I'm sure you all remember the ludicrous Mass Effect sex scandal, where FOX News flipped out over a sex scene that they hadn't even watched. BioWare could potentially rekindle those fires with Dragon Age: Origins, a game that features plenty of erotic chicanery. While checking out Dragon Age, I asked lead designer Mike Laidlaw when he thinks sex will be acceptable in videogames, and when mainstream media will stop throwing a hissy fit over it.
"Well I think what we're seeing is an evolution of the age of gamer, the mainstream kind of impact that games are having, and we're still battling the last of the perception that games are for kids," he explains. "So if games are for kids and sex is not for kids, why is sex in games? To my mind, the hurdle to cross is to say, 'You know, games are not for kids.' I'm not a kid, I probably burn a good three hours a night playing games, married, comfortably happy, definitely not a child.
"Ultimately, news anchors, people like that who are coming in who are gamers themselves can say 'No no no, it's a wide ranging spectrum, just like there are movies for children and movies for adults, there can be games for adults too,' ... and as soon as they realize that we're being responsible, and that the medium is not just some childish thing, they're gonna stop having their hissy fits.
"Will we see more of [sex in games]? I hope so, I really do. I mean, it's not a mandatory part of any experience, but is it something we should shy away from? I don't think so, it's part of the human experience, so why not? Does a game have to be about sex? No. Can it be in there? Sure. Why not?"
Western society is very immature when it comes to sex. The way people reacted on FOX News was childish, with grown adults acting how a schoolkid acts when he hears someone say "boob" in class. I'm not sure the furor over sexual activity in games will ever quite disappear until the general public actually grows up and comes to accept that sex happens whether they like it or not.
Contest:
1:20 PM on 09.10.2009
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*dips finger into Dragon Age and tastes*
Needs more sex.
I can't blame them (EA) for wanting more money, and I will buy it anyways because it is Bioware, but I don't know, I haven't felt the appeal of the sensationalist ad campaign for this game yet.
TV shows have sex.
Books have sex.
Magazines have sex.
Why not video games?
Like the man said, the only people who would oppose sex in video games are people who still view video games as something that only children enjoy. My guess is, that will change when the majority of adult game buyers stop buying game consoles for their kids and starts buying for themselves.
These people are paid to tell you only one side of the story, and that's not logical, realistic, or fair. Not that every story deserves to be told from multiple sides, but our country (by that I speak for Americans only) needs to stop thinking they know everything about anything because they saw a 30-60 second story on the news about it.
And Jesus, on the rare occasion I'm in a room with someone watching the news, I STILL hear things like "Today, Sarah Palin locked her keys in her car. What a dumbass, lolololololol!" We have better things to be concerning ourselves with.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,547640,00.html
God, what will we ever do??
I mean, look at the movies... 9 1/2 Weeks was released on 1986 and Last Tango in Paris was released in 1972, when was the last time you saw an NC-17 rated movie in the theater? Yet everybody agrees that movies are not always for kids.
If looking at butterflies was considered taboo and immoral, BioWare would be right on top of getting that in there too, cause honestly everything you can possibly imagine (and not want to imagine) is part of the human experience.
There have been some but they're very much in the minority or in the great realm of obscurity.
-Patrick Galloway from Undying though you only learn this from Clive Barker's commentary.
-Davin from Fallout 2.
-Edwin from Baldur's Gate 1 & 2.
And that's all I can think of gay male characters in video games that don't flash pink at every turn.
@Zcdrike
That's just the problem with characters. If they're unintended then they're often just sterotypes. So if they suddendly insert gay characters to try to look "rebelious" they forget that the gay guy does not have to remind you he takes it up the arse every five seconds. Is it asking too much that we don't try to put gay characters in video games because that's all they become. The gay one.
This is very true since in reality the only actual difference between a straight person and a gay one is who he or she sleeps with.
@Yehat
Don't forget Tony from Earthbound! =D Or the recent "Gay Tony" from GTA, for that matter!
Are you familiar with the Japanese cultural sexual fetishization of little animated girls?
Let's be equal opportunity defenders here. :)
Dunno.. seems to work just fine for movies, music and tv.
let's not forget bioware's own Juhani in kotor