Sex and relationships typically suck in video games. Relationships are about sustainability, commitment, and building something meaningful, but when it comes to romantic relationships in interactive stories, getting laid is typically the endgame.

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“ ...these are real people and it’s okay to care about them.

Not always, though, and that's something BioWare is learning from when it comes to improving relationships -- romantic and platonic -- in Dragon Age: Inquisition “I think there are some really, really solid counter examples when you look at where relationships fall down and where they’re flat,” Inquisition's Creative Director Mike Laidlaw told IGN. “There are some that are really, really effective.”“The most romantic moment in a video game that I’ve ever seen is when Jackie visits his girlfriend’s apartment in The Darkness…. She baked me a cake, she’s moving in, and you watch possibly the entirety of To Kill a Mockingbird as she passes out on your lap because she’s tired and snuggly. That is amazing.”This scene, Laidlaw said, “is close as video games came to that first 10 minutes of Up.” Both scenes share the same purpose of making the audience think, “‘I really care about this character -- aw, f**k,’” and their motivations change.“That’s the thing I think the Last of Us goes right to elemental heartstring moments,” Laidlaw said. It isn’t exploring romance, but “It says these are real people and it’s okay to care about them. I think to some degree there’s a joy to escapism when it’s okay to care. That is something that I think is kind of a single-player phenomenon.”The success of Jackie’s romantic relationship in The Darkness, and Joel and Ellie’s paternal one in The Last of Us, is that they aren’t systemic. Neither relies on players exploiting someone they’re supposed to care about for the sake of an Achievement, loot, or an approval rating. They’re just people.That systemic problem is something BioWare is trying to address in Dragon Age: Inquisition.Inquisition’s characters respond to situations involving your character in a more organic way than previous games. Characters present during the slaying of a dragon, for example, may demand celebratorial drinking. Others may not. “And suddenly it’s a friendship moment, or maybe more. Maybe there’s flirting, who knows? It all depends on that state. It’s reacting to what happens in the game,” rather than reaching a certain beat in the arc of your romantic conquest.Part of the solution here, Laidlaw explained, is, “Let’s not have gifts that buy affection. Let’s not have sex be the end goal. Let’s instead try and reach for something that’s like genuine affections and let you go up and say, ‘Hey you, we’re going to kiss now.’ And let players enjoy that, and feel like, yeah, that’s a real thing.”Certain characters are romantically off-limits for your Inquisitor. Some may be just-friends. Others may not share your sexual orientation . “What the writing team has done is they’ve laid out certain beats which could cause reactivity,” said Laidlaw. Each writer has individually analyzed a beat and assessed how specific characters should respond to you and the situation around them. Some characters may care about something, another may not. How that goes down could affect your long-term relationships -- romantic or otherwise.“That’s something I think the writing team’s done a really good job of,” Laidlaw said. “Playing with your expectations to some degree, and none of them feel the same."

Mitch Dyer is an associate editor at IGN. He's trying to read 50 books in 2014. These are the 50 . Talk to Mitch about books and other stuff on Twitter at @MitchyD and subscribe to MitchyD on Twitch