BioShock director Ken Levine has criticized the current state of videogame sex scenes, describing them as looking like naked puppets boinking, even going so far as to compare it to the sex scene from Team America.
"If you think about the amount of, for example, nudity in a videogame ... it’s not even nudity," he said. "It’s a puppet with its clothes off. There are other problems as well. It’s kind of silly in videogames right now, because -- again -- puppets with their clothes off.
"It’s more like Team America. The sex scene in Team America as opposed to, you know, the sex scene in Black Swan."
Levine said another problem is that games are still viewed as toys, explaining why you can't have sex in a game without controversy. That also goes for the game industry itself, with Levine pointing out how an interviewer once criticized him for foul language just because he says f*ck now and then.
As is often the case, Levine has some smart words to say. I keep thinking about the disturbingly awkward, shoehorned sex scene in Heavy Rain. Wasn't erotic, nor did it add anything to the story. Sex for sex's sake, just to look grown-up, and it came off as infantile. Puppets with clothes off, indeed.
Levine: Current game sex like “puppets with their clothes off” [VG247]
Contest:
11:20 AM on 04.07.2011 | 
So how do we fix it? What would make it more like Black Swan and less like Team America? I have no idea, but someone smarter than me should figure something out.
It will involve Johnny 5 Banging A semi hot brunette wig nice rats
As for changing the attitudes of society, good luck with that. Some games like Heavy Rain do contribute to helping the cause of gamers by being gritter and less over sexualised.
stop trying to animate it. just imply it and save yourself the awkward mocap and acting. most developers are going to have the characters bump uglies with their underwear still on anyway, which is even more silly.
frankly, even if they "perfect" it, I'd rather do away with sex scenes in games anyway. it doesn't offend me, I just think it's stupid.
How the hell is just throwing in people having sex "mature"? They do the exact same thing in movies. It sure as hell doesn't signify anything or contribute to the plot, because people will just do anything to fuck something anymore.
Also, the awkwardness of the actual scenes is a totally separate problem from the "sex for sex's sake" problem. The latter issue is not limited to sex--truth be told, the storytelling in most games is pretty pathetic, such that there's really no justification for anything that goes on in games. I'm sure we could all come up with a bunch of fantastic games that really nailed creating a compelling narrative/world, but we also know they are the exceptions, not the rule.
The other is how they look, which is not very believable but its mostly a matter of technology. Sure, Mass Effect sex scenes look awkward for the most part, but they are a long way from Custer's revenge.
Finally, it is the point about how the world regards videogames. Mostly, I believe its a generational thing, the same as with the violence controversy.
@Gameonicon: so true.
That's not saying video games can't have sex, but a reference is enough to get the point across without making you feel like a douchebag.
The biggest hurdle that I see is that videogames are interactive and it's difficult to make a sex scene interactive without being awkward and unintentionally hilarious. The alternative is to have a cut scene, but then it's not really "videogame" sex per-say, it's just animated sex (which itself is difficult to do well).
I think the best ways for videogames to handle sex within a love story is how they used to handle it in movies - imply that it's going to occur, but let it happen off screen. I think too much attention is paid to "doing sex right" as a barrier between videogames catching up with movies. If they want to be "more movie like," videogame makers need to focus on making more believable characters - better stories, dialogue, voice acting, animated expressions. Once the characters become believable enough then real-life situations such as sex will come naturally.
Having said that, my favorite videogames are still the ones that focused on better gameplay rather than being more like a movie.
I didn't get that at all. I think he's calling for games to grow up.
The real problem here, IMO, is player control. In a game like Mass Effect, the MC IS your doll, basically. He is a puppet. So of course it's gonna be awkward and weird.
Move has been out for several months now and Heavy Rain is still the only Move game that interests me.
My favorite part was, "The only thing that matters to me is saving my son." Cue sex scene.
In a general sense, though, I begrudgingly agree with him. I've heard video game sex scenes compared to people having sex with their parents watching. The lingering cultural stigma of games does prevent physical intimacy (of any kind) from being received well.
Thanks for the spoiler, asshole.
the scene in heavy rain was like walking in on two mannequins dry humping.
also it gets really annoying because people are always talking about it. I remember everyone making a big deal about the "Sex Scene" in Uncharted 2. It wasn't even that big of a deal they were fully clothed and it switched scenes before they showed anything.
I haven't played Mass Effect 2 or Heavy Rain yet, everyone is always talking about those sex scenes. It's obnoxious because when I play the games I'm going to be constantly thinking about when the Sex scene is coming up and it distracts from the enjoyment of the game.