So this month I want to look at couples in video games. Why? Because it's the Month of Love, that's why. It's also Black History Month, and as much as I believe that looking at the way people of African descent have been presented in gaming is a far, far greater topic to discuss than lovey dovey couples, I didn't have the time to do the proper research, so lovey dovey couples it is. But where's the fun in seeing JUST happy couples? Why not look at couples who are just so damn WRONG for each other? And that's how we'll start this Month of Love, with a couple whose entire existence is simply wrong, wrong, wrong.
OK, so in Christine Love's Visual Novel don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story, you play John Rook, age 38, twice divorced, former computer tech guy now working as a High School English teacher so he can feel like he's doing something with his life. John Rook, by the player's choice, can start a relationship with one of his students: the 16 year old Arianna. In the game (the title's so damn long, I'll have to refer to it as "the game" from this point onward) John Rook has special authority to look at his student's Aimee Connect profiles (the Facebook of the future, to put it in Layman's terms, but with a bit of MySpace elements) and read their chats, status updates, and unless they put it in special password protected files, anything they upload in their private chats.
So it's the first day of school, and no sooner does John Rook introduce himself to the class, Arianna posts on her Aimee that she finds John Rook to be "teh smex", which is Internet jargon for being sexy. John Rook sees this, but doesn't react at all. He can't, after all, let the students know he can see their online comments! During class, Arianna chats with her friends online, deciding on a strategy for getting John Rook's attention, and they hatch a "clever" plan. I put clever in quotation marks because, well, it's a little predictable.
Arianna's plan is: wear an adult dress (a navy blue mini with a black jacket), ask for some alone time with John Rook, and work her magic. Brilliant (he says sarcastically). Arianna lays down the charm, pretending to be interested in whatever John Rook has to say. Thing is, to get him alone with her, Arianna had to ask John Rook for help to understand a subject that was being discussed in class. She's USING his position as her teacher to put him in a situation where she can seduce him! Thankfully, John's not an idiot (yet) and puts the kibosh on this plan, saying they should both leave. Sadly, it's raining cats and dogs, and John forgot his umbrella. Unfortunately, Arianna didn't, and she offers to share. And here is where things get dangerous: John can either reject the umbrella and risk catching a cold under the rain, or he can accept Arianna's help and place himself in a position where he'll, inevitable, be the jerk. It's the player's choice.
Let me make a parenthesis here, OK? A real teacher who knows, or at least suspects, that his/her student is trying to put moves on them would choose to turn down this offer. A real teacher will put his/her foot down and say something like "I know what you're planning, and this is unethical. I'm your teacher, you're my student. Nothing can nor ever will happen between us, and that's the end of this discussion." I'm getting ahead of myself here, let's continue.
Should the player choose to accept her offer, the two walk down to his house, where the player is once more offered one hell of a choice: turn her down gently, or let go and pursue this relationship. And when these choices were presented to me, it became clear to me that John Rook was a horrid teacher. Letting her down gently only sends mixed messages ("Aren't I too old for you?"), which she will misinterpret as he being insecure. And you know what? That's TYPICAL of teenagers! She doesn't have the life experience yet to know that, sometimes, men project insecurity because they are trying to gently turn you down!
If you pursue a relationship with her, do not worry, you two never have sex, ever; the most you'll do is kiss. But that doesn't matter, because this relationship is unethical. Entering this relationship, knowingly, is beyond a breach of ethics for John Rook. It is a breach of trust, because John Rook was trusted with taking care of Arianna. He has been entrusted with expanding her mind, teaching her, being an adult figure she can trust. And he's making out with her. No he's not using his position as a teacher to get her naked, but that doesn't matter, because this is a relationship that should have never started to begin with. Teaching is a job, a career. Your responsibility is to teach your charges certain subjects and to serve as a role model. In this way, you are placed as an authority figure as well. Your students are NOT your equals, they are not your friends, they are your charges. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Half a day. She's known John Rook for half a day before she decides she wants to try and enter a relationship with him. Half a day! And in two days she's built up this image of John Rook that, quite frankly, the man only lives up to by THE PLAYER'S CHOICE! She sees him as this kind, smart, compassionate man, but how the hell did she even build that image? She based it on nothing; she's just projecting what she WANTS him to be! Oh, but it gets worse. So much worse.
