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Erotic MMO Targets Female Audience

Posted by Zonk on from the market-expansion dept.

Next Generation reports on another entry into the "social mmo" category, with a look at erotic MMOG 'Spend the Night'. From the article: "A game in which adults are encouraged to indulge their sexual fantasies is bound to attract the media's attention but, so far, Republik's Spend the Night has been keeping a low profile. Come the middle of next year, when it launches online, that'll all change. Details are scant at present, and Coshland doesn't want to give too much away, but the basics are simple. Players go online, choose a graphical identity, mooch around with other players, find someone they like, and find a room. Graphics claimed to be 'cinematic' are promised, and a simple interface allows the action to proceed. 'This is a fantasy multiplayer dating game,' says Coshland. 'It's not like the dating games that we've seen coming out of Japan where you try to win the favor of someone of the opposite sex. We're providing more of a game where two people can go on a date and interact in a 3D space.'"

26 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. This would be worth paying for by FidelCatsro · · Score: 5, Funny

    For the simple pleasure of saying "I'm really a man PWNZED" ,at the end of a gaming session

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    1. Re:This would be worth paying for by TRIEventHorizon · · Score: 3, Informative

      OFFTOPIC TO PARENT

      Here is the company link, sense the story poster and the story editor both felt the need to omit it, and poster even chose a news site to link that also lacked a link to the game company.

      www.republikgames.com

      and

      www.spendthenight.com

      --
      "And so the Trekkies were executed in the mannor most befitting virgins - thrown into volcanoes" - Futurama
  2. Ouch! Hot coffee! It's everywhere! by BigZaphod · · Score: 2, Funny

    Quick, someone call Hillary! The coffee is spilling over the keyboard! HURRY!! BzzzzzZZzzztt! ArrghahahhH!!! *NO CARRIER*

    --
    Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
  3. Sticky keys.... by LoRdTAW · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hope they provide one of those industrial keyboard covers with every copy.

  4. I just don't know if that is the right headline... by vertinox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Erotic MMO Targets Female Audience

    Don't you mean "Disturbing MMO Targets Males pretending to Female Audience"

    Then again... I've known a girl tell other people they were guys while online just to get them to stop bothering her.

    --
    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  5. Re:"Details are scant at present" by commonchaos · · Score: 4, Funny

    What are you talking about? All you need is a robe and wizard hat! (google cache)

  6. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...will there be PvP?

    1. Re:So... by Meagermanx · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just swordfighting.

  7. In other news... by Strell · · Score: 3, Funny

    Jack Thompson's head just asploded.

    --
    I'm not scared of anonymous cowards.
  8. Could be fun... by Xetrov · · Score: 4, Funny

    * Xetrov pulls out his Wizard Robe and Hat

  9. Weird game by Eli+Gottlieb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I really don't know if this game is good for anything, especially because the she-gamer/she-geek you thought you met in-game will probably turn out to be a guy, anyway.

    If they had verification of the player's actual gender, though... Giggidy, giggidy, GIGGIDY!

    1. Re:Weird game by cgenman · · Score: 3, Interesting

      During Beta, Ragnarok (a korean MMPORPG) casually asked for your gender at sign-up. After more factual collection it presented you with a palette of character options... but only in the gender you originally labeled yourself as. You could only be your gender.

      It was an interesting twist, and I think it really helped the social dynamics of the game. However it pi$$ed off a lot of female gamers, who wanted to hide behind male characters to avoid the cat calling etc.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
    2. Re:Weird game by Bobsledboy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey... the acronym is long enough as it is without you adding a 'P' in there =P

    3. Re:Weird game by thesandtiger · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Did it also limit the person's choice of race to human? Only give them skin color choices that were within a reasonable "suntan/cave dweller" variation? Make them submit a physical fitness profile, IQ test and personality inventory to determine stats? Limit their class to some variation of "unskilled peon" unless they submitted documents certifying that they had skills relevant to game-play? Limit their economic potential in game to some reasonable analogue of their real-life finances? Limit their location to their home city?

