Guilty Pleasures in Gaming

I'm a gamer. I don't get as much time to play as I used to, but I game whenever I can. I'll play a little of everything, but my favourite type of game, by far, is role playing. I love being in a story that the game and I are telling together, and I like having some choice as to who and what my character is.

I jokingly refer to my XBox as "The Bioware Engine." I love Bioware games. I love the writing, the stories, the ability to choose the personality of my character through his or her choices... And, well, I love the romance.

And this is where I talk about the "guilty" part of this pleasure. I have been known to play Bioware games over and over and over for romances alone. I'll zip through all the other (wonderful) dialogue just to get the spicy/sweet/dirty stuff. I'm an addict now. I need my games to have fully fleshed (heh) love stories. Obviously, Bioware isn't opposed, because they keep creating these romances for me to play through, but it seems to have created a bigger problem for me.

Now I find myself looking online for dating games, or Japanese-style harem games, where your actions dictate who falls in love with you and who you end up with. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find these in English? I have found, and played the hell out of, one. That would be Matches and Matrimony: A Pride and Prejudice Tale. And I don't even like the idea of a Jane Austen game focusing on marriage as the goal. But! But, it has heaps of Austen's original writing, and it's just like the aforementioned harem games.

So there is my confession. I share, not only seeking absolution, but also in hope that someone out there knows of other such games. Seriously. Anyone?