention to how she feels as you take into account your own fatigue and overstimulation, taking pauses to offer her comfort and support so you can catch a breather without breaking character.

It’s really hot. Which is the least interesting thing I have to say about it, but probably one of the most important. Play it for that reason alone if you need an interactive text-based sex sim that isn’t at all exploitative and is adult in a way that most games aren’t.

CTS has implications and statements, which are hopefully intentional, about the nature of violence in other settings. It’s impossible not to contrast your actions here with depictions elsewhere in an industry filled with avenues to whack a man with a sword or do a shoot at them. You walk away from these encounters afterward without a thought because, literally, you do it just to watch him die.

It’s different here. You’re asked to be more considerate, actually think about the context of your actions, take in the response, adjust. Your relationship is going to continue afterward. There’s a weight and consequence to that. The game being mechanically geared toward having to slow down and make sure the other person is okay reinforces this.

But yes it’s very sexy if you’re into that whole deal. Cannot overstate this.

Oh, Also:

I have to, have to, make a massive departure from all that and ask you to play the wonderful gooDDoog, which is about being a good dog even though people don’t necessarily think you’re a good dog.