Brothels

Having desire demons in Tevinter would have been sweet, loved their design in DAO. I don't know why Bioware is dialing down on the sexy stuff in certain regards, but I most definitely don't agree with that stance.

I'd settle for a 'The Hanged Man' kinda place, hookers adult professional companions can hang if they want to. Heck, nowadays if you look around like half of your classmates are sugar babies and your favorite barista moonlights as a stripper, like, literally no one cares. Just give me a rowdy bar with a diverse, fun crowd. The dwarf bartender lady might be on OnlyFans OnlyDeepRoads and we don't know about it. Leave some things to the imagination... y'know?

Nowadays they're usually called nightclubs, but I've seen the word brothel being used still.

I don't see how the word pornstar is derogatory either, if anything "high intimacy scene performer" sounds like a joke.

I mean I understand not using certain terms because they are indeed offensive, but I don't see what's wrong about the word "pornstar"

I think it would be possible to have a high class brothel where the sex workers aren't slaves and abused. There are expensive prostitutes in real life that make a lot of money and they enjoy it. They are not the majority obviously. But it could be done in a way that is not offensive or insensitive. This is a roleplaying game supposedly so why not let players pay for sex. That itself shouldn't be problematic.

But I'd be up for showing brothels with slave workers to illustrate just how abusive (Tevinter) society can be. DA2 had some dark uncomfortable shit. Like those kidnapped elven children. Or everything to do with Hawke's mother.

So I support a brothel as a realistic part of any city. Be it lighthearted (roleplaying opportunity) or dark (storytelling opportunity). Either way is fine by me. But this series has been moving away from certain uncomfortable themes since everyone gets triggered by everything these days apparently so I never expected brothels to be back. Or desire demons.

I agree with this 100%.

You mean like Slaanesh daemons in Warhammer or at least how they used to be...?

We can't have stuff like that, that would be too much for the "modern audience" (the one that rhymes with broke) they want to appeal to in games these days.

Well, I support other women, I support h00kers, desire demons, and their right to representation in games. Come at me, IDC. What's a young, desire demon prostitute at home gonna feel like, when she can't see herself at all represented in Veilguard? The pride demon was featured in the gameplay reveal, I bet that was a stab in poor desire's heart. Let us uplift and empower, celebrate, let's be light and fluffy... instead of shaming, problemat...izing(... that a word?) everything. Desire has the *right* to support herself however she wants! You don't like desire demons? Cool, the games usually let you kill them. Don't like brothels? You don't need to go there. It's not like there's gonna be a quest requiring you to hire their services and you can't miss out on the XP. You know what was gross? The Broodmother's lair, and I powered through it, like the goddamn hero that I am! 😡

Brothels, like bars, like shops, castles, banks, freaking Templar barracks... really, like anything else, can make for a richer in-game world that looks alive - if done right.
TBH I don't even feel that strongly... or at all, about brothels in the game, but honey, this thread has got me going.

To be fair you sort of had to go to the Pearl in DAO or you wouldn't meet Isabella and get training in duelist, among other things. Then you had to go to the Blooming Rose to do various quests in DA2. As you say, though, you didn't have to participate personally. I did wonder if all of the sex workers enjoyed their work as much as Jethann did.

This is true and given the historical period it is meant to be set in they were pretty much a regular part of city life that was definitely on show in certain parts of the urban scene. Most RPG fantasy games I have played have had them in at least one major settlement, so not having one somewhere in DAI was unusual. However, given the fact that the Chantry was behind the pilgrimage to Haven before we used it as a base and then Skyhold was similarly under the auspices of senior members of the Chantry, I can understand from a story PoV why they didn't have them there. It was odd there was not one in Val Royeaux but we did only visit a very small part of the city.

Uh, what? Black elves have existed since day one.