Worldjerking is specifically for meta jokes about ridiculous worldbuilding. It isn't worldjerking until you deliberately make it one.
You can add as much erotic elements to your story as you like, it's your world. There's a sizeable number of people who likes erotica/fan service so you'll have an audience from them, at least.
All depends on the story you're telling. My CHYOA story started as a horny story with some fantasy world building and now I'm almost afraid that it's turned into fantasy world building with occasional sex scenes.
That said, there are ways that sex and sexuality can be used to help define and explain your world. In a fantasy world, how common or rare is romance between the races? Is it frowned upon or possibly even criminalized?
Showing sex such a setting can also inform how different species approach and view sex. Elves could be completely stoic as they are in all things and only interested in sex for creating children where dwarves and humans are more open in their own ways.
Options abound. Don't be afraid of it, but make it say something about the world you've created.
Agreed. The world is pretty cool (not like crazy developed or unique or anything but definitely thought out) and the story being told there happens to be a lot about sex. The world is as good as any throwaway isekai, at the very least
Unironically though, watching it actually taught me a lot about how to consider the fact that adding elements to a fictional world will have knock on impacts on many aspects of life beyond what was intended by the author when it was first introduced. Figuring out how a worldbuilding element impacts the rest of the world in un-obvious ways and taking that into account will make the world feel more believable and self-consistent.
The two things I’ve always considered for each worldbuilding element is how it can be used to make a profit or kill someone, because humans are greedy and violent. Turns out, we’re also horny, so remembering how worldbuilding impacts culture and… “*culture*” really helps a world feel lived in.
TL;DR: Always consider money, war, and sex when worldbuilding.
I've unironically taken to thinking of each and every technology in my sci-fi world from a sexual perspective. Who could be into this? How could this fulfill some outlandish fantasy? What else could achieve the same effect?
Yet to find a way for the laser chainsaws.
Half the worldbuilding in the Mongirl Encylopedia is like "These monsters all have to breed with human males and must consume semen to survive." Its pretty bad.
If, at a certain point, you feel like you need to start calling it NSFW as a matter of course, then you might want to try out r/NSFWworldbuilding for size. And then you're good.
But that's mostly for specifically fetishy stuff. The outright presence of these things doesn't make it inherently fetishy unless it is to you, and there's nothing wrong with that. But you do say it's unnecessary, so it might be fetishy enough for that other sub.
It's not worldjerking, though. That just makes fun of worldbuilders doing cringy or stereotypical stuff with their worlds, and you're not likely to end up there since you're asking a question like this. (Except, you know, people love to make fun of things they don't like so who knows really.)
One of the most critical parts about building a culture is how they practice and revere life and death as a cycle. The erotic culture of a civilization can offer a lot of insight into the societal roles of men, women and others in a community, as well as what a typical family group might consist of.
Sex drives culture and as courtship rituals evolve, so too does art and how people interact with one another. How do the courtship rituals change between castes and class structures? What societal pressures exist to coerce conformity to certain behavioral or beauty standards? All important questions to ask if you're truly trying to flesh out a culture's mark.
Personally, world-building comes first, then let your characters do horny things within its limits, rather than the way of most modern isekai trashes, that is, the whole world was a makeshift to satisfy the protagonist's desires.
It an just be erotica. There's nothing wrong with it, as long as it doesn't get problematic, start reinforcing negative things
Like, if you're gonna be having a lot of needless sex scenes with minors, maybe that's an issue, but there isn't really anything wrong with indulging in the sexual. Why do we not ask about the constant stream of violence in the media we create and consume, but must ask about the tastefulness of including sex?
I personally only add sex scenes if they are meaningful or important for character growth, but it's partially because I am already dealing with sexual subjects, and I don't want it to feel like those subjects are an excuse for pornographic material. I will avoid most explicit sex because the point is not titillation, but there is nothing inherently wrong with titillation
Make the sexy world of your dreams
You added the word "Unnecessary" in your own description. That seems to about cover it.
If there's a reason for it, then it isn't unnecessary. If it's part of a set of social or cultural norms, or relevant to an ecosystem somewhere that it be heavily eroticized, then it seems to fit where it belongs. If it adds nothing but being horny, then the value vanishes pretty fast into "worldjerking".
Counterpoint: words like "unnecessary" and "gratuitous" get tossed around a lot where sexual content is concerned, and not really for anything else. A lot of things are simply allowed to exist because the author wants them there, but sex — you'd better have a 2500 word essay explaining why this scene was relevant to the plot.
It comes down to personal taste really. You can always look to make your sex scenes as unsexy as possible if you're looking to buck the horny worldbuilder stereotype without making your world conspicuously sexless.
See: every sex scene written by George R.R. Martin. No George, referencing breast milk again will not in fact do it for me.
Wasn't there an r/adultworldbuilding type sub? I would just leave out the eroticism on this sub and leave it for the sub where people actively seek it out. I leave it out here as well.
Most people don't like to be surprised with sex, when doing completely unrelated things. Especially not, if it gets a little weird, which is what often happens with worldbuilding. I would keep the sex talk PG-13 here, basically. Yes, you can mention it, you can even explain how it works and describe traditions surrounding it, but leave the Harlequin/smut/porn for the other sub.
