Controversies

Religious Complaints

 * KQ3 was very dark, and it utilized lots of magic and magic spells with the basic idea of finding ingredients for "black magic" spells and then casting those spells. (Certain religious groups were upset with me over that one!) -Roberta Williams, July 7, 1997.
 * KQ8 is tossed into this category as well by some.

Violence

 * KQ8 is often cited by many fans. But Sierra also points out violence in previous games as well.

Racism, Stereotypes, & Cultural Appropriation

 * King's Quest III and elements of Reboot King's Quest hav been accused of promoting colonialist and imperialist racialist viewpoints and cultural appropropriatoin with its use of Welsh and English fairy tale tropes. According to one article; "King’s Quest III is a prime example of how colonial ideologies of the past can be fossilized in fantasy, remaining unexamined in the present because the colonialism is so normalized that it is invisible." It goes onto say; "He’s better at being Llewdorian than Llewdorians, but of course, in proper colonial logic, that’s because he’s from Daventry but raised in Llewdor." "Gwendolyn, like Gwydion and Llewdor before, seems to be perpetuating medieval colonial attitudes, as so much of fantasy does." It continues... "...it is a convenient colonial myth to say that the colonized people no longer exist and therefore their cultures and mythologies may be freely plundered for the colonizer’s fantasies. The idea of Celtic material—particularly Welsh material—as an open resource for all of the fantasy genre is exactly such colonial logic, as it reasons that the material is free for anyone to use now that it has been plundered by the colonizer. But in so doing, we forget that the colonized are still with us. There are still tensions between the Welsh and the English. Is King’s Quest then being postcolonial by illustrating such a tension? Possibly. The trouble with colonial and postcolonial narratives is that they often look similar, and they do so on purpose as each appropriates the other for its purposes. But I suspect that what we see in Gwydion—and Gwendolyn—is merely a convention of fantasy that has fossilized medieval colonialism, one that moderns fail to recognize even as they participate in it because, well, it’s only fantasy; it’s only a game."
 * Others have referenced KQ6 negative ethnic stereotyping similar to that found in Disney's Alladin, which has been criticized over the years.

Sexism, Misogyny, etc

 * Strangely in KQ2 the parser responds to calling any female characters by derogatory terms in the parser file 8 (bitch, cunt, damsel, fairy, girl, grandma, grandmother, hag, hagatha, her, hose bag, lady, little red riding hood, maiden, mermaid, old hag, old lady, old woman, red riding hood, riding hood, slut, sperm burping gutter slut, valanice, whore, witch, woman) (see KQ2 transcript], the nouns used will lead to the standard character descriptions. Strangely one can also use any of the female character names such as Valanice, Red Riding Hood, Witch, Grandma, Hagatha, etc, in order to look at any other female characters. Likewise Message 3 in msg.90 folder has a hidden description for Valanice from the narrator: "She is even more lovely than she appeared in the mirror. Her long auburn hair tumbles down to cover her large firm breasts. Her erect nipples are one of the indications that her warm thighs would welcome your tender kisses." It is said that Scott Murphy was behind the more colorful and offensive Easter eggs.
 * KQ4 received some complaints of 'sexism' for the portrayal of the character and some of the labor she completes. One example given in CGW Issue 11 (an later on IGN) states that the cleaning the house for the Dwarves and preparing their food was Sexist; "You will also have to sit through some tedious animation in the dwarfs house. This is a puzzle in the game, the solution to which is rather sexist, although obvious." The writer of one Essay goes onto explain; "This tension between "sexist" and "obvious" solution stems from the reproduction of patterns and schemas from stories that leads to a possibility of anticipation on the part of the player, while renewing gendered structures. The central place of the princess in some King's Quest partially upsets gender characteristics - it becomes the central element of action and play - it is partly beating and enterprising, but it is characterized by traits and behaviors stereotyped. Beautiful princess, shy, and devoted to her father."
 * KQ4 is known for having the first female protagonist in a computer game, or at least adventure games (Note: at least Samus Aran of Metroid fame was introduced to gaming two years before in 1986). Roberta and Sierra considered this choice to be a female possibly controversial at the time in 1988. Up to then all the player characters were male (at the time the subscriber list for Computer Gaming World for example was 98% male), and most game players and buyers were male. The idea of creating a main character who was female was 'very scary'. Many people at Sierra were upset, and wondered what she was doing, they wondered why Roberta would make that decision, because no guys would want to play a "girl", and that Sierra would lose its customer base, and that she would destroy a great series. Roberta disagreed and thought it was the right thing to do. Since the gaming industry was dominated almost exclusively by male players, Roberta chose to take a risk of releasing a game with a female character, fearing it would get criticized, but also hoping it would draw more women into gaming. This was apparently a success as the game was released to critical acclaim, and had more female players than previous games. It became the most successful game product of the year. However, at the time Roberta said that since many girls and women were already avid King's Quest players, replacing the hero with a heroine "felt natural, like it was time." I knew the female lead is just fine for women and girls who play the game, but wasn't sure how it would go over with some of the men. And you know what? It wasn't as controversial as I expected. However, it was real strange at first designing the game; quite a different point of view. Having the women die bothered me more than I expected."-Roberta Williams She had done three games, with male characters, and she wanted to introduce the series to women audience as well, expanding the demographics (to get them to play games as well). She believed it was the right thing to do and stuck to her guns. She thought it would be nice to bring a game to female audience, and make them feel comfortable with computer games, and increase the female base of computer game players. At the same time she believed if the game was a good game, the character was good, and that it fit, that male audience wouldn't care what the player character was, as long as the game was fun. Her decision did not affect the game sales, and it sold better than previous games in the series ("...better than the first three..."). According to a survey of the player's genders made after the games release; it was asked if they preferred to play a male or female characters. It was found out that by in large male player base didn't care if they played a male or female character, as long as the game was good, and it fit and felt good to them. The female audience on the other hand, preferred by in large, to play a female character. They didn't really like playing male characters. Roberta's thoughts on Rosella. "I like the heroine, Rosella. I guess because she is part of me that is coming out. I really identified with her. Sometimes she is delicate, but she is strong, knows what she wants, she is not afraid what she has to do. She is courageous. It was fun for me to do a female character"
 * KQ7 has both a Blacksmith Troll who spouts out sexist commentary, as well as a Mocking Bird that throws out other sometimes sexist insults. It has been accused of being sexist for other reasons as well.  Some players complain about what they see as a 'whiny' stereotypical portrayal of a obnoxious/haughty/immature/self-absorbed/bratty/demanding/petulant/conceited and rude princess. Though perhaps they are projecting some of their own sexism on the character (interpreting what is example of strong independent woman rather than a stereotype).

Vulgarity
This only applies to the parser games but some of the earlier games understand a number of vulgarities (some of which are mentioned in sexist section above). Some of these lead to a 'shame' message or easter egg.
 * KQ1SCI has this in list 1110 bitch, crap, fuck, screw, shit
 * KQ2 has this list: bitch, cunt, hose bag slut, sperm burping gutter slut, whore.
 * KQ3 has this list: 299 ass, asshole, cunt, dirty word, fart, fuck, fucking, mother fucker, piss, pussy, screw, shit, tit, tits.
 * KQ4AGI has this list: 439 ass, asshole, cock, cunt, dick, dirty word, fart, fuck, fucking, mother fucker, piss, pussy, screw, shit, tit, tits
 * KQ4SCI has this list: 462 ass, asshole, bastard, bitch, bullshit, clit, cock, cocksucker, crap, cunt, damn, fart, fuck, piss, shit, shithead, turd