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Female Playboy Game Designer Takes 'High Road'

Posted by simoniker on from the low-road-impassable dept.

Thanks to Warcry.com for its three-part interview with Playboy: The Mansion lead developer Brenda Brathwaite. She discusses the Sims-like gameplay of the multi-platform title in development at Cyberlore, arguing: "I think I have an advantage as a heterosexual woman in that Playboy just wasn't part of my past: I was able to approach it from a brand-new angle... I can flip through those magazines and not have it effect me in the same way that it would clearly affect a heterosexual male." She concludes: "We go through and take a comparatively high road with this game, and show you a little of what it takes to build the Playboy empire, and what has happened historically. That was the challenge."

13 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. If ever there was one game... by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That could be ruined by heaping on T&A instead of gameplay, it was this one.

    Smart move putting a woman in charge. Actually gives me hope.

    So long as there's a still a "threesome in a hot tub" feature:)

    1. Re:If ever there was one game... by volteface · · Score: 2, Funny

      As long as I can trap the characters between two wooden chairs and have them die of starvation à la The Sims, I'm happy.

    2. Re:If ever there was one game... by Bastian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It'd be interesting if the boss above her listened to marketing much. I've seen plenty of products that bear the signs of having been a good piece of softwate before the marketroids came along and eviscerated it at the last minute, and they might throw a shitfit if there's not enough T&A in a game bearing the Playboy name.

  2. here goes my Karma... by howman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the game has T&A... It will sell... Highroad, angles or storyline aside...

    --
    flinging poop since 1969
    1. Re:here goes my Karma... by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh yeah. Just like BMX XXX, right? Oh... wait... I guess gamers *do* have a sense of taste that's more mature than "boobies = good." Don't be such a cynic.

      --
      Comment of the year
  3. yeah, my emotions arfe uncontrollable by DrSkwid · · Score: 2, Insightful


    Good to know that she thinks that it is impossible for me to dispassionately look at pornographic images. Jeesh.

    That must be why the porn industry is run by gay guys and hetro women !

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  4. Re:Hmm by Babbster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Running a railroad sounds even more boring. The Railroad Tycoon series rocks. I think you need to expand your gaming horizons a bit.

  5. Different Perspective... uh huh by salesgeek · · Score: 3, Funny

    I play the new Playboy game for it's intuitive game play and exciting plot twists...

    I don't play it for the nude scenes... really...

    --
    -- $G
  6. Unaffected? by Reapy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can flip through those magazines and not have it effect me in the same way that it would clearly affect a heterosexual male.

    Right, women can handle magazine images and models much better then men. Really, they won't think their breasts are too small, thighs too fat, stomach not toned enough. No way, it's not like it might help them along the path to an eating disorder or anything. Yup, most women sure aren't effected by the pictures...

    1. Re:Unaffected? by Chemisor · · Score: 4, Interesting

      > Right, women can handle magazine images and models
      > much better then men. Really, they won't think
      > their breasts are too small, thighs too fat,
      > stomach not toned enough.

      There are quite a few women in this country (US) whose thighs really are too fat and whose stomach has never even heard the word "tone". Being obese and out of shape is much worse for your health than being underweight.

      > No way, it's not like it might help them along
      > the path to an eating disorder or anything.

      Eating disorders are not caused by wanting to lose weight, but by not knowing how to do it. There should be considerably more emphasis on exercise and less on removing fat from your diet (because eating fat does not make you fat, calories make you fat, and you can eat a lot more carbohydrate calories than fat calories)

      > Yup, most women sure aren't effected by the pictures...

      But they should be. Yes, I know you are being sarcastic, but it is far better for women (and men, for that matter) to have a trim and fit body for a goal than to be "content" with all those jiggling extra pounds.

    2. Re:Unaffected? by Jad+LaFields · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And the thing is, other than enormous breasts and perfect skin, Playboy models have body shapes much closer to that of a healthy, 'normal' woman than those stick-thin models that fashion designers love to put on catwalks and splash across the pages of women's magazines.

      I've always found it strange and a bit sad that women seem to put up even more unobtainable goals for themselves than men even want them to.

      Playboy isn't whats turning women into anorexics, its Cosmo.

      --
      [SIG] It's like putting a moose in the blender -- a recipe for disaster!
  7. Too easy.... by Asprin · · Score: 2, Interesting


    She discusses the Sims-like gameplay of the multi-platform title in development at Cyberlore, arguing: "I think I have an advantage as a heterosexual woman in that Playboy just wasn't part of my past: I was able to approach it from a brand-new angle... I can flip through those magazines and not have it effect me in the same way that it would clearly affect a heterosexual male." She concludes: "We go through and take a comparatively high road with this game, and show you a little of what it takes to build the Playboy empire, and what has happened historically. That was the challenge."

    Duh. I'll tell you what it takes to build the Playboy empire -- a lot of affected heterosexual males flipping through those magazines. That's why this game is going to stink -- you have to know your customer.

    --
    "Lawyers are for sucks."
    - Doug McKenzie
  8. Article has nothing on game and a bio on the woman by kabocox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The woman has been designing D&D type games for 20 years. I think if she's been in the industry that long; she should know what she is doing.

    Actually I could care less about how Play Boy attempts to build a game. Before I ever read Play Boy, I thought that it would be 90% pictures of nude women. I was wrong it was more like 5-10% pictures of nude women. The other 90%-95% was filled with interviews, articles, and ads.

    Let's face it, Play Boy, is a main stream product that is designed with pleasing the wife and/or girl friend in mind.

    She thinks that being a woman gives her an edge because she wouldn't be turned on where most straight men would. I personally think that the folks that would be turned on would get over it if not the first day then in the first week. There is nothing sacred about the female body that makes it turn men on every time.