In the third chapter of the game, John Rook finds one of his students has stopped going to class. Her Aimee Connect profile is filled with nothing but vaguely suicidal messages, so John (and the player) is led to believe a suicide has happened. The girl (her name's Isabella) and Arianna were good friends, so naturally, she's distressed. If she's in a relationship with John Rook, she goes to his house, late at night, unchaperoned, and the two watch TV. If she's not in a relationship with him, she coerces a hug out of him, and steals a kiss too. Innocent, right?
NO! No no no! See, Isabella never killed herself, she was only changing schools and shutting down her Aimee Connect profile and was being dramatic about it! And John Rook, inexperienced with Aimee, fell for it! And Arianna knew Isabella was moving away, she KNEW! And she STILL coerces a kiss out of John Rook, and lets him believe that Isabella died! She never, not ONCE, tells John the truth!
Trust. Trust is the key ingredient to any romance, any relationship, be it romantic, platonic, whatever. Trust is hard to gain but easy to lose; it is not to be taken for granted, and it certainly isn't a toy to be played with. John Rook trusted Arianna, and what does she do? Play around. She plays around with his emotions like they were some kind of toy.
"But she didn't know she was doing something wrong!" I hear you say. "She was just a high school girl playing a prank on her teacher! She was just being immature!" And there we go. She's immature, that's the key word here. She lacks the maturity needed to be in a relationship with a man old enough to be her father. She lacks the maturity that an ADULT relationship demands, and part of the reason for that is due to her age. She's 16, and yes, that is the age of consent for most of the world, but there's a difference between sex and love. Love, as I said, is trust, love is respect, love is understanding, love is a lot of things.
I can not claim to be an expert on love, but I know at least that love isn't emotionally manipulating someone so you can coerce them into a relationship, so you can steal a kiss, or so you can spend some time with them. Love isn't allowing your boyfriend to continue believing someone's dead when you know damn well they're not, causing them unwarranted grief. Arianna, like it or not, is at best an immature teenage girl who still has a lot of growing up to do before she enters a relationship with an adult. Projecting qualities unto someone is not what adults do when they love someone; an adult loves someone, warts and all. Adult love is to see the flaws in our partners and love them regardless. She's just a girl, and that's the big, big issue here.
John Rook should have known that. He should have known that Arianna is still a teenage girl with lots of growing up to do. The fact he chooses to ignore that (granted, by player's choice, but the choice is there because it's a possibility) speaks terribly on his character. Forgetting the age difference, because it is possible for a love between a 38 year old man and a 16 year old girl to be true and pure, there's the fact that he is her teacher. This relationship is unequal; he has authority over her, and whether he likes it or not part of the deal of teaching is that you're a teacher even off the clock.
This is an unhealthy relationship, and I have no other way to describe it. She's too immature, and he's her teacher. If these two would wait just a few years, let her graduate and mature a little, then this whole thing could work. But as it stands, it's a terrible relationship that should not be.
So it's the first day of school, and no sooner does John Rook introduce himself to the class, Arianna posts on her Aimee that she finds John Rook to be "teh smex", which is Internet jargon for being sexy. John Rook sees this, but doesn't react at all. He can't, after all, let the students know he can see their online comments! During class, Arianna chats with her friends online, deciding on a strategy for getting John Rook's attention, and they hatch a "clever" plan. I put clever in quotation marks because, well, it's a little predictable.
Arianna's plan is: wear an adult dress (a navy blue mini with a black jacket), ask for some alone time with John Rook, and work her magic. Brilliant (he says sarcastically). Arianna lays down the charm, pretending to be interested in whatever John Rook has to say. Thing is, to get him alone with her, Arianna had to ask John Rook for help to understand a subject that was being discussed in class. She's USING his position as her teacher to put him in a situation where she can seduce him! Thankfully, John's not an idiot (yet) and puts the kibosh on this plan, saying they should both leave. Sadly, it's raining cats and dogs, and John forgot his umbrella. Unfortunately, Arianna didn't, and she offers to share. And here is where things get dangerous: John can either reject the umbrella and risk catching a cold under the rain, or he can accept Arianna's help and place himself in a position where he'll, inevitable, be the jerk. It's the player's choice.
Let me make a parenthesis here, OK? A real teacher who knows, or at least suspects, that his/her student is trying to put moves on them would choose to turn down this offer. A real teacher will put his/her foot down and say something like "I know what you're planning, and this is unethical. I'm your teacher, you're my student. Nothing can nor ever will happen between us, and that's the end of this discussion." I'm getting ahead of myself here, let's continue.
