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SEX IN GAMES
Posts
calunio
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CloseMy idea from writing this topic comes from a bunch of stuff. I'll mention them here, but you can just skip and say what do you think about sex and video games?
----
Recently, an indie gaming event was held, showcasing games loosely themed around sex. My Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer was one of them. The featured game was a simple arcade with bare-chested chicks.
A little after, the curator of the event wrote an article called Sexual Video Games Are Good For Us explaining why she made an event about sex-themed games.
I replied in my blog saying I don't know if sexual video games are good for us, and I don't even think the games in that event are actually sexual.
I just saw another reply to the article, saying that people shouldn't be so touchy when dealing with sex in games when they're ok with dealing with violence so naturally.
Sex is still very rare in games, though sexuality is often present in other ways. Even when present, it's usually presented either in a crude/boring way or completely obscure/implicit.
Discuss.
----
Recently, an indie gaming event was held, showcasing games loosely themed around sex. My Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer was one of them. The featured game was a simple arcade with bare-chested chicks.
A little after, the curator of the event wrote an article called Sexual Video Games Are Good For Us explaining why she made an event about sex-themed games.
I replied in my blog saying I don't know if sexual video games are good for us, and I don't even think the games in that event are actually sexual.
I just saw another reply to the article, saying that people shouldn't be so touchy when dealing with sex in games when they're ok with dealing with violence so naturally.
Sex is still very rare in games, though sexuality is often present in other ways. Even when present, it's usually presented either in a crude/boring way or completely obscure/implicit.
Discuss.
I have no problem with it. I don't think it's innately a virtue. I don't think it's innately bad, either. I don't think it's something that automatically adds depth or cultural value, nor do I think it's something that's a taboo.
Really, I don't care. As long as whatever sexual content there is is appropriate to the game in question, it's no skin off of my back. As long as it's not added as a gimmick or a draw, which would of course just cheapen the game, I don't care if it's included or not. I'm less of a prude than some people on here, and less of a libertine than others.
Of course, games that are overwhelmingly composed of sex or about sex are just pornography. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Edit:
I always thought Bondage Escape: Doctrine was not at all sexual, and was in fact covertly about the RPG Maker community. lol
Really, I don't care. As long as whatever sexual content there is is appropriate to the game in question, it's no skin off of my back. As long as it's not added as a gimmick or a draw, which would of course just cheapen the game, I don't care if it's included or not. I'm less of a prude than some people on here, and less of a libertine than others.
Of course, games that are overwhelmingly composed of sex or about sex are just pornography. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Edit:
I always thought Bondage Escape: Doctrine was not at all sexual, and was in fact covertly about the RPG Maker community. lol
author=Max McGee
I have no problem with it. I don't think it's innately a virtue. I don't think it's innately bad, either. I don't think it's something that automatically adds depth or cultural value, nor do I think it's something that's a taboo.
Really, I don't care. As long as whatever sexual content there is is appropriate to the game in question, it's no skin off of my back. As long as it's not added as a gimmick or a draw, which would of course just cheapen the game, I don't care if it's included or not. I'm less of a prude than some people on here, and less of a libertine than others.
Of course, games that are overwhelmingly composed of sex or about sex are just pornography. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
This is basically how I feel about it in a nutshell.
Well, since 2 out of 3 replies are "I don't care", let's put it this way.
Games are clearly touchy about having sex in them. Do you (Max and Crimson and whoever else) consider yourself an exception on not caring? Do you think people care? If not, why there's no sex?
Games are clearly touchy about having sex in them. Do you (Max and Crimson and whoever else) consider yourself an exception on not caring? Do you think people care? If not, why there's no sex?
Anaryu
8848
author=calunio
Well, since 2 out of 3 replies are "I don't care", let's put it this way.
Games are clearly touchy about having sex in them. Do you (Max and Crimson and whoever else) consider yourself an exception on not caring? Do you think people care? If not, why there's no sex?