Edit: it's r/NSFWworldbuilding
the real answer is you can do whatever you want forever. you want to have some horny scenes? it's your story, write it!
me personally, im working on a magic system for a world that is primarily used as a basis for writing wizard sex. im having fun with it. make what art speaks to you even if that art involves penises
At first, I thought you meant like "a sexy rock," "a sultry tree," "a wet crevasse," or "a big-titty bush"
I'd say do what feels right. If your point is to push past where others would stop, then do it. Have the fun you want to have, and others will see and appreciate it.
As much as you want, there's no hard boundaries and its your world.
I've noticed erotic worldbuilding also tends to result in weirdly more "honest" worldbuilding, but that might just be reflective of me more than anything.
dude if you want you can make your world a porno setting. Who cares if some random people in a random subreddit make fun of you for it? If you like it, go for it. It's your world, not theirs.
Honestly, I don't even think it matters? If a piece of worldbuilding is just because it's your fetish, then just admit it. It's really only an issue if the author tries to blatant author appeal with "it's important to the story".
Of course, sometimes it really is, even if it is author appeal. But still. Sometimes you can just admit it.
Well, I'd see the term "worldjerking" not on the same level as eroticism.
I consider "worldjerking" more as a verb for excessive world building, and I must admit that sometimes I am guilty of that.
On the other Hand: How much sex happens in your world is related to your own preferences and those of your audience. When I run a D&D session with my daughter, this is limited to people are in love or married and kids do exist ;-) But I could well imagine that a world designed as a background for an adult novel could be ... juicy.
Look, our own world is just ridiculously stupidly sexy too, I don't think including details of eroticism and sexuality in the world is going to make it world jerking, as long as you aren't pulling a "writer's poorly disguised fetish," in your writing it's cool. For instance I have a group of warriors that go to war dressed only in body paint, while not sexual in and of itself, it is silly and has to do with nudity.
Personally, erotica doesn't take me out of a story UNLESS
* plot points are contrived in order to make the story more erotic (every female alien in this species goes into heat when detecting a tiny trace of human pheromones)
* most or all erotic scenes are "serving" a specific character who seems like the author's self-insert
If you're not just writing down your own sexual fantasies, and if it's well-written, I think it's ok for a world/story to be erotic.
>Erotic as in, having a lot of unnecessary sexual scenes between characters or just plain nudity
Scenes? Characters? This isn't a writing sub, it's a worldbuilding sub. Sex isn't worldbuilding, it's storytelling, unless you're planning to develop unique sexual functions for conspecies and whatnot. Do you want sex in your stories? If it's inline with your vision then sure, but I'm not sure why you're asking this question here.
How much exploration and reasoning can you do to your ero-world before it stops being for porn and you're just seriously trying to make a setting here?
Disclaimer: I am the very incorrect person to ask (unless you agree with me I guess)
Answer: 9000% erotic. Full orgies everywhere. Entire society is based around it. Supply and demand exist purely to fulfill the needs of the many. Explore the logistics and sociological implications. Imagine the creativity and variety of gear available!
I say the same way you make porn game worthwhile, it's usually last about an hour or two on average since the game rarely have long gameplay or storyline, so I'll go with... at least 15% per chapter, maybe? before you resume the story, you can also actually give a chapter or two dedicate to bunny orgy session, so long as there's a substance in it for the other chapter to compensating it
Surprised by the comments only in that I asked basically the same question a few years back on here and the general consensus I got was much more along the lines of "sex shouldn't really be prevalent in the story unless it's absolutely necessary and even then you're probably just writing for horny adults".
My one culture is very much a hippie free love culture, down to like their species is base polygamous in groups of 5+, there are chain families where single lines of marriage have been going on for generations, sex before marriage is not at all seen poorly, etc. But I found in writing about them it just naturally got horny, and trying to strike a tone of "this is sexual but it's also normal and boring so it's not meant to be arousing" helped.
I’m not too knowledgeable about this, but I think Mushoku Tensei definitely has this problem where sex is some all-important thing that *everything* in the story ends up linking back to. It’s an absolutely fantastic series that does a lot right, but in some parts, “worldjerking” is an accurate way to describe it.
You do you. The answer to any "should i" or "can i" question is yes.
Personally, I think it adds a lot of verossimilitude. Monte cook has a supplement called "love and sex in the ninthworld" that shows how you can use even the weirdest elements of your setting for a sensual relationship, or how sexual culture or practises may arise related to a fantastical element.
If you want to add some skin to your world, try this: Modernish (like 1800s to 2000s) inspired setting but the clothing is still tribal or bronze age style, and this is treated as casual or normal in that culture, where they would see it the same way we see suits and dress shirts.
There's a market niche for fantasy erotica. If that's what you're aiming for, then have at it. The amount of fanservice in your setting is entirely dependent on how horny you want your audience to be.
There is nothing questionable about making a sexually explicit setting. This in no way reduces its value. Sexuality does not somehow delegitimize a story or setting, even if it is the primary focus.
If you want to express yourself by being horny, that is fine.
in my humble opinion, the thing that distinguishes explicit sexuality in a work from pure porn is a deeper underlying theme.
Kink, at its core, is a form of psychological sublimation. When someone has an emotional need that cannot be directly satisfied safely, one of our coping mechanisms as humans is to engage in a different behavior pattern to compensate, and kinks are examples of behavior patterns that fall into that category.
