A chat with Lady Dusk!

Hello everyone, and welcome to a new interview, brought you by your bunny reporter, Charlotte!

The Hentai Halloween Tournament and Halloween Costume Contest 2024 is about to begin! In fact, on Saturday, 5th October, the registrations will be officially open. As you might have noticed, the tournament staff has now a new member: he goes by many names: Lady Dusk, Rajeena, Aeryn... so I thought it would be a good idea to give him an opportunity to talk about tournaments and what it means to him...

EroFights: What's your favourite thing about tournaments?

Lady Dusk: Simply put, it's the sense of occasion. For me, EF is all about the fun and the role-play. I am a character role-player: everything I do in games is acted through a character rather than it being “me". It sounds strange but it usually feels like my characters are actually speaking and acting through me and all I am doing is giving them a voice. I am not a naturally competitive person but with someone like Lady Dusk I always (usually) play to win because that is what she would do.

When there is a tournament, it adds a sense of occasion, like there is a real purpose to the games. I play to win and get invested, not because it's important to me but because it would be important to my characters. The emotion is different for a tournament game. If I am playing a regular competitive wrestling match, for instance, then my motivation to win is because I want Lady Dusk to be successful and avoid the humiliation of defeat. But really, if she loses then she just dusts herself off and gets back up for the next one.

With a tournament, it is different. It heightens and sharpens those emotions, adding a huge gravitas to the games. Plus, you know that the rest of the EF community is watching with interest so it gives an opportunity to do something of consequence. It creates those special and significant narrative moments and that is worth more to me than anything else.

EF: Can you share with us a funny tournament moment?

LD: I think that in role-play, you make the funny moments yourself. Playing to win is one thing, but the most fun I have is when things are not being taken all that seriously. As a result, the funniest moments have been when I lose, actually. I may play to win the match but I'm not above writing an enthusiastic loss scene.

In this year's Classic tournament, I was playing as one of my alts, Rajeena. I was playing competitively but when I lost I just thought “ah well, I might as well go for it.” The option came up to ruin her orgasm so that's what I did, along with a detailed RP that just absolutely annihilated her pride and left her horror-struck and begging for more. Rajeena's role-play characteristic is that everything she does gets livestreamed, making it even more humiliating for her. My opponent picked up on it and went along with it beautifully. Cue a lengthy game over RP discourse in which I described her getting ruined again in exactly the same way... and again and again. I think I ended up describing it that she suffered 8 ruined orgasms before finally getting finished off.

I lost the game and ended up being eliminated from the tournament but had the biggest smile on my face afterwards. And that, surely, is the way it is meant to be.

EF: What's the best part of organizing tournaments?

LD: I honestly love the feeling that people are engaging with and enjoying something that I have created or have helped to create.

There is a lot of design work that goes into creating a tournament or event. Things have to be fun above all else, plus accessible and robust. The design is the most satisfying thing but ultimately you are crafting and guiding something and you have no control over the outcome. You launch it and then see where it goes as players play. That's what I find most rewarding: when the results come in and people get excited about something you have helped to create.

When I started working on the Total Wrestling Alliance Team (T.W.A.T) then there were less than 10 players. It was more like me and some friends who I played with regularly and nearly all of the results had Lady Dusk featuring in them. Now there are many more people playing and interacting and engaging with it and getting invested in the outcomes of it. And most of the matches do not involve me. It's extremely rewarding because I mostly watch it unfold and evolve organically, much like a real-world sporting league. But then I also know that there are a great number of people having fun because of an opportunity I have helped to provide.

EF: What are you most excited about this year's hentai tournament?

LD: The costumes, for one. Hentai and Halloween: it's a perfect match. What could be better than sexy PFPs in fancy dress? Some people have started already and it always makes me smile. Role-plays for another thing. Again, the Halloween backdrop is just perfect for the mode and opens up so many opportunities for great role-play narratives.

I mentioned earlier about how the fun is key. Well with a Halloween theme, there is so much scope for goofy, comedic, tongue-in-cheek scenarios. Other modes may have a more serious and competitive feel to them. Costume-based role-play just doesn't feel as hard-edged to me. And it gives such an opportunity for the talented writers and role-players of EF to stretch their creative muscles, so to speak.

Really though, I am just excited to see that bracket drawn up with all the teams and follow the action. And I can't wait to drop into games and see the diversity that makes this such a special place in full effect.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! And as for all you readers, we're waiting for you all to join this year's Halloween events! Remember, sign-ups open 5th October in the EF forum!