Sex is hard to write. I imagine trying to write it is like trying to have it the first time - most find it awkward and embarrassing. There's also the pressure of questioning your own experience and thoughts on it by how you portray it - you can just imagine the sarcastic posts asking if you're still a virgin or laughing about it.
It's also not something that is taken seriously in games yet - so adding it usually feels very out of place no matter how well it's done.
So I'd say the reward is rarely work the risk and that's why most don't add it.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Now, if we're talking about porn, then porn's its own thing. I won't touch on that. I'm assuming for the sake of discussion we're talking about non-pornographic games that just have sex in them, like Dragon Age: Origins.
Sex in movies is already pretty stupid. When the movie isn't actually porn, what purpose does a random sex scene serve? It doesn't enhance the plot, it doesn't fit the theme. In fact, the truth is that typically it exists solely as a way to artificially increase the movie's rating from PG to R. This is because adults do not feel comfortable watching PG movies, they assume it's going to be a movie for kids. It's a well known fact in the movie industry that increasing a movie's rating to from PG to R will drastically increase its sales, even if the movie remains unchanged. But you can't change the rating without changing the movie, so they add 10 seconds of sex.
Random sex scenes in games have the same problem of being pointless, and are generally even stupider for the following reasons:
A) That rating stigma doesn't exist. Most adult gamersare greasy anime nerds who have no problem enjoying products designed for children realize that a game's gameplay can be extremely fun regardless of its writing's maturity level, and will pay more attention to overall quality than to superficial perceptions.
B) It's unconvincing. Even with cutting edge graphics you are acutely aware that these are not actual people. In the more common case, there is stupid shit going on like planing errors and polygon flickering and other terms I made up just now for 3D graphical errors.
C) Games' scripts are not written by professional writers and their cut scenes are not directed by professional directors. The result is that even a lot of the serious dramatic scenes in games are usually laughably bad, like the kinds of things you would find at the bottom of the dregs of a pile of B movies. And you want a believable sex scene now? Seriously?
Sex in movies is already pretty stupid. When the movie isn't actually porn, what purpose does a random sex scene serve? It doesn't enhance the plot, it doesn't fit the theme. In fact, the truth is that typically it exists solely as a way to artificially increase the movie's rating from PG to R. This is because adults do not feel comfortable watching PG movies, they assume it's going to be a movie for kids. It's a well known fact in the movie industry that increasing a movie's rating to from PG to R will drastically increase its sales, even if the movie remains unchanged. But you can't change the rating without changing the movie, so they add 10 seconds of sex.
Random sex scenes in games have the same problem of being pointless, and are generally even stupider for the following reasons:
A) That rating stigma doesn't exist. Most adult gamers
B) It's unconvincing. Even with cutting edge graphics you are acutely aware that these are not actual people. In the more common case, there is stupid shit going on like planing errors and polygon flickering and other terms I made up just now for 3D graphical errors.
C) Games' scripts are not written by professional writers and their cut scenes are not directed by professional directors. The result is that even a lot of the serious dramatic scenes in games are usually laughably bad, like the kinds of things you would find at the bottom of the dregs of a pile of B movies. And you want a believable sex scene now? Seriously?
author=calunio
Well, since 2 out of 3 replies are "I don't care", let's put it this way.
Games are clearly touchy about having sex in them. Do you (Max and Crimson and whoever else) consider yourself an exception on not caring? Do you think people care? If not, why there's no sex?
The conundrum is how do you present it to the player? Will it be interactive, like violence is so readily in video games, or will it be non-interactive? Many seem to treat it as some sort of colossal joke and many will question the creator's intent when it's included, just to gauge how seriously he/she was approaching the subject matter. That does not seem to happen very often when it's violence, unless it's incredibly over the top or all over the news.