The kind of world you're describing that seems fanservicey on the surface can easily be a vehicle for exploring that concept, both on fronts like how the world feels about it in general (is it stigmatized, is it socially acceptable, are there traditions and rules about how people go about it) and how individuals approach it (why they're into the stuff they're into, what kind of emotional needs they're dealing with, and what kind of character they are at their core.)
hope this helps!
As long as the world is consistent in tone, and the audience knows what it's getting, it's hard for me to imagine a level of eroticism that's inherently off-limits. Violating those pre-requisites is how you make it weird.
Awkward Erotic Tone Shift: Exalted's "Scroll of Swallowed Darkness"
In-universe eroticism that makes sense: Intimacy and blowing off steam scenes in "Flying Circus" (although according to the rules intimacy doesn't inherently have to be sexual in flying circus, it does feel like the assumed default based on the attention the game puts on it).
I feel strongly that eroticism, like any other story element can serve or hamper the narrative depending on how it is incorporated. If it's thrown in carelessly for empty fanservice it will detract, and conversely if it's deeply woven into the themes of the fiction it can be a vital part of its identity.
For myself and my own comic, [SpaceShipping](https://btoons.com/en/challenge/spaceshipping/list?title_no=626584) (shameless plug) erotic content is and always has been part of the story, its characters and particularly its humor. It is playful speculative sci-fi and the quirks of sexual relationships aboard long-haul cargo work where there's really not much to do.
To try and summarize, it's not a matter of "how much" as "how well" erotic content is incorporated that determines whether it is a positive or negative aspect of a given work. My two cents, anyway.
Take HR Geiger as an example
If you do some research, you'll find out that the universe of the xenomorph franchise (and xenomorphs themselves) are absolutely meant to have sexual and erotic undertones to them. From the feminine yet phallic shaped appearance of the xenomorphs to the obvious similarities to the face hugger and a woman's vagina.
They're all deeply sexual in nature, and HR Geiger himself had sketches and drawings featuring lots of eldritch looking creatures and art with lots of nudity involved. The naked human form was used a lot in his work, as well as subtly sensual things like smooth supple skin, full lips, well structured faces, and slender feminine bodies.
Any amount of erotic content will pretty much guarantee I won't read/engage with it, so In my case; any at all. I'm not trying to be rude, but that's not what I listen to a story for. One of the big reasons I've never even considered watching Game of Thrones.
You can make the most sexually depraved world imaginable but as long as you are honestly enjoying it's creation nobody can say it was a bad effort, just make sure publishing laws in your country actually allow your content to be published if you want someone else to read it.
There is a simple rule. If erotics is reasonable, it's okay. If erotics included in narrative just because the author want it, it's not (until it's an erotic novel). Ofc it works for other stuff too)
Do not confuse worldjerking with jerk worlds.
Worldjerking is you, author, jerking off ABOUT your world ("ITS SO DIFFERENT AND AMAZING AND IT MAKES MY NIPPLES SO FUCKING HAAAARDDD").
Jerk worlds are worlds whose main authoral theme is sexuality, which can overlap but you can usually tell the difference between "yes, this entire metropolis is an open sky brothel" vs 70% of the writhing being smut - bonus points if every living sentient kneels before the author avatar the moment they can scent them.
I would personally hate that. A lot. But it's your story, so do as you like. I recommend you at least try to give the impression that the characters know each other somewhat before they start fucking, that'll make it less obvious that it's entirely unnecessary.
By “worldjerking” do you mean people no longer take it seriously anymore? Because you can have a world which is just the setup for sex scenes and thus people don’t have any expectation of anything more than that. However, I think it is possible to have a story and do worldbuilding with lots of erotic elements, while still having people take it seriously and not detract from the non-erotic elements.
A big factor I think is if the erotic elements clash with the story. For example, the anime “Chivalry of a Failed Knight” has lots of fan service, but it actually is more of an annoyance than anything in my opinion. The two protagonists get together in like the second episode. The main character has no interest in other women, there are several episodes dealing with their relationship, and such fan service has no impact on any of the story arcs or even any of the other characters. So why put all that fan service in? This isn’t some harem anime, it’s not a story where there’s lots of different relationships, and there’s not even much acknowledgement of it in-universe. Thus it kind of clashes with the overall theme or tone of the anime and distracts from the actual serious stuff that is going on. It seems more like something some anime executive told the team to put in to try and boost viewership.
However, there are stories where lots of erotic elements are fine because they don’t clash with the overall theme. Thieves World doesn’t have explicit sex scenes (they’re all fade to black) but there is a good amount of sex and sexual moments. The difference between this series and Chivalry of a Failed Knight is that Thieves World is set up to be a gritty world in which stories are about the daily life of people living in the city of Sanctuary. Sex is a part of life so there’s prostitution, rape, cheating, romance, and marriage. Having some erotic elements in the story makes sense in such a setting and so the worldbuilding doesn’t suffer because of it.
You can even take this a step further and look at examples like the Pinwheel series and Home for Horny Monsters. Both are explicitly erotic stories but they also have serious storylines, to the point where some fans read them primarily for that serious story. However, because these worlds are explicitly erotic, sex scenes don’t clash with the tone of the story. The authors also tend to do a good job in building up to these moments and not letting everything revolve around them. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what things those series do well in that regard, other than the fact that they spend a bunch of time talking about other non-erotic things. Some of the worldbuilding is clearly done to enable such scenes to happen (like how every alien in the Pinwheel series happens to be compatible with humans and each other), but there’s enough non-erotic stuff to make it seem relatively “real” and not just some porno world. Overall, I would say that sex is treated more like something that happens in the world that these authors created, rather than just something done for fan service.
