About Marnie and Lewis...

[ChrillBill]

One thing I have always wondered about and it has started to bug me for some reason lately, is why Marnie and Lewis are so silly when it comes to their relationship? o.o

Is it because Lewis might be a bit older? Is he still married? Did they murder his late wife (assuming he had one)? I just don't get it. It is obvious that they get together now and then, and sometimes when you walk into Marnie's store she is like "Lew...? Oh..." like she was expecting or even seeing Lewis to come through the door even though it was the player @.@ Why is it such a big deal?

[Big Convoy]

Lewis himself said that he has no family and was never married.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

Originally posted by Nakos:

It's an "illicit relationship" which again, is a small-town trope.

Yes, but why? :>

I dunno what to tell you on that. It's a trope, a standard "small town" cliche.

I already linked the wiki article on Peyton Place for you in the other thread. The point is that it's a game. It's filled with "problems" for you the player to come in and fix. Or in some cases (like Marnie and Lewis) bear witness to.

**WARNING** this is a link to the bottomless pit that is TV Tropes, proceed at your own risk:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SmallTowns

[ChrillBill]

I was hoping for something much more interesting (and perhaps also sinister) than that :> But okay. I guess this might also be one of those things that you see more of in some parts of the world maybe ^.^

[Nakos]

Well, maybe. I'm pretty sure people have affairs and illicit relationships everywhere in the world. There's always someone sleeping with someone else that they're not supposed to, or who they think they're not supposed to.

I'll grant you it may be more prevalent in some cultures, but I'd be surprised if it didn't happen to at least some extent pretty much everywhere in the world.

And ... that when it happens, and when everyone else (in the community) learns about it, I'm pretty sure it'll be the hot gossip topic, until something else comes along.

Originally posted by e. e. cummings:

... While permanent faces coyly bandy
scandal of Mrs. N and Professor D ...

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47245/the-cambridge-ladies-who-live-in-furnished-souls

[ChrillBill]

So basically it is illicit because Lewis is older and afraid that people will think Marnie will get special treatment because he is the mayor. He wants to maintain a good reputation. But everyone most likely already knows about it, and don't seem to care (unless I have missed some dialogue). So it is basically just illict in Lewis' mind o.o

[Nakos]

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

So basically it is illicit because Lewis is older and afraid that people will think Marnie will get special treatment because he is the mayor. He wants to maintain a good reputation. But everyone most likely already knows about it, and don't seem to care (unless I have missed some dialogue). So it is basically just illict in Lewis' mind o.o

Well, you're probably not wrong. (I mean ... it's possible that he's just stringing Marnie along and he wants to have a "romantic partner" but doesn't want to get married and is presenting it to her as something that wouldn't be acceptable just so he won't have to get married. Personally I don't think he's that malicious, I think he's just being foolish, but I do feel I have to at least acknowledge that there might be something shifty going on.)

But the real reason it's an "illicit relationship" is because CA decided what the game needed was an "illicit relationship" and wrote one in. It's fiction, it doesn't have to be completely internally logical. It helps if it is, because it makes it seem more believable. But even in the real world people believe all sorts of incomprehensible, illogical stuff.


Ideally, actually getting them to the point where they could get married and live happily ever after would be a good long term game quest. But I don't know if he ever did any work on making that happen.


When one is writing a game (or a story) one doesn't write about perfection, one writes about a flaws, broken relationships (and things). Situations that desperately need intervention from (or by) the player.

To put it in SDV terms, the Community Center is a prime example of that.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by Nakos:

Well, you're probably not wrong. (I mean ... it's possible that he's just stringing Marnie along and he wants to have a "romantic partner" but doesn't want to get married and is presenting it to her as something that wouldn't be acceptable just so he won't have to get married. Personally I don't think he's that malicious, I think he's just being foolish, but I do feel I have to at least acknowledge that there might be something shifty going on.)

But the real reason it's an "illicit relationship" is because CA decided what the game needed was an "illicit relationship" and wrote one in. It's fiction, it doesn't have to be completely internally logical. It helps if it is, because it makes it seem more believable. But even in the real world people believe all sorts of incomprehensible, illogical stuff.


Ideally, actually getting them to the point where they could get married and live happily ever after would be a good long term game quest. But I don't know if he ever did any work on making that happen.


When one is writing a game (or a story) one doesn't write about perfection, one writes about a flaws, broken relationships (and things). Situations that desperately need intervention from (or by) the player.

To put it in SDV terms, the Community Center is a prime example of that.

Yeah that I get :> I will admit I have always struggled when it comes to understanding and also interpret social codes. I still to this day consider many of them to be completely unnecessary I fully understand that it is a game, and that certain things were added for entertainment purposes and to establish a certain climate, so to speak I guess I was mostly curious about the idea behind it all (if that makes sense). You have explained it really well I think and I thank you for your patience :D Edit: Typo

[Nakos]

Well, I try, hope it was helpful!

[NBOX21]

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

Yeah that I get :> I will admit I have always struggled when it comes to understanding and also interpret social codes. I still to this day consider many of them to be completely unnecessary

I too find it a little hard to understand, not just due to my lack of social skills similar to what you mentioned, but also because I've never lived in a small town before nor do I really have any experience with such a thing in real life. Such ways of life feel alien to me.

[Amberbaum]

Originally posted by NBOX21:

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

Yeah that I get :> I will admit I have always struggled when it comes to understanding and also interpret social codes. I still to this day consider many of them to be completely unnecessary

I too find it a little hard to understand, not just due to my lack of social skills similar to what you mentioned, but also because I've never lived in a small town before nor do I really have any experience with such a thing in real life. :corncob: Such ways of life feel alien to me.

Yeah, but one thing to remember is that a small town in place X has a different mentality then in place Y. No one would bat and eye in my town.

[I Kinda Fail]

Two main reasons, I think.

1. He's the mayor, and she's a business owner. Being mayor is something he loves, and he's worried that people will think he's giving her tax benefits from sleeping with him.

2. He's much older and frumpy, she's younger and curvy. He thinks she can do better.

Both reasons show Lewis cares for Marnie, even if he's blinded in other ways.

[LuVenBen]

he feels intimidated by the microwave