You know, to be perfectly honest with you, I'm not even sure how to approach the act in a video game. I assume you are talking about the actual act of sex, correct? Wow, it's very telling when video games have so easily ingrained violence upon the gaming populace, but the act of sex (in gaming culture, anyway) is so alien that it's damn near impossible to tell you the gameplay implications of it, as well as the presentation, approach, and care into making it something meaningful and significant to the game and not just a throwaway device.
I know God of War handled it like a joke, that's for sure. Some QTE crap (the crude/boring you alluded to). The same with Saints Row, which just doesn't show you anything anyway, so there's no point in discussing it (the obscure/implicit). These games, as fun as they are, handle sex with the same care they handle violence, not that I want to be treated to an anvilicious seminar about the morals (or lack thereof) of violence and sex, mind you.
I don't know. You got me. It would seem that people seem to care, since it is so rare and belongs only in the realm of obscure Japanese and indie PC games (which probably handle it very poorly). As for me, it's not something I'm against or for. If it detracts from the video game experience, it's not needed. If it adds to the experience, I see no reason why it should be discarded just because it's unfamiliar.
I guess I do care to some degree, but only to the extent of "how does this add to the game as a whole?" If I'm going to play something that includes sex, either do it justice or don't include it at all, know what I'm saying?
I really don't think most games have the graphical capacity to have a sex scene that is anything but laughable. Even the ones in Dragon Age were just cheesy. I don't think people don't add sex to their RM games so much because of a taboo but because most people realize that trying to depict sex with tiny sprites is just silly.
Are we talking about a sex scene, with actual titties and shit, or sex written somewhere into the script or the plot, as in, its somewhere in the narrative?
On the latter, Xenogears pulled it the best, I think. Fei and Elly, in the late stages of the game, are more or less a newly established couple. Elly, already fighting alongside the party and being in danger every step along the way, wants to go along with the party to a particularly dangerous mission.
Fei, for reasons that are proved later on in the game, disagrees because it's far to dangerous for her in particular and wants her to stay behind. Elly, pissed off at the sudden 'no stay here' attitude from Fei, gets angry and asks why, Fei blows up in front of her and everyone else and tells her she'd just get in the way. Elly runs off crying. Pushed along by the party members, Fei is told by everyone to man up, apologize, and tell her straight up how everyone knows they both feel.
He goes into her room, they have a heart to heart, they lean in to kiss, screen fades out. Fei wakes up in the morning going out the door to his mission, Elly is behind in bed covered up, and she wishes him luck and goodbye.
Xenogears has a very well written love story, I think, and the first time sex between the two lovers is a natural feeling cumulation to a whole games worth of building of two lovers feelings. It's not cheesy, flashy, or in your face. It just happens. These two people like each other, they like each other even more, they eventually sleep together, now let's move on with the plot.
Perfect.
On the latter, Xenogears pulled it the best, I think. Fei and Elly, in the late stages of the game, are more or less a newly established couple. Elly, already fighting alongside the party and being in danger every step along the way, wants to go along with the party to a particularly dangerous mission.
Fei, for reasons that are proved later on in the game, disagrees because it's far to dangerous for her in particular and wants her to stay behind. Elly, pissed off at the sudden 'no stay here' attitude from Fei, gets angry and asks why, Fei blows up in front of her and everyone else and tells her she'd just get in the way. Elly runs off crying. Pushed along by the party members, Fei is told by everyone to man up, apologize, and tell her straight up how everyone knows they both feel.
He goes into her room, they have a heart to heart, they lean in to kiss, screen fades out. Fei wakes up in the morning going out the door to his mission, Elly is behind in bed covered up, and she wishes him luck and goodbye.
Xenogears has a very well written love story, I think, and the first time sex between the two lovers is a natural feeling cumulation to a whole games worth of building of two lovers feelings. It's not cheesy, flashy, or in your face. It just happens. These two people like each other, they like each other even more, they eventually sleep together, now let's move on with the plot.
Perfect.