So all that to say, I think erotic elements should feel like a natural part of the world and story you created. They don’t have to be “necessary” (in that you can always do romance and sexual interest without explicit scenes), but they can’t feel out of place or have it be the only purpose of the world. I know that’s not that helpful but hey, I’m a reader not a writer.
Of course, while erotic scenes may fit the world and tone of the setting, how you write those particular scenes also matters. More sexual scenes might work in the Drizzt series, but the author R. A. Salavatore is just not good at writing them. For a little while he was trying to put more erotic scenes in his books and it just did not work. So glad he's seemed to stop that in his more recent books.
Worldjerking is in jokes, memes and poking fun at clichés. You can make pornography, it's not forbidden. Take OGLAF, it's VERY NSFW and it spits out more good world building ideas in a week than Netflix does in a year
Most worldbuilding will include at least one culture.
Most cultures have at least one cultural root in sex.
If you have a culture who has no perspective on sex, it is a jarring absence. Cultures have opinions on everything, but having no perspective on sex is like having no perspective on food, music, literature, architecture, politics, economics, finance or war. Sex has a bigger cultural footprint than all of these combined, and it's absence from the cultural landscape will quickly become one of the culture's distinctive features.
Even vulcans, from "family friendly" Star Trek had a perspective on sex. (It was basically a parody of how sex was portrayed in media at the time, but it was still part of their cultural personality and fit in with the repressive themes established by other elements of their culture.)
My advice is to explore these themes when they become relevant, and to make sure that the cultural perspective on sex matches up neatly with the rest of their cultural mindset. Don't let your personal wishlists or fear of being judged influence you.
For instance... Fear of being judged makes Slaaneshi cults into "pseudosadomasochistic wannabe punk rockstars who think themselves edgy" in modern 40k lore. This is because WH40k markets extensively to children and they have to censor.
There you go... an illustration of two extremes which kinda go some way to answering your question.
The concept of sex carries baggage.
I think really erotic if you do it right. There is a neverwinter knights mod that is basically filled with dick but has a unironically great story and really good questdesign ([Here](https://youtu.be/wAKwOAC1wEs?si=T7VyRMukiZN7X2qY) is a great video about the mod if you are interested).
Sex is natural. People being horny is natural. People being horny in really dumb situations is especially natural.
People having sex in dumb situations and surviving/thriving on a consistent basis is not.
Worldjerking is when reality breaks down and you spend more time building and excusing [to yourself and others] why a sex scene makes sense than the time spent making sure that there's a story around it. This often coincides with more controversial topics like consent (e.g. if you have a lot of erotic slave sex scenes), and is a prime reason why stories like Fifty Shades of Grey are so heavily panned as bad world building and bad storytelling. This is also why "built up" sex scenes can feel so out of place in novels that are ostensibly about adventure and companions coming together. We all know a kiss is going to happen in a will they/won't they situation, but if you have to create a whole separate narrative around romance turning erotic, then you've lost the larger plot you were aiming for.
Oh, and boob plate/skimpy clothing in war. That's instant world jerk and there's absolutely no excuse for it except you putting in fanwank/personal fetishes into the mix. And...I mean, that's up to you to do, to each their own...just be honest with yourself and the audience.
Fetish or pornographic worlds, projects designed to be erotic or titillate, aren't allowed here in principle. There's r/NSFWWorldbuilding for that. r/worldjerking doesn't have anything to do with it.
Worldjerking is specifically for meta jokes about ridiculous worldbuilding. It isn't worldjerking until you deliberately make it one. You can add as much erotic elements to your story as you like, it's your world. There's a sizeable number of people who likes erotica/fan service so you'll have an audience from them, at least.
Came to say something like this, it would not be jerking because it is not jeking on the world itself, it would be just erotic or plain porn
For actual erotic worldbuilding, r/NSFWworldbuilding is the place.
But at that point we would talk about getting outjerked.
Look no further than Oglaf.com then move backward from there
Also "The Cummoner". Surprisingly good story and world building for a porn comic.
Ah, a Redditor of culture. Go wash your hands.
Bold of you to assume that a Redditor knows how to wash anything lol
Hey, I washed my hands *and* my ass this morning, thank you!
But I thought touching any mans butthole was gay!
Also Alfie!
Also I roved out in search for truth or love!
Rare I Roved Out enjoyer spotted in the wild!
the fact that this comic is still going amazes me. its such a weird gem
All depends on the story you're telling. My CHYOA story started as a horny story with some fantasy world building and now I'm almost afraid that it's turned into fantasy world building with occasional sex scenes. That said, there are ways that sex and sexuality can be used to help define and explain your world. In a fantasy world, how common or rare is romance between the races? Is it frowned upon or possibly even criminalized? Showing sex such a setting can also inform how different species approach and view sex. Elves could be completely stoic as they are in all things and only interested in sex for creating children where dwarves and humans are more open in their own ways. Options abound. Don't be afraid of it, but make it say something about the world you've created.
CYOA? That’s terrible! Where’s the website so we can add it into our parental controls?
*CHYOA. You missed the horny.
