Pregnancy in Video Role-Playing Games

[Lisnpuppy]

There is not a place, a situation or moment in time that men and women do not have relationships. Sometimes they do not want children and will try anything to prevent it. Other times they do and it matters little what the world is like around them as they see a child as a larger goal and perhaps hope for a better future. Thent here are times when they are simply not thinking about the future at all.

 

Whatever the case I dare you to show me a time in history that this was not so. As such the women and often the men too would go to great lengths to assure the safety of the unborn child. Circumstance did not always allow the woman to stay home and be coddled. Women were put into situations where they had to defend theirselves and also what was theirs. (and Marharth, Granny was referring to the fact that there were obviously pregnant women in Fallout showing that perhaps this line of thinking was not so improbable.)

 

In a perfect world maybe this would not be so...but Fallout is FAR from a perfect world. Bethesda themselves introduced the allowance of sexual relations into the game and also showed a world where women were having children. When the player's mother became pregnant THEY made a decision to go to a vault...not all would or could.

 

I really do not understand why you all find this so troublesome. I can easily envision in my head an armor that you could just replace the belly section and not the entire thing, thus saving resources. Would it be idea for a woman to be fighting at such a time or way...no of course not. But ideal isn't always what RP is about. Role play is sometimes putting yourself into situations which you have perhaps not had experience and seeing if it works.

 

I believe that many of you in this threat are simply over-thinking the issues.

[Vagrant0]

I really hate to open the door on the strange and the bizarre... But many of those pregnancy mods and such you see in games and various social communities (Second Life, and IMVU come immediately to mind) that deal with pregnancy isn't because people want to roleplay a pregnant character so much as it's there because pregnancy is a rather established fetish in certain circles. Look it up (seriously don't, some things are best not seen) if you don't believe me, but yeah... let's all take our collective shot of whiskey and give a moment for people to vomit their guts out or simply beat their head against the wall at the slight realization that Humanity, when you really get down to looking at parts of it, is kinda, really, f***ed up.

 

I'm NOT suggesting that this is the authors intention, just that these kinds of mods have more in common with the usual breast mod than they probably should. But on that note, many of the breast and nudity mods out there weren't done to cater to hormone ridden boys (BaB body comes to mind), but because the default bodies were too fugly to leave as they were. And arguably, who's to say that someone doesn't want to roleplay a character with a waif form and a quadruple g sized chest.

 

 

Anyway, from a roleplay standpoint...

 

I think there is a difference between staying home and being coddled, and sending a woman off to a combat zone during her third trimester. The reality is this... Sure, circumstances may not always be idea, and a pregnant woman may need to travel or do other things in the name of survival, but generally, as a matter of survival, they try to avoid the chance of dangerous situations or rigorous behavior since;

 

A). Being pregnant places stresses on the body which, in an age when alcohol is about the only medicine, tend to limit both mobility and endurance.

 

B). Rigorous activity leads to miscarriage... And again, in an age where you are probably a long way from any sort of capable doctor, would probably mean the death of the mother as well.

 

C). Morning sickness tends to be stronger than any combat readiness training... Just saying.

 

Misogynistic world beliefs aside, even in those few female dominated societies which did spring up, women were rarely warriors, and especially, there was a lack of pregnant ones. Reason being that if you kill a man, it doesn't really affect the breeding population of a culture all that much. If a woman is killed through, that's one less child which can be born into the society, one less member to work and live... And in a situation where there is already a high fatality rate of children and infants, that is a risk you cannot take. Period.

[Maigrets]

I really hate to open the door on the strange and the bizarre... But many of those pregnancy mods and such you see in games and various social communities (Second Life, and IMVU come immediately to mind) that deal with pregnancy isn't because people want to roleplay a pregnant character so much as it's there because pregnancy is a rather established fetish in certain circles. Look it up (seriously don't, some things are best not seen) if you don't believe me, but yeah... let's all take our collective shot of whiskey and give a moment for people to vomit their guts out or simply beat their head against the wall at the slight realization that Humanity, when you really get down to looking at parts of it, is kinda, really, f***ed up.

