Where Summer Lesson turns particularly dark for me, from what I've seen so far, is how the game goes out of it's way to really humanize the student. Sure, she's still a Japanese Schoolgirl, and stereotypical as hell, but she also talks about her friends and her family, her interests and her life. She's as close to a human being as anything else we've seen in VR so far.
But here's why that's fucked up: The game is essentially asking the player to dehumanize this girl, mentally, and secretly. When the student says "We went to the pool, wanna see a picture?" - the suggestion doesn't seem to be "This girl is flirting with you." but rather "this girl is oblivious to the sexual suggestions created by the scenario, and you, dear player, are reaping the benefits." .
I can't agree with this at all; actually, its somewhat in direct counter to what I think.
Assuming the game IS intentionally trying to be lightly sexually provocative, I think the fact that the game humanizes the character improves the game on the whole. In my opinion, the most rewardable and enjoyable types of "lewd content" is when the characters are actual characters. If characters are treated as just objects from the get-go, as if they aren't characters but rather just player models that exist to serve the player, there's a lot less emotional involvement. If you can't grow to care about a character, the content is simply less enjoyable as its not as intimate, personal, or close. And if a game's purpose in existing is to sexualize and cater to particular fetishes, then they are improved as games if they take the time to set up a story and make the characters real.
Outside of that and within the context of what you are referring to, I don't believe the game is asking the player to dehumanize the character either. Obliviousness is in itself a character trait. In that sense, if what you say is true, the game is trying to get the player to see the character as naive, innocent, and oblivious. This is how actual humans can be, and if the game is indeed what you say it is, its blatantly catering to a fetish via actual humanization. Adding in character traits rather than stripping them away.
Although maybe I'm misinterpreting what you're saying; if you are saying that because this is VR, and because the player knows that none of it is real, its allowing the player to experience thoughts and feelings without the same sense of guilt as would come from such things in real life, then I suppose I can see that as encouraging a sense of dehumanization, but only so much as far as the general escapism that you referred to like you would see in GTA. At the end of the day, all video games by virtue of being video games suffer the dilemma of being unable to be treated as real entities. You kill characters and are taught in video games to think badly of characters that, in real life, you would never dare have killed. You take on roles that you wouldn't in real life. Perhaps because you are simply unable to, or perhaps because they're actually immoral. Games like Killer Is Dead for example give you the chance to feel what its like to be an assassin, all while characterizing the main character as being some sort of cool level-headed hero. But he's still an assassin at the end of the day. You forgive this as the player however, as it is just a game. I don't see Summer Lesson as being much different in this sense.
not discussed, not get localised.
Aww. I could understand someone feeling most of what you said, but with these I can't help but be a little sad. Wanting the game to not get localized is taking the game away from those who might like the game specifically because of your personal feelings towards it. And even content that is bad in nature has something to be gained from being discussed, as people can learn more about video games in general and how people treat and interact with them as well as how they affect people, and, beyond this, learn more about each other as human beings. Discussion of even the most abhorrent things leaves something to be gained, as much as people might want to throw such things under a rug and forget about them. Perhaps even just to learn what not to do when making a video game in order to help improve them overall and/or help game developers gain feedback to improve their games in future titles.