I don't agree that Xenogears has a particularly well-written love story, but I do agree it's probably the best handling of sexual themes in a game that I've ever seen. There are quite a few times were it is obviously implied there is sex being had, but nothing explicit is ever shown, and the game doesn't ever dwell on this fact.
Space_Monkey
366
imo, the important issue isn't whether it improves or detracts from the quality of the game but rather the freedom people have or don't have for it to be in the game. It's good to have the choice to have sexuality in games.
I doubt many people at this site are going to have a problem with commercial games having nudity or sex and the people who do are not the kind of people who tend to frequent rmn. They're all out proselytizing instead of learning (and teaching their children) how to live in this world.
Sexuality is and always has been an over-politicized issue with people trying to legislate morality and force their beliefs on others. It's better to teach your children about topics like sex, drugs, etc. than to try to abolish them. Abstinence only programs are ridiculous and arm kids with "just say no" instead of giving them real facts about contraception, pregnancy, std's, etc. Not to mention the fact that I'd like to have some personal fucking freedom in AMERICA. People need to get off the shit that isn't their business like smoking pot or homo marriage.
Besides, the games aren't even for kids, they're for adults. There's nothing wrong with adults watching or playing sexual games or movies. Unfortunately, video games are viewed as a children's medium of entertainment.
I doubt many people at this site are going to have a problem with commercial games having nudity or sex and the people who do are not the kind of people who tend to frequent rmn. They're all out proselytizing instead of learning (and teaching their children) how to live in this world.
Sexuality is and always has been an over-politicized issue with people trying to legislate morality and force their beliefs on others. It's better to teach your children about topics like sex, drugs, etc. than to try to abolish them. Abstinence only programs are ridiculous and arm kids with "just say no" instead of giving them real facts about contraception, pregnancy, std's, etc. Not to mention the fact that I'd like to have some personal fucking freedom in AMERICA. People need to get off the shit that isn't their business like smoking pot or homo marriage.
Besides, the games aren't even for kids, they're for adults. There's nothing wrong with adults watching or playing sexual games or movies. Unfortunately, video games are viewed as a children's medium of entertainment.
Space_Monkey
366
developers need to be smart about sex in games so that they don't screw it up for everyone else. some guy is going to go put lockez's "shitting dick nipples" in a game and it's going to be the foundation for a bill against women showing their faces in public. (ofc the developer will rake in the $ from the controversy. )
someone always has to ruin it for the rest of us. this is why we can't have nice things.
someone always has to ruin it for the rest of us. this is why we can't have nice things.
oh my god sm avatar so much less disturbing than kyou
there are two sex scenes in backstage 2 (why am i telling you this)
they are right back to back
the first part is you put a mysterious videotape in a vcr (siren hilda geddit?) and the tv just plays this dumb animated pixel sex of some rtp chick going down on some rtp dude, essentially. and it's played for laughs; it's basically to show you how not to do sex taken seriously in a 2d game
shortly after that goofy easter egg there's a character flashback to another sex scene, but this one is deadly serious. nothing is showed and you're just uncomfortably 'in the dark' of the motel room while you hear a good 60 seconds of tasteful but realistic sound effects. it is disturbing not because sex is disturbing or because the sex is even kinky (it isn't; it's consensual, heterosexual, and vanilla, with no fetish elements) but because of what you know about the characters having sex and their backgrounds. anyway, it's totally 'not shown' but heard and then the screen zooms back in on them in bed essentially in their underware. it should have a really deeply uncomfortable softness and gentleness to it, if i designed the scene right.
