While ultra violent and racist games continue to be developed, and the violence and stereotyping mostly left unchecked and/or swept under the rug, sex in videogame is still as controversial as ever. I don't know if this is off topic considering the title of the thread "On the Advent of Controversial Video Games" but as chairperson of the IGDA Sex-SIG I feel somewhat compelled to comment. http://www.igda.org/sex/ [igda.org]
Even though the average age of gamers is 28+ years and older... its kind of hypocritical that youth can get relatively easy access to this kind of ultra violent and/or seemingly racist content (typically ERSB approved ) that is training and desensitizing another generation of gamers.
Throw some good old missionary or doggy style sex between a man and a woman and your in hot water. Enough hot water to make a lot of people boil over with antiquated ideas and opinions that games are for kids and they need to be sex needs to be kept out of the game experience period.
'Hot Coffee' as GTA pulisher Take2 found out... creates more controversy than its worth for mainstream publishers to venture forward. Maybe its teh way they did that matters inthat case but it was quite the controversy for a while.
Sony's God of War threesome and Bioware's Mass Effect alien lesbian scenes that cut away from the real action but leave pretty much nothing to the imagination about what's going to happen next are posted all over YouTube for anyone to see. These two semi-famous examples haven't landed those publishers in too much hot water so maybe attitudes are changing. After all any under age person who known's how to Google two keywords 'Free Porn' will see more than any virtual sex scene in any RPG game will ever be able to portray.
That said as Chairperson of the Sex-SIG (with a personal and professional goal of evangelizing Sex in Games), and also as a developer and publisher promoting sex RPGs I have coined the phrase 'Sex is Not the Enemy". We basically sell only online to consenting adults with credit cards who want to see sex in a videogame like environment, and you would be surprised how many do! We feel that letting users play out whatever fantasy the want from straight sex to gay to you name it, is one of the last frontiers in the storytelling required to make games as complete and compelling as Hollywood movies for instance or even a good smut book.
For a publisher in the sex in videogames niche its a fine line between commerce and artistic merit for the fantasy simulations that gamers want too see and control but we have to do what we have to do to strike a balance between giving what our users want and providing an experience that users will subscribe to from month to month and development costs.
That said I want to leave a link to a video clip by Daniel Floyd I think summarizes the challenges and controversy about sex in games and the challenges between getting it right from an interactive storytelling experience and creating a game that is commercially viable with all the obstacles a sex game faces.
BTW we realize about 50% of gamers think sex in games is a waste of time and lame but with 100's of millions of gamers now in the world the other 50% are demanding it so us and others like Red Light Center, Bonetown etc. will continue to deliver.
While ultra violent and racist games continue to be developed, and the violence and stereotyping mostly left unchecked and/or swept under the rug, sex in videogame is still as controversial as ever. I don't know if this is off topic considering the title of the thread "On the Advent of Controversial Video Games" but as chairperson of the IGDA Sex-SIG I feel somewhat compelled to comment. http://www.igda.org/sex/
Even though the average age of gamers is 28+ years and older... its kind of hypocritical that youth can get relatively easy access to this kind of ultra violent and/or seemingly racist content (typically ERSB approved ) that is training and desensitizing another generation of gamers.
Throw some good old missionary or doggy style sex between a man and a woman and your in hot water. Enough hot water to make a lot of people boil over with antiquated ideas and opinions that games are for kids and they need to be sex needs to be kept out of the game experience period.
'Hot Coffee' as GTA pulisher Take2 found out... creates more controversy than its worth for mainstream publishers to venture forward. Maybe its teh way they did that matters inthat case but it was quite the controversy for a while.
Sony's God of War threesome and Bioware's Mass Effect alien lesbian scenes that cut away from the real action but leave pretty much nothing to the imagination about what's going to happen next are posted all over YouTube for anyone to see. These two semi-famous examples haven't landed those publishers in too much hot water so maybe attitudes are changing. After all any under age person who known's how to Google two keywords 'Free Porn' will see more than any virtual sex scene in any RPG game will ever be able to portray.
That said as Chairperson of the Sex-SIG (with a personal and professional goal of evangelizing Sex in Games), and also as a developer and publisher promoting sex RPGs I have coined the phrase 'Sex is Not the Enemy". We basically sell only online to consenting adults with credit cards who want to see sex in a videogame like environment, and you would be surprised how many do! We feel that letting users play out whatever fantasy the want from straight sex to gay to you name it, is one of the last frontiers in the storytelling required to make games as complete and compelling as Hollywood movies for instance or even a good smut book.
For a publisher in the sex in videogames niche its a fine line between commerce and artistic merit for the fantasy simulations that gamers want too see and control but we have to do what we have to do to strike a balance between giving what our users want and providing an experience that users will subscribe to from month to month and development costs.
That said I want to leave a link to a video clip by Daniel Floyd I think summarizes the challenges and controversy about sex in games and the challenges between getting it right from an interactive storytelling experience and creating a game that is commercially viable with all the obstacles a sex game faces.
BTW we realize about 50% of gamers think sex in games is a waste of time and lame but with 100's of millions of gamers now in the world the other 50% are demanding it so us and others like Red Light Center, Bonetown etc. will continue to deliver.
Slashdot Mirror
3Dsexgames.com or Chathouse