Should the player choose to accept her offer, the two walk down to his house, where the player is once more offered one hell of a choice: turn her down gently, or let go and pursue this relationship. And when these choices were presented to me, it became clear to me that John Rook was a horrid teacher. Letting her down gently only sends mixed messages ("Aren't I too old for you?"), which she will misinterpret as he being insecure. And you know what? That's TYPICAL of teenagers! She doesn't have the life experience yet to know that, sometimes, men project insecurity because they are trying to gently turn you down!
If you pursue a relationship with her, do not worry, you two never have sex, ever; the most you'll do is kiss. But that doesn't matter, because this relationship is unethical. Entering this relationship, knowingly, is beyond a breach of ethics for John Rook. It is a breach of trust, because John Rook was trusted with taking care of Arianna. He has been entrusted with expanding her mind, teaching her, being an adult figure she can trust. And he's making out with her. No he's not using his position as a teacher to get her naked, but that doesn't matter, because this is a relationship that should have never started to begin with. Teaching is a job, a career. Your responsibility is to teach your charges certain subjects and to serve as a role model. In this way, you are placed as an authority figure as well. Your students are NOT your equals, they are not your friends, they are your charges. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Half a day. She's known John Rook for half a day before she decides she wants to try and enter a relationship with him. Half a day! And in two days she's built up this image of John Rook that, quite frankly, the man only lives up to by THE PLAYER'S CHOICE! She sees him as this kind, smart, compassionate man, but how the hell did she even build that image? She based it on nothing; she's just projecting what she WANTS him to be! Oh, but it gets worse. So much worse.
In the third chapter of the game, John Rook finds one of his students has stopped going to class. Her Aimee Connect profile is filled with nothing but vaguely suicidal messages, so John (and the player) is led to believe a suicide has happened. The girl (her name's Isabella) and Arianna were good friends, so naturally, she's distressed. If she's in a relationship with John Rook, she goes to his house, late at night, unchaperoned, and the two watch TV. If she's not in a relationship with him, she coerces a hug out of him, and steals a kiss too. Innocent, right?
NO! No no no! See, Isabella never killed herself, she was only changing schools and shutting down her Aimee Connect profile and was being dramatic about it! And John Rook, inexperienced with Aimee, fell for it! And Arianna knew Isabella was moving away, she KNEW! And she STILL coerces a kiss out of John Rook, and lets him believe that Isabella died! She never, not ONCE, tells John the truth!
Trust. Trust is the key ingredient to any romance, any relationship, be it romantic, platonic, whatever. Trust is hard to gain but easy to lose; it is not to be taken for granted, and it certainly isn't a toy to be played with. John Rook trusted Arianna, and what does she do? Play around. She plays around with his emotions like they were some kind of toy.
"But she didn't know she was doing something wrong!" I hear you say. "She was just a high school girl playing a prank on her teacher! She was just being immature!" And there we go. She's immature, that's the key word here. She lacks the maturity needed to be in a relationship with a man old enough to be her father. She lacks the maturity that an ADULT relationship demands, and part of the reason for that is due to her age. She's 16, and yes, that is the age of consent for most of the world, but there's a difference between sex and love. Love, as I said, is trust, love is respect, love is understanding, love is a lot of things.
I can not claim to be an expert on love, but I know at least that love isn't emotionally manipulating someone so you can coerce them into a relationship, so you can steal a kiss, or so you can spend some time with them. Love isn't allowing your boyfriend to continue believing someone's dead when you know damn well they're not, causing them unwarranted grief. Arianna, like it or not, is at best an immature teenage girl who still has a lot of growing up to do before she enters a relationship with an adult. Projecting qualities unto someone is not what adults do when they love someone; an adult loves someone, warts and all. Adult love is to see the flaws in our partners and love them regardless. She's just a girl, and that's the big, big issue here.
John Rook should have known that. He should have known that Arianna is still a teenage girl with lots of growing up to do. The fact he chooses to ignore that (granted, by player's choice, but the choice is there because it's a possibility) speaks terribly on his character. Forgetting the age difference, because it is possible for a love between a 38 year old man and a 16 year old girl to be true and pure, there's the fact that he is her teacher. This relationship is unequal; he has authority over her, and whether he likes it or not part of the deal of teaching is that you're a teacher even off the clock.
This is an unhealthy relationship, and I have no other way to describe it. She's too immature, and he's her teacher. If these two would wait just a few years, let her graduate and mature a little, then this whole thing could work. But as it stands, it's a terrible relationship that should not be.
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