What one controversy is teaching us about sex and consent in video games

Much like sex itself, it's hard to get a sex game right on first try. While the genre known as interactive fiction often explores themes of sex and sexuality, players of mainstream video games are used to little more than the occasional, awkward and intensely unerotic cut scene. Creators, consumers and critics of this relatively young artform are still figuring out what the culture deems acceptable. That can lead to difficult conversations – as it did this month with one highly divisive scene in a game released early this year. Christine Love is a writer and programmer known for making visual novels: interactive narrative games with static 2D art, in which the player's choices often involve selecting which response to give in conversation scenes.