      It's amazing to me how much something as absolutely irrelevant as the gender of another player in an MMO seems to matter to people. I've never heard a single argument as to *why* who is on the other end of the keyboard matters. Am I fun to play with? Do we get along? Well then, what possible difference can it make whether I'm a pointer or a setter?

      Games are games. Tough shit that some people have issues with guys pretending to be girls or girls pretending to be guys, or any other variation you can think of. People play games because they *aren't* the real world, and they aren't limited by real-world conditions and situations.

      The only possible situation in which someone's "real" gender is even remotely relevant to me is if I am about to have sex with them. Period. And hell, close to closing time... I'm not sure I'd care too much. :p

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
  10. Profile Sites by usrusr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    About time someone tries to make something out of the way most of those "profile sites" (you know the places on the net where all the disoriented teen girls and leftover 30+ show off their latest piercings) sooner or later turns into an inofficial MMOG, where having a long "friends" list and many "woah, u so s3ksah" (or however the current spelling is) in the diary comments equals the levelling efforts in other games. Just look at the friends list of every randomly selected brasilian on orkut for example, that's pure hunting and gathering, and putting somebody on that list is probably about as personal as your relation to the last minion-monster you slayed in diablo 2.

    This project can easily fail, mostly because there is not much experience with the genre to build upon, but i see great potential. Some form of convergence between profile sites and MMORGs could easily be "the next big thing".

    --
    [i have an opinion and i am not afraid to use it]
  11. Re:just goes to show you... by vranash · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Plenty of women want this, you just might not want them when comparing their online persona to their RL one :)

  12. Overheard... by kafka47 · · Score: 4, Funny
    A naked man saunters by, sporting a gignormous member...

    "You see that guy?!?"

    "Yeah he must level 60!!"

  13. Two words by jearbear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sausage
    Festival

    I'm betting that the company knows exactly what will happen, and they know that people won't care, and they'll rake in the dough.

    Of course, this always makes me wonder quite a bit about how we view gender and sexuality out here in 1-on-1 chats on the 'net, but I feel like that might be someone's dissertation topic. Oy.

  14. Marketing for Women by MrCopilot · · Score: 2, Insightful
    He says "every marketing cent" will be spent on targeting women, based on the theory that "men will follow".

    Yeah, I know when my wife says "I'm watching a Lifetime special", I always follow her straight to the tv.

    Meanwhile, Quietly (cheaply), they are screaming "Naked Female Sex Game" at the male target audience outlets. (ie SlashDot) Notice the aversion to words "Porn Game". Most women hate porn games. Most women will likely hate this one too, No matter how much money you throw at the Oxygen Channel.

    The Real question is
    "Does the game ship with these http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/ind ex.php?product_id=EXO88121?"

    --
    OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
    1. Re:Marketing for Women by NonSequor · · Score: 2, Funny

      You need to play the Lifetime movie drinking game I'm working on.

      When the police say they can't help the protagonist take a drink
      Take a bonus drink if their reason for not helping involves a flimsy technicality
      Have a drink when the protagonist's ex-husband enters a scene
      Have a drink if the protagonist's mother is unsympathetic

      And so on and so forth. You'll be wasted in no time.

      --
      My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
  15. Re:Baiting the press, are we? by BigZaphod · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sure the devs are... why do you think it isn't out yet? :-)

    --
    Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
  16. Hot Coffee anyone? by ecumenical_40oz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe they will have a mod that unlocks secret scenes of violence in this otherwise sexually-oriented game. I wonder which party will throw a fit first.

  17. Re:The Gender Imbalance by snuf23 · · Score: 3, Funny

    As long as half of the men are gay and there are no lesbians it should work out fine.

    --
    Sometimes my arms bend back.
  18. Is it really a MMOG? by Fastball · · Score: 3, Funny

    Or is it a "first person shooter?" ;)

  19. Hmm by drsmithy · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "We can't control what our community becomes, with the exception of prohibiting people from illegal activities, [...]

    What _can_ you do inside a video game that's illegal ?

    1. Re:Hmm by kinglink · · Score: 2, Funny

      Giving graphic material to Underage people... goats and other animals. Underage goats. That sorta stuff.