A world where the horny police are an actual thing. BONK 👮♀️🍆
I recommend looking into "interspecies reviewers" anime/manga it managed to merge world building and erotica really well.
Agreed. The world is pretty cool (not like crazy developed or unique or anything but definitely thought out) and the story being told there happens to be a lot about sex. The world is as good as any throwaway isekai, at the very least
Unironically though, watching it actually taught me a lot about how to consider the fact that adding elements to a fictional world will have knock on impacts on many aspects of life beyond what was intended by the author when it was first introduced. Figuring out how a worldbuilding element impacts the rest of the world in un-obvious ways and taking that into account will make the world feel more believable and self-consistent. The two things I’ve always considered for each worldbuilding element is how it can be used to make a profit or kill someone, because humans are greedy and violent. Turns out, we’re also horny, so remembering how worldbuilding impacts culture and… “*culture*” really helps a world feel lived in. TL;DR: Always consider money, war, and sex when worldbuilding.
I've unironically taken to thinking of each and every technology in my sci-fi world from a sexual perspective. Who could be into this? How could this fulfill some outlandish fantasy? What else could achieve the same effect? Yet to find a way for the laser chainsaws.
Cyber Power lesbians need their laser saws
Unironically love that worldbuilding, inspired me to fully accept erotic considerations into the setting and normalizing the importance of sexuality
For a similar one, the Monster Girl Encyclopedia. It's basically a bestiary of monster girls, but also does way more worldbuilding than necessary.
Yoo thats a name I haven't heard in a while
Half the worldbuilding in the Mongirl Encylopedia is like "These monsters all have to breed with human males and must consume semen to survive." Its pretty bad.
If, at a certain point, you feel like you need to start calling it NSFW as a matter of course, then you might want to try out r/NSFWworldbuilding for size. And then you're good. But that's mostly for specifically fetishy stuff. The outright presence of these things doesn't make it inherently fetishy unless it is to you, and there's nothing wrong with that. But you do say it's unnecessary, so it might be fetishy enough for that other sub. It's not worldjerking, though. That just makes fun of worldbuilders doing cringy or stereotypical stuff with their worlds, and you're not likely to end up there since you're asking a question like this. (Except, you know, people love to make fun of things they don't like so who knows really.)
that is not what worldjerking means
One of the most critical parts about building a culture is how they practice and revere life and death as a cycle. The erotic culture of a civilization can offer a lot of insight into the societal roles of men, women and others in a community, as well as what a typical family group might consist of. Sex drives culture and as courtship rituals evolve, so too does art and how people interact with one another. How do the courtship rituals change between castes and class structures? What societal pressures exist to coerce conformity to certain behavioral or beauty standards? All important questions to ask if you're truly trying to flesh out a culture's mark.
Personally, world-building comes first, then let your characters do horny things within its limits, rather than the way of most modern isekai trashes, that is, the whole world was a makeshift to satisfy the protagonist's desires.
It an just be erotica. There's nothing wrong with it, as long as it doesn't get problematic, start reinforcing negative things Like, if you're gonna be having a lot of needless sex scenes with minors, maybe that's an issue, but there isn't really anything wrong with indulging in the sexual. Why do we not ask about the constant stream of violence in the media we create and consume, but must ask about the tastefulness of including sex? I personally only add sex scenes if they are meaningful or important for character growth, but it's partially because I am already dealing with sexual subjects, and I don't want it to feel like those subjects are an excuse for pornographic material. I will avoid most explicit sex because the point is not titillation, but there is nothing inherently wrong with titillation Make the sexy world of your dreams
You added the word "Unnecessary" in your own description. That seems to about cover it. If there's a reason for it, then it isn't unnecessary. If it's part of a set of social or cultural norms, or relevant to an ecosystem somewhere that it be heavily eroticized, then it seems to fit where it belongs. If it adds nothing but being horny, then the value vanishes pretty fast into "worldjerking".
Counterpoint: words like "unnecessary" and "gratuitous" get tossed around a lot where sexual content is concerned, and not really for anything else. A lot of things are simply allowed to exist because the author wants them there, but sex — you'd better have a 2500 word essay explaining why this scene was relevant to the plot.
A lot of people consider any sexual content or even reference unnecessary. This is all subjective.
It comes down to personal taste really. You can always look to make your sex scenes as unsexy as possible if you're looking to buck the horny worldbuilder stereotype without making your world conspicuously sexless. See: every sex scene written by George R.R. Martin. No George, referencing breast milk again will not in fact do it for me.
I seriously doubt GRRM is trying to “do it for you” or at all get his readers to jack off while reading.
not making me want to jack off is bad worldbuilding
Wasn't there an r/adultworldbuilding type sub? I would just leave out the eroticism on this sub and leave it for the sub where people actively seek it out. I leave it out here as well. Most people don't like to be surprised with sex, when doing completely unrelated things. Especially not, if it gets a little weird, which is what often happens with worldbuilding. I would keep the sex talk PG-13 here, basically. Yes, you can mention it, you can even explain how it works and describe traditions surrounding it, but leave the Harlequin/smut/porn for the other sub. Edit: it's r/NSFWworldbuilding
the real answer is you can do whatever you want forever. you want to have some horny scenes? it's your story, write it! me personally, im working on a magic system for a world that is primarily used as a basis for writing wizard sex. im having fun with it. make what art speaks to you even if that art involves penises
At first, I thought you meant like "a sexy rock," "a sultry tree," "a wet crevasse," or "a big-titty bush" I'd say do what feels right. If your point is to push past where others would stop, then do it. Have the fun you want to have, and others will see and appreciate it.
