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Sex and the Modern MMOG
My alma mater MMORPGDot has a review of the 'adults-only, subscription-based, independently-developed Sci-Fi Fantasy MMORPG set in London a hundred years from now'. It's a social MMOG, and one with more social options than you'll find in most commercial games. From the article: "Sex is not a mere role-playing concession in Sociolotron; it is a fully-baked and detailed gameplay mechanic. Players can engage in both consensual and forced sexual relations with other players and some NPCs- and believe it or not, sex serves a number of important purposes in the game. (Aside from the whole heir thing, the fluids that are exchanged and spilled during sexual encounters are critical components of some potions, and the game provides a variety of methods for collecting these substances.) Sex is really a sort of minigame in Socio, and before you utter the words 'Hot Coffee,' understand that this is no mere rhythm exercise. It's actually so complex a process that I'll only touch on a few details here."
Umm... doesn't "forced sexual relations" seem in rather poor taste ?
Or is the argument supposed to be that if you can have violence in games then it's fair play ? Ugh.
So I guess the only appropriate question is, when will it support a force feedback "joystick"?
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Now the geeks can see what they've been missing all these years. Level Up! Dildo Upgraded! 50 Pts!
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You know having sex in a MMO is interesting and could ad a bit to character interactions (now having a wife in a game may actually mean something)> having forced sexual relation may be in poor taste, but I honestly don't see it that much worse then PKing. The thing that I am having a problem with is:
"the fluids that are exchanged and spilled during sexual encounters are critical components of some potions"
That is just getting nasty.
---
Healer: Oh shoot! Leroy is getting low on life.
Healer: Quick get me some components so I can make a potion!
Group: Fap fap fap
This is just the first time someone bothered to give it graphics. And possibly the first time you were charged for the privledge, but I'd have to check my facts on that one...
You may return to your "robe and wizard hat" quips now.
Question: What do you call people using the rythm method?
Answer: Parents.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Laziness is the father.
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*nt*
I'm not scared of anonymous cowards.
I participated in the beta on 2 different occasions over the course of 4 years, each for a month or so at a time. It was a lark, and my wife thought some of it was hysterical. Honestly, she could watch me play and just laugh. If any of you read "The Sports Guy", Bill Simmons on ESPN.com, you have heard of his Unintentional Comedy Index, or UCI. This game is off the charts. I don't think the game maker nor the players intend for it to be funny, but if you could just be a fly on the wall during "encounters", you'd be rolling in the aisles. In the end, while it was almost morbidly fascinating, I stopped doing the beta each time.
Yes, it was very much suspected that most of the female characters were played by men. It would certainly explain why most female characters role-played being lesbians who loved anal sex. Plus, all the female and male bodies are exactly the same, and the male sex organs are hugely out of porportions to the bodies. You can really tell a man designed everything.
This is supposed to be a MMORPG, but there is little combat and little challenge in the game, overall. It is purely a social game that has combat to taunt people into believing it is a MMORPG. PvP is not something you can turn off after a certain "level" of ability. And, you don't just get killed, but can be raped and then killed. Many "women" takled about the insane amount of fear and adrenalin rush they got when they were kidnapped, raped, and then killed. It was very real to them, as their character was rendered completely helpless.
The game does (or did when I quit the 2nd time) feature PermaDeath as the rule for once you get out of your newbie shoes. You can have children, though, and you or your partner can use that child to be reborn when you are PermaDeathed.
The sex itself... C'mon, that is why you are reading this, right? Don't lie, you pervert! Zip up your pants and read, then!
The sex itself is pathetic. While they give motions and actions you can do, it is mostly poor text (the mispellings are hideous) that drives this show. It is very easy to have 2 characters supposedly going at it, and the guy is laying 2 feet to the left of the girl, but they are both humping air furiously, and the game tells you he is inside her. Many actions require one person to allow the other person to take hold of them. Trust the wrong person, and once that happens, you could be dead.
Roleplaying is a necessity, but the level of the players in the beta was pretty horrible. Most of the male characters were merely sperm donors, and added nothing to their partner's enjoyment by using creative words to enhance the "event". Male characters that could actually type and make it seem more real became sought after. Female characters (probably played mostly by men who had a gift to being descriptive) were usually better at it, but some of them were just as inept.
Character classes are pretty stupid, with not much to offer roleplay opportunities. The exceptions were the Succubi, and the Inquisitors. Succubi had to harvest sperm, and usually harvested it from their own bodies. However, to harvest it, they had to make themsleves immobile, and therefor easy to be killed if anywhere close to public. Inquisitors had to kill sinners, and mostly took on the prostitues that wander about (and are your only real source of combat for the early stages of the game.) They kill them by cutting their heart out.
The beta was constantly plagued by griefers, who were often allowed to carry on, because it was within the design of the game. You want to serially rape and kill female characters, because that is who your character is? Go right ahead! More power to you! And if they catch you and kill you, don't complain. The problem is, these folks took to being a griefer the way a powergamer took to WoW for the first month. They boost characters up fast, and make themselves almost impervious to one-on-one situations. They break into private places looking for toons that are AFK, or not doing anyth
>The rest make jests and jokes about the subject of sex in games.
That's because the implementation of sex in games not only leaves much to be desired, but also we've got accustomed to game developers using boobies to sell a poorly implemented, boring and not very imaginative game. The jests made in the responses pointed to this, and surprise surprise, when someone who knew about the game and had played it answered, it confirmed everything we suspected about it *shocked*.
The idea may or may not be worth discussing but it seems like, as we all expected, the implementation sucked, the game was technically a piece of crap, and the design of the "game" part was poorly thought out and weakly executed. This game, like many others before it, attempts to use outrageous claims about the fantastic sex stuff you can find inside to sell you a turd, and they didn't even bother to polish it.
So no, we don't have to "grow up", the game designers have to start thinking about actually making compelling games, sex and all, instead of making a piece of shit and throwing in some jugs hoping the hormonally charged teenagers will flock to it. Because so far that's all they do with "sex in games". Then, and only then, they'll get a less cynical and jaded response.
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