this is in many ways the climax of one leg of the game's story, and is meant to be the 'crowning moment of disturbing' so to speak...i can't explain further w/o spoilers
so it's very much kind of a pg-13 movie cutaway to black and/or a 'sexy discretion shot' (link 2 tv tropes) but at the same time it's more intimate and serious and adult and well, sexual, than the very silly but explicit pixel sex shown beforehand, as an intended contrast to make the latter seem more serious and important
/lengthy commentary on sex in rpg maker games
iirc both of the MAFIA games do it incredibly well
there are two sex scenes in backstage 2 (why am i telling you this)
they are right back to back
the first part is you put a mysterious videotape in a vcr (siren hilda geddit?) and the tv just plays this dumb animated pixel sex of some rtp chick going down on some rtp dude, essentially. and it's played for laughs; it's basically to show you how not to do sex taken seriously in a 2d game
shortly after that goofy easter egg there's a character flashback to another sex scene, but this one is deadly serious. nothing is showed and you're just uncomfortably 'in the dark' of the motel room while you hear a good 60 seconds of tasteful but realistic sound effects. it is disturbing not because sex is disturbing or because the sex is even kinky (it isn't; it's consensual, heterosexual, and vanilla, with no fetish elements) but because of what you know about the characters having sex and their backgrounds. anyway, it's totally 'not shown' but heard and then the screen zooms back in on them in bed essentially in their underware. it should have a really deeply uncomfortable softness and gentleness to it, if i designed the scene right.
this is in many ways the climax of one leg of the game's story, and is meant to be the 'crowning moment of disturbing' so to speak...i can't explain further w/o spoilers
so it's very much kind of a pg-13 movie cutaway to black and/or a 'sexy discretion shot' (link 2 tv tropes) but at the same time it's more intimate and serious and adult and well, sexual, than the very silly but explicit pixel sex shown beforehand, as an intended contrast to make the latter seem more serious and important
/lengthy commentary on sex in rpg maker games
I really don't think most games have the graphical capacity to have a sex scene that is anything but laughable. Even the ones in Dragon Age were just cheesy. I don't think people don't add sex to their RM games so much because of a taboo but because most people realize that trying to depict sex with tiny sprites is just silly.
iirc both of the MAFIA games do it incredibly well
Crysta
0
Our country is a little confused and touchy about sex in general, so it doesn't surprise me that the same would apply to games with it.
For me, I wouldn't mind it, assuming it wasn't just a porno in game form. I usually like it when it's just implied or there's not any excessive focus on it.
For me, I wouldn't mind it, assuming it wasn't just a porno in game form. I usually like it when it's just implied or there's not any excessive focus on it.
KreadEX
497
author=Feldschlacht IV
Are we talking about a sex scene, with actual titties and shit, or sex written somewhere into the script or the plot, as in, its somewhere in the narrative?
On the latter, Xenogears pulled it the best, I think. Fei and Elly, in the late stages of the game, are more or less a newly established couple. Elly, already fighting alongside the party and being in danger every step along the way, wants to go along with the party to a particularly dangerous mission.
Fei, for reasons that are proved later on in the game, disagrees because it's far to dangerous for her in particular and wants her to stay behind. Elly, pissed off at the sudden 'no stay here' attitude from Fei, gets angry and asks why, Fei blows up in front of her and everyone else and tells her she'd just get in the way. Elly runs off crying. Pushed along by the party members, Fei is told by everyone to man up, apologize, and tell her straight up how everyone knows they both feel.
He goes into her room, they have a heart to heart, they lean in to kiss, screen fades out. Fei wakes up in the morning going out the door to his mission, Elly is behind in bed covered up, and she wishes him luck and goodbye.
Xenogears has a very well written love story, I think, and the first time sex between the two lovers is a natural feeling cumulation to a whole games worth of building of two lovers feelings. It's not cheesy, flashy, or in your face. It just happens. These two people like each other, they like each other even more, they eventually sleep together, now let's move on with the plot.
Basically, this was the post I wanted to make. Xenogears handled sex between lovers in a subtle manner and the whole scene appeared very natural. There is another sexuel theme if you remember it, namely Billy eager to prostitute himself in order to provide his sister with a decent life comfort, a fact that makes Bart very angry, yelling at Billy for having "no pride".