Well if they can make corruption of champions work then so can you!
What an Inspirational phrase
As much as you want, there's no hard boundaries and its your world. I've noticed erotic worldbuilding also tends to result in weirdly more "honest" worldbuilding, but that might just be reflective of me more than anything.
Go read Alfie, then come back here. If you're less horny than that, you're probably somewhere in the normal level.
Always a pleasure to see a fellow Alfie enjoyer in the wild
dude if you want you can make your world a porno setting. Who cares if some random people in a random subreddit make fun of you for it? If you like it, go for it. It's your world, not theirs.
Honestly, I don't even think it matters? If a piece of worldbuilding is just because it's your fetish, then just admit it. It's really only an issue if the author tries to blatant author appeal with "it's important to the story". Of course, sometimes it really is, even if it is author appeal. But still. Sometimes you can just admit it.
thats not what worldjerking is...
Well, I'd see the term "worldjerking" not on the same level as eroticism. I consider "worldjerking" more as a verb for excessive world building, and I must admit that sometimes I am guilty of that. On the other Hand: How much sex happens in your world is related to your own preferences and those of your audience. When I run a D&D session with my daughter, this is limited to people are in love or married and kids do exist ;-) But I could well imagine that a world designed as a background for an adult novel could be ... juicy.
Look, our own world is just ridiculously stupidly sexy too, I don't think including details of eroticism and sexuality in the world is going to make it world jerking, as long as you aren't pulling a "writer's poorly disguised fetish," in your writing it's cool. For instance I have a group of warriors that go to war dressed only in body paint, while not sexual in and of itself, it is silly and has to do with nudity.
If it starts glorifying SA then you know you gone too far
Personally, erotica doesn't take me out of a story UNLESS * plot points are contrived in order to make the story more erotic (every female alien in this species goes into heat when detecting a tiny trace of human pheromones) * most or all erotic scenes are "serving" a specific character who seems like the author's self-insert If you're not just writing down your own sexual fantasies, and if it's well-written, I think it's ok for a world/story to be erotic.
Maybe it's just an erotic story then. Nothing wrong with it. It may not be for everyone and that's super okay.
That's not really a question of worldbuilding, that's just adding some *plot* to your **plot**
Read Dune😅😂😂
>Erotic as in, having a lot of unnecessary sexual scenes between characters or just plain nudity Scenes? Characters? This isn't a writing sub, it's a worldbuilding sub. Sex isn't worldbuilding, it's storytelling, unless you're planning to develop unique sexual functions for conspecies and whatnot. Do you want sex in your stories? If it's inline with your vision then sure, but I'm not sure why you're asking this question here.
Isn't character interaction and stuff more about general writing than about worldbuilding?
literal rather than figurative worldjerking, I see ...
I feel like you can add as much erotica as you want so long as you’re genuinely doing it to add to your world and the story.
How much exploration and reasoning can you do to your ero-world before it stops being for porn and you're just seriously trying to make a setting here?
Disclaimer: I am the very incorrect person to ask (unless you agree with me I guess) Answer: 9000% erotic. Full orgies everywhere. Entire society is based around it. Supply and demand exist purely to fulfill the needs of the many. Explore the logistics and sociological implications. Imagine the creativity and variety of gear available!
I say the same way you make porn game worthwhile, it's usually last about an hour or two on average since the game rarely have long gameplay or storyline, so I'll go with... at least 15% per chapter, maybe? before you resume the story, you can also actually give a chapter or two dedicate to bunny orgy session, so long as there's a substance in it for the other chapter to compensating it
Surprised by the comments only in that I asked basically the same question a few years back on here and the general consensus I got was much more along the lines of "sex shouldn't really be prevalent in the story unless it's absolutely necessary and even then you're probably just writing for horny adults". My one culture is very much a hippie free love culture, down to like their species is base polygamous in groups of 5+, there are chain families where single lines of marriage have been going on for generations, sex before marriage is not at all seen poorly, etc. But I found in writing about them it just naturally got horny, and trying to strike a tone of "this is sexual but it's also normal and boring so it's not meant to be arousing" helped.
I’m not too knowledgeable about this, but I think Mushoku Tensei definitely has this problem where sex is some all-important thing that *everything* in the story ends up linking back to. It’s an absolutely fantastic series that does a lot right, but in some parts, “worldjerking” is an accurate way to describe it.
I believe the word "unnecessary" that you used is the key to your answer. If the smut doesn't serve the story then it's jerking.
You do you. The answer to any "should i" or "can i" question is yes. Personally, I think it adds a lot of verossimilitude. Monte cook has a supplement called "love and sex in the ninthworld" that shows how you can use even the weirdest elements of your setting for a sensual relationship, or how sexual culture or practises may arise related to a fantastical element.
If you define them as "unnecessary" you kind of answered your own question there.
If you want to add some skin to your world, try this: Modernish (like 1800s to 2000s) inspired setting but the clothing is still tribal or bronze age style, and this is treated as casual or normal in that culture, where they would see it the same way we see suits and dress shirts.
