Sociolotron

Sociolotron is the most controversial of all multi-user online role-playing games. In it, your character can get an erection, and then have sex. Sure, sex in role playing games is not shocking, but you can go a lot further than that.

Sex can quickly veer towards the dark side. Your character can be raped, or even become a rapist. These actions affect your character whether they are the victim or the perpetrator. Your character can also be a thief and commit other crimes (as well as be a victim of crime). However, crimes are quickly investigated, and your character may well wind up going to jail if caught and convicted.

The rape aspect of the game has proven quite controversial, as it is a relatively rare aspect in role-playing games. In other similar games, all sex is very specifically consensual.

In Sociolotron, you can grab another character, and if you are strong enough, regardless of whether they are male or female, you can drag them off to a private space and rape them. Unless, of course, other players see you and decide to jump in and help rescue your victim. And, there are consequences. You could get a disease. The crime will be investigated and you could go to jail. You might even get killed over it.

There are also consequences for the victim, with pregnancy and disease both possibilities. Some gamers have found the experience of their character being raped very unsettling, especially the male players.

While some may condemn this controversial addition to role-playing, some experts believe that the virtual experience might make male victims more sympathetic to the plight of female victims. For some women, rape fantasies are very common, and this is a safe way to live them out through a make believe character. Unlike games like Grand Theft Auto, that encourages similar anti-social behavior to an even more extreme degree, in this world you may choose to act out any fantasy you like- but those fantasies have consequences not just for the people you act them upon or with, they also have consequences for your character as well.

The environment of the game takes place in a ruined post apocalyptic London in the 22nd century. Characters include merchants, hookers, criminals, and even prosecutors. Sex and crime are ever present parts of the game. There is also magic, and cults, and blackmail, and assassination. You can also turn towards more productive activities, such as becoming a scientist or even Prime Minister.

When game developer Patric Lagny first made the game available online, players could commit crimes and have sex with virtually no limits on their excesses. This ultimately proved to be unsatisfying to players. By adding more real world consequences, the game became much richer and a lot more interesting to play.

If you have been watching the HBO series Westworld, you get the concept. You can be good, or you can be really really bad. You can blackmail other characters. You can be part of the legal system that enforces the law. Control does not come from above, but rests in the hands of the players, making this unlike any other online multi-player social game.

This is a game that carries dangerous consequences. You could be forced into prostitution or drug addiction. Other parts of the game include demon worshiping, discrimination against others because of their religious or moral behavior, magic based on sexual acts or rituals, crusades, and religious intolerance.

How much fun or how unpleasant you find all this, of course, depends on you. The moral implications can be debated endlessly, but it is inarguable that this is one of the most unusual of the social sex experiences. At the same time, it is a bit on the primitive side. While some people are addicted to it, it was not really for me. The game play can be quite confusing, and it does not have the support that other more established games have. The graphics are not very sophisticated. It uses a lot of descriptive text that is not particularly well written. It is not a vast richly detailed world with tons of players.

The cost to play is $4 for the first thirty days, then $9.95 a month after that.