 

You forgot the plethora of this type of Oblivion mod that one can stumble across when browsing various Oblivion sites either out of interest in other people's opinions or searching for mods. I can tell you the pregnancy mods on those sites are not for role playing in the sense people here think of it. To say it would make you lose your faith in humanity and as a female give you nightmares is an understatement. Raping a pregnant woman, torture...you name it, it's out there. For Oblivion.

Then, there are the other types of mods that can only be called morally bankrupt and I'm not talking about the usual sex mod one would see here. Some sites are obvious in what they host, others are not.

 

I'm NOT suggesting that this is the authors intention, just that these kinds of mods have more in common with the usual breast mod than they probably should. But on that note, many of the breast and nudity mods out there weren't done to cater to hormone ridden boys (BaB body comes to mind), but because the default bodies were too fugly to leave as they were. And arguably, who's to say that someone doesn't want to roleplay a character with a waif form and a quadruple g sized chest.

 

To reiterate what Vagrant0 has said I am also NOT suggesting anything like that regarding the author of this particular mod.

 

 

Anyway, from a roleplay standpoint...

 

I think there is a difference between staying home and being coddled, and sending a woman off to a combat zone during her third trimester. The reality is this... Sure, circumstances may not always be idea, and a pregnant woman may need to travel or do other things in the name of survival, but generally, as a matter of survival, they try to avoid the chance of dangerous situations or rigorous behavior since;

 

A). Being pregnant places stresses on the body which, in an age when alcohol is about the only medicine, tend to limit both mobility and endurance.

 

B). Rigorous activity leads to miscarriage... And again, in an age where you are probably a long way from any sort of capable doctor, would probably mean the death of the mother as well.

 

C). Morning sickness tends to be stronger than any combat readiness training... Just saying.

 

Misogynistic world beliefs aside, even in those few female dominated societies which did spring up, women were rarely warriors, and especially, there was a lack of pregnant ones. Reason being that if you kill a man, it doesn't really affect the breeding population of a culture all that much. If a woman is killed through, that's one less child which can be born into the society, one less member to work and live... And in a situation where there is already a high fatality rate of children and infants, that is a risk you cannot take. Period.

 

I find I agree completely with the above. Thank you for the first post I can actually agree on. I see Marharth's point of view here as well.

 

I was going to stay out of this discussion since for one, I've never been pregnant and never wanted to be, and two, I can't see any point in role playing a pregnant protagonist who deliberately goes into combat which is what most, if not all games make the player do.

 

Understandably, If a pregnant woman found herself under attack through no fault of her own, then yes she would have to fight or die, but to deliberately seek out combat and danger that would probably kill her and her child she would have to be suicidal or have a death wish. At the least if one wanted to role play a pregnant woman in an intentional combat situation there should be penalties according to the physical condition of the woman, not just that she looks pregnant in a special set of armour. Otherwise I can't see the point in role playing pregnancy in combat.

 

Some of the points being made about relationships, sexual and otherwise, in hostile environments or times of great stress, in REAL life are true enough and part of human nature for reasons of comfort, relief of stress and survival instincts, but I thought this topic was about role playing in games, not reality.

 

Another point as to the realism aspect mentioned so often here......why should this be considered realistic when any other time the word realism is used related to these games people jump up and down in indignation and point out that the games we play are fantasy and not real life therefore anything goes. Yes, in a fantasy game one could play as a pregnant female, but it's not realistic. It's fantasy.

[BlackBaron2]

Yep, definitely agreed, Maigrets.

 

Oblivion, Fallout 3/NV and all the other Nexus games are single-player-only fantasy games. Since at least Fallout 3/NV, Oblivion and Morrowind are easily moddable, you can make your game world reflect your fantasies. I think I can safely say that it's highly unlikely that two people would have the exact same Oblivion install, because everyone has hir own fantasies.