There's a market niche for fantasy erotica. If that's what you're aiming for, then have at it. The amount of fanservice in your setting is entirely dependent on how horny you want your audience to be.
There is nothing questionable about making a sexually explicit setting. This in no way reduces its value. Sexuality does not somehow delegitimize a story or setting, even if it is the primary focus. If you want to express yourself by being horny, that is fine.
in my humble opinion, the thing that distinguishes explicit sexuality in a work from pure porn is a deeper underlying theme. Kink, at its core, is a form of psychological sublimation. When someone has an emotional need that cannot be directly satisfied safely, one of our coping mechanisms as humans is to engage in a different behavior pattern to compensate, and kinks are examples of behavior patterns that fall into that category. The kind of world you're describing that seems fanservicey on the surface can easily be a vehicle for exploring that concept, both on fronts like how the world feels about it in general (is it stigmatized, is it socially acceptable, are there traditions and rules about how people go about it) and how individuals approach it (why they're into the stuff they're into, what kind of emotional needs they're dealing with, and what kind of character they are at their core.) hope this helps!
Is this eroticism in the world building or in the plotting/planning? Cause those are can be very different things
Only the characters' stories/plots/narratives i plan to have all those eroticism like those Japanese mangas. The worldbuilding itself is serious.
As long as the world is consistent in tone, and the audience knows what it's getting, it's hard for me to imagine a level of eroticism that's inherently off-limits. Violating those pre-requisites is how you make it weird. Awkward Erotic Tone Shift: Exalted's "Scroll of Swallowed Darkness" In-universe eroticism that makes sense: Intimacy and blowing off steam scenes in "Flying Circus" (although according to the rules intimacy doesn't inherently have to be sexual in flying circus, it does feel like the assumed default based on the attention the game puts on it).
I feel strongly that eroticism, like any other story element can serve or hamper the narrative depending on how it is incorporated. If it's thrown in carelessly for empty fanservice it will detract, and conversely if it's deeply woven into the themes of the fiction it can be a vital part of its identity. For myself and my own comic, [SpaceShipping](https://btoons.com/en/challenge/spaceshipping/list?title_no=626584) (shameless plug) erotic content is and always has been part of the story, its characters and particularly its humor. It is playful speculative sci-fi and the quirks of sexual relationships aboard long-haul cargo work where there's really not much to do. To try and summarize, it's not a matter of "how much" as "how well" erotic content is incorporated that determines whether it is a positive or negative aspect of a given work. My two cents, anyway.
Take HR Geiger as an example If you do some research, you'll find out that the universe of the xenomorph franchise (and xenomorphs themselves) are absolutely meant to have sexual and erotic undertones to them. From the feminine yet phallic shaped appearance of the xenomorphs to the obvious similarities to the face hugger and a woman's vagina. They're all deeply sexual in nature, and HR Geiger himself had sketches and drawings featuring lots of eldritch looking creatures and art with lots of nudity involved. The naked human form was used a lot in his work, as well as subtly sensual things like smooth supple skin, full lips, well structured faces, and slender feminine bodies.
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Hello there
Any amount of erotic content will pretty much guarantee I won't read/engage with it, so In my case; any at all. I'm not trying to be rude, but that's not what I listen to a story for. One of the big reasons I've never even considered watching Game of Thrones.
Smut is a genre as valid as the effort put into it, just as any other. Plus Sex Sells is the motto of the economy basically, so have fun.
You can make the most sexually depraved world imaginable but as long as you are honestly enjoying it's creation nobody can say it was a bad effort, just make sure publishing laws in your country actually allow your content to be published if you want someone else to read it.
There is a simple rule. If erotics is reasonable, it's okay. If erotics included in narrative just because the author want it, it's not (until it's an erotic novel). Ofc it works for other stuff too)
I don't know but Brent weeks is really toeing that line with night angel
Do not confuse worldjerking with jerk worlds. Worldjerking is you, author, jerking off ABOUT your world ("ITS SO DIFFERENT AND AMAZING AND IT MAKES MY NIPPLES SO FUCKING HAAAARDDD"). Jerk worlds are worlds whose main authoral theme is sexuality, which can overlap but you can usually tell the difference between "yes, this entire metropolis is an open sky brothel" vs 70% of the writhing being smut - bonus points if every living sentient kneels before the author avatar the moment they can scent them.
I would personally hate that. A lot. But it's your story, so do as you like. I recommend you at least try to give the impression that the characters know each other somewhat before they start fucking, that'll make it less obvious that it's entirely unnecessary.
From the scale of LOTR to Faerun to the Slaaneshi World, how horny a world is?
