The problem with the brothels and sex worker elements in the previous games is that it wasn't treated seriously enough. Most of those involved seemed to enjoy their work and it was all nudge, nudge, wink, wink, isn't this a bit of fun. Whereas the reality is that many sex workers don't have any option but to be there and are often exploited by people with greater power than themselves. I was always focussed on the number of elves we see wandering around the place in DA2, how Zevran says how attractive humans find them, how they have very few options in the alienage and the likelihood prostitution is the only one made available to them. Which is probably why Vaughan refers to the elven women in DAO as whores, because that is how many humans do view them.
This is actually brought out in WoT2 with regard to Zevran's mother. Apparently it was the Crows who assassinated her husband and then forced her into prostitution to pay off his outstanding debts and then after she died in childbirth, claimed her son in the same way. That is appalling but in keeping with the sort of thing that would happen in that sort of setting. However, it seems that the darker side of Thedas is now being confined to the source books rather than being shown in game. So if they do bring back brothels, it should be to show the reality of how awful it is to be stuck in the life of a sex worker with little hope of escape, not how fun it is for all concerned.
Isn't that just as one-dimensional as everything being always fun? Like everything in life, there's a spectrum. The Blooming Rose is in Hightown, and is a rather classy place, all things considered; it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was scrupulous about worker conditions.
I think the most accurate depiction would be something like Fallout: New Vegas, where the Gomorrah prostitutes tend to be abused and hooked on drugs, while the ones in Freeside and Westside are managed much more kindly.
Saying that games can't have sex workers as main characters is like saying there can't be movies where sex workers are the main characters. Plus, it is just one of many origin stories. Plus, I don't see anything wrong with, for example, in DAI an elf inquisitor that escapes his/her shady past to embrace the maker and also wage war against people engaged in human trafficking etc.
You're not wrong, but it'd have to be extremely optional to avoid skeeving people out. Perhaps have it be a dialogue option, like the ways you can explain your background to Josephine in DAI.
Back to top
