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Sex in video games. More or Less?

6:39 PM on 11.10.2006   |   Fronz

Sex in video games. More or Less? photo

Brenda Brathwaite, a game designer and professor at Georgia's Savannah College of Art & Design, is cooking up a whole new batch of Hot Coffee for gamers. In Faith's backyard at the Montreal International Game Summit on Thursday she had a lot to say about sex in video games:

"In any other medium, if they said 'you can't have sex,' artists would be outraged. They would stand up and say 'To hell with you ... don't tell me what I can do. This is my creative freedom.'"

She's definitely got a good point. Some might think scenes such as God of War's sex minigame are unprofessional, or hurt the gaming industry, but I completely agree with Brenda. Certain games involve sexual themes, and I don't think any game's plot or content should be limited by angry parents, when the actual average gamer age is 33.

I'm not saying I want a homosexual Mario and Luigi Party game, but I do think the industry needs more controversy before these concepts can be easily accepted in our future. With PS3 and 360's ability to easily render realistic scenes, I'm sure the gaming industry is only a few years away from the porn entertainment indutry wanting to start making next gen games too.

How do you guys feel about the whole sex in games thing? Would you like to see more of it, or don't welcome it at all in any way, shape, or vibrator?

[Via Yahoo News








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Tom Fronczak is Destructoid's third hire and obviously a founding editor. Fronz is an accomplished 3D animator and aspires to become the next Miyamoto when he gets old and turns Japanese someday. Fronz is also the founding member of Destructoid's sister movies site, Flixist. Likes Art, Movies Meet the rest of the team



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10 comments | showing # 1 to 10
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Spence's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/10/2006 19:20
Spence
I don't see any problem with it, but the rating councils will, and few gaming companies want to have thier games rated adult only...
Ballistic90's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/10/2006 20:39
Ballistic90
Meh. Sex in games doesn't really add to the game, but then again it doesn't take anything away. I suppose it can let you see the world from that character's perspective. Sex is now the human species (and most animal species) propagates and is a perfectly natural function.
BluDesign's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/10/2006 22:40
BluDesign
I don't have a problem with the concept, but any game that plans on adapting sex into it's going to have to adapt it in, in a mature and legitimate way if they want a chance at all in making strides toward this goal.

Making "Sexy Beach 2" or GTA's little jaunt the LAST thing you'd want to do if you want people to take "sex in games" seriously.

Frankly, I don't see the need to add sex to gaming unless there's a component of sex met that wouldn't be. A person is going to commit to sex on a level because of the gratification of the act. Not having a way to do so would really bore most people after awhile. The Japanese and Korean markets usually wrap their gratification in a story, plus still pictures to "fulfill" obligations toward playing the game.

I doubt most americans participating in this activity would be looked upon kindly, since people disassociate themselves from porn enough already. Put gaming into the mix, and you might as well burn your little black book.

I think the only acceptable solution in this is to make serious strides in teledildonics. At least in this fashion, it removes the stigma of the loner to a degree. The obvious issue raised in this though is the question of actual sexual preference of the participants, as the fraud/deceit inherent in this, would likely scare people in a serious way. No way to prove who's operating the stimulating device at the other end, no matter how convincing they can appear.

bleep's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/10/2006 22:58
bleep
@ dvddesign
I was ready to comment on technology that might appear in the future that would allow for remote sexual interaction, but apparently the term for this is "Teledildonics" kind of a weird word actually...makes me think of a cell phone that is shaped like a dildo or something... LOL
Fronz's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/10/2006 23:41
Fronz
"teledildonics" hahaha, i agree bleep.
Jelster's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/11/2006 00:08
Jelster
I call Leisure Suit Larry to the stand!

Frankly I'm always surprised that we can kill, murder and destroy but a bit of pixilated tit and arse is going to far. If it fits in the game and builds on a story, injects humor or adds to the gaming experience I don't see why we should treat it any different to other content.

Personal I'm sick and tired of people trying to benefit society through censorship rather than education and understanding. I mean, what teenage boy hasn't seen a porno, whacked one off and can't help thinking about girl in class? But instead of approaching the subject like its normal, a very vocal group choose to tuck it away like they were never the result of a sexual act. What is worse, is a lot of their support is from people who are just too damn disinterested or lazy to actually care about their children.
Fronz's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/11/2006 04:02
Fronz
Jelster, I bet Poopface Morty would completely agree with you on this one. I have to say that I do also.
Fronz's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/11/2006 04:02
Fronz
Jelster, I bet Poopface Morty would completely agree with you on this one. I have to say that I do also.
Jelster's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/11/2006 04:50
Jelster
Its a shame we're not more vocal and constantly get shouted down as liberals. Much as I have no problem of letting a child handle a gun in supervised and educated conditions I also see no problem exposing children to adult ideas as long as they have the support to understand those ideas.

The certification system for games and movies needs a revision. Movies frquently dodge an R/18 rating by cutting out swearing, sex and gore but still have an underlying distrubing theme. Its time we stopped thinking sex was evil and concentrated on some more important issues closer to home.
Dersu's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/11/2006 08:21
Dersu
Censorship is wrong. It's really as simple as that. It shouldn't matter if there's sex or what context it’s in. Of course, like how Jelster pointed out, there's also the old double standard of graphic violence being acceptable while sex isn't, which really shows how fucked up our culture is. I remember when Gamespot labeled “Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball” as one of the most “embarrassing” games of that year, going on to say that its creators pretty much pushed video games back five years. Their problem was that it allowed the gamer to look at girls in bikinis instead of punch, kick, and knock them into electric fences and out of windows. So, by their standards, it’s okay to get off on people being hurt or killed, but not okay to get off on girls prancing around in bikinis. Yeah, thanks, Gamespot, how high-minded of you. Ultimately, video games are art. There, I said it. They’re art and they deserve more respect. The problem is that they’re an immature art form. In order for video games to mature, we’re going to have to mature with them. Video games have definitely shown some growth over the past twenty years, but that still isn’t enough and game companies still tend to take advantage of their consumers. It shouldn’t matter how the game’s designers decide to contextualize their work, but it would be nice for more video games to present sexuality and nudity in a mature manner, instead of as a joke. The same goes for violence, and really any form of subject matter a video game decides to delve into. One of the current problems with video games is the lack of variety. There are few experimental video games, and not only that, but also most games tend to cater only to 13 to 30 year old males. It’s time to branch out and find other customers. I’m hoping that’s what the seventh-generation consoles will try to do. If the video game consumer base is broadened, then video games will eventually be accepted as art, and censorship will hopefully diminish and soon vanish altogether. I also agree with Jelster that the rating system for both video games and movies need a serious retuning.
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