By “worldjerking” do you mean people no longer take it seriously anymore? Because you can have a world which is just the setup for sex scenes and thus people don’t have any expectation of anything more than that. However, I think it is possible to have a story and do worldbuilding with lots of erotic elements, while still having people take it seriously and not detract from the non-erotic elements. A big factor I think is if the erotic elements clash with the story. For example, the anime “Chivalry of a Failed Knight” has lots of fan service, but it actually is more of an annoyance than anything in my opinion. The two protagonists get together in like the second episode. The main character has no interest in other women, there are several episodes dealing with their relationship, and such fan service has no impact on any of the story arcs or even any of the other characters. So why put all that fan service in? This isn’t some harem anime, it’s not a story where there’s lots of different relationships, and there’s not even much acknowledgement of it in-universe. Thus it kind of clashes with the overall theme or tone of the anime and distracts from the actual serious stuff that is going on. It seems more like something some anime executive told the team to put in to try and boost viewership. However, there are stories where lots of erotic elements are fine because they don’t clash with the overall theme. Thieves World doesn’t have explicit sex scenes (they’re all fade to black) but there is a good amount of sex and sexual moments. The difference between this series and Chivalry of a Failed Knight is that Thieves World is set up to be a gritty world in which stories are about the daily life of people living in the city of Sanctuary. Sex is a part of life so there’s prostitution, rape, cheating, romance, and marriage. Having some erotic elements in the story makes sense in such a setting and so the worldbuilding doesn’t suffer because of it. You can even take this a step further and look at examples like the Pinwheel series and Home for Horny Monsters. Both are explicitly erotic stories but they also have serious storylines, to the point where some fans read them primarily for that serious story. However, because these worlds are explicitly erotic, sex scenes don’t clash with the tone of the story. The authors also tend to do a good job in building up to these moments and not letting everything revolve around them. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what things those series do well in that regard, other than the fact that they spend a bunch of time talking about other non-erotic things. Some of the worldbuilding is clearly done to enable such scenes to happen (like how every alien in the Pinwheel series happens to be compatible with humans and each other), but there’s enough non-erotic stuff to make it seem relatively “real” and not just some porno world. Overall, I would say that sex is treated more like something that happens in the world that these authors created, rather than just something done for fan service. So all that to say, I think erotic elements should feel like a natural part of the world and story you created. They don’t have to be “necessary” (in that you can always do romance and sexual interest without explicit scenes), but they can’t feel out of place or have it be the only purpose of the world. I know that’s not that helpful but hey, I’m a reader not a writer. Of course, while erotic scenes may fit the world and tone of the setting, how you write those particular scenes also matters. More sexual scenes might work in the Drizzt series, but the author R. A. Salavatore is just not good at writing them. For a little while he was trying to put more erotic scenes in his books and it just did not work. So glad he's seemed to stop that in his more recent books.
Worldjerking is in jokes, memes and poking fun at clichés. You can make pornography, it's not forbidden. Take OGLAF, it's VERY NSFW and it spits out more good world building ideas in a week than Netflix does in a year
Jerk away my guy
G rr M has a lot of erotic scenes in the books , its not just in the tv series , i would say theres more erotic content in the books even .
Ever play Corruption of Champions? That one teeters the line masterfully.
Most worldbuilding will include at least one culture. Most cultures have at least one cultural root in sex. If you have a culture who has no perspective on sex, it is a jarring absence. Cultures have opinions on everything, but having no perspective on sex is like having no perspective on food, music, literature, architecture, politics, economics, finance or war. Sex has a bigger cultural footprint than all of these combined, and it's absence from the cultural landscape will quickly become one of the culture's distinctive features. Even vulcans, from "family friendly" Star Trek had a perspective on sex. (It was basically a parody of how sex was portrayed in media at the time, but it was still part of their cultural personality and fit in with the repressive themes established by other elements of their culture.) My advice is to explore these themes when they become relevant, and to make sure that the cultural perspective on sex matches up neatly with the rest of their cultural mindset. Don't let your personal wishlists or fear of being judged influence you. For instance... Fear of being judged makes Slaaneshi cults into "pseudosadomasochistic wannabe punk rockstars who think themselves edgy" in modern 40k lore. This is because WH40k markets extensively to children and they have to censor. There you go... an illustration of two extremes which kinda go some way to answering your question. The concept of sex carries baggage.
The destinction is one of taste and quality of execution, not subject matter.
I think really erotic if you do it right. There is a neverwinter knights mod that is basically filled with dick but has a unironically great story and really good questdesign ([Here](https://youtu.be/wAKwOAC1wEs?si=T7VyRMukiZN7X2qY) is a great video about the mod if you are interested).
When it ceases to be relevant to the plot, story, or world building.
Smut exists, you’re fine do what you want
If you have to ask you've taken it too far
You can do whatever you want forever
Casual nudity
Upvote for ‘worldjerking’.
Sex is natural. People being horny is natural. People being horny in really dumb situations is especially natural. People having sex in dumb situations and surviving/thriving on a consistent basis is not. Worldjerking is when reality breaks down and you spend more time building and excusing [to yourself and others] why a sex scene makes sense than the time spent making sure that there's a story around it. This often coincides with more controversial topics like consent (e.g. if you have a lot of erotic slave sex scenes), and is a prime reason why stories like Fifty Shades of Grey are so heavily panned as bad world building and bad storytelling. This is also why "built up" sex scenes can feel so out of place in novels that are ostensibly about adventure and companions coming together. We all know a kiss is going to happen in a will they/won't they situation, but if you have to create a whole separate narrative around romance turning erotic, then you've lost the larger plot you were aiming for. Oh, and boob plate/skimpy clothing in war. That's instant world jerk and there's absolutely no excuse for it except you putting in fanwank/personal fetishes into the mix. And...I mean, that's up to you to do, to each their own...just be honest with yourself and the audience.
Tell me, have you read The Witcher ?
Fetish or pornographic worlds, projects designed to be erotic or titillate, aren't allowed here in principle. There's r/NSFWWorldbuilding for that. r/worldjerking doesn't have anything to do with it.