 

I don't think a pregnancy mod is any worse than the exaggerated anime/manga style bodies--a real person with a body shape like some of the mods available A) probably doesn't exist and B) if ze did exist, would be unable to get up and walk, let alone fight. What I'm getting at, is that it doesn't have to be realistic. It's somebody's fantasy. It might gross you out and be completely unworkable in real life, but that person with the "weird" fantasy is not hurting anybody just by making hir pixel dolls look pregnant or disproportionate or like catwalk models or whatever ze's into, and you do not have to buy into it. We've had this silly controversy over nude male mods and sexy clothing for male characters, too.

 

At the end of it, other people's fantasies of pregnant or furry or super-deformed characters aren't hurting anybody, so I don't even know why they have to be so controversial. The lore purists and "realism" enthusiasts need to take a deep breath and stop being this person:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png

[Lisnpuppy]

...and now I remember why I told myself not to post here.

[brokenergy]

Eww... why do some want to role-play as a pregnant woman? (forget I even asked that) I say that it is demeaning to a woman because you are forcing her in a role which you feel that is approprate. It's not about realism (unless if there are NPCs in-game, like some would be mum in the streets, which then it's okay because you just create a character) but to claim that it is essential for role playing, well that's just sexist. Why should women PC's and female companions be forced to be pregnant? If it's all for the sake of realism, then we should be forced eat have food, water, pee, sleep and repair broken stuff constantly because those are way more important than being pregnant.

 

Also once you are pregnant, you can't perform major tasks anymore because they put too much strain.

[BlackBaron2]

I don't think anybody said it's "essential" for roleplaying, brokenergy. I think you have got the wrong end of the stick.

[Lisnpuppy]

Eww... why do some want to role-play as a pregnant woman? (forget I even asked that) I say that it is demeaning to a woman because you are forcing her in a role which you feel that is approprate. It's not about realism (unless if there are NPCs in-game, like some would be mum in the streets, which then it's okay because you just create a character) but to claim that it is essential for role playing, well that's just sexist. Why should women PC's and female companions be forced to be pregnant? If it's all for the sake of realism, then we should be forced eat have food, water, pee, sleep and repair broken stuff constantly because those are way more important than being pregnant.

 

Also once you are pregnant, you can't perform major tasks anymore because they put too much strain.

 

 

Well damn I wish someone would have told me and the women in my family this. I would have put my feet up and eaten some chocolates for 9 months.

[LadyMilla]

Another point as to the realism aspect mentioned so often here......why should this be considered realistic when any other time the word realism is used related to these games people jump up and down in indignation and point out that the games we play are fantasy and not real life therefore anything goes. Yes, in a fantasy game one could play as a pregnant female, but it's not realistic. It's fantasy.

 

You seem to have missed the previous part of the debate between draconix and me.

 

It is about plausibility within the context of the game. For him, for reasons cited by you and Vagrant0, pregnancy is not plausible. I countered his arguments, saying that many things in the Fallout games are declared to be the way they are, and once you accept the basic premise, the game is pretty much consistent (e.g. you need to accept the fact that even after 200 years, the Washington DC metro tunnels are full of lootable items, although realistically they should have been wiped clean by raiders, scavengers, etc.,).

 

Another prime example is Little Lamplight. The game does not explain how the population of minors has been maintained for 200 years (did parents take their children to LL for some reason, did Big Town residents take their own children there, or did they travel there on their own, avoiding molerats, mutant dogs, yao guai and raiders (unlikely), why is it that even though the front gate is poorly defended (one or two hand grenades would probably blow a whole into that makeshift thing), raiders, who obviously know about the place did not raid it to sell the kids to the highest bidders, etc.

 

One might also suspect ulterior reasons behind the whole idea of a town full of children (if it were a player mod, like the Shojo race, I bet there would be a bunch of "Pedo bear is happy" comments) but then again you could suspect ulterior motives behind a lot of other mods too.

[marharth]

Its fine if the PC gets pregnant, how long are you going to stay alive realistically deep into pregnancy when you are constantly in combat?

 

What would be happening if your a PC (you would probably be somewhat rich) is that you would be in a vault getting things brought to you for months. You don't need armor for that, and it doesn't sound very fun.

 

So its not realistic in my eyes, but I also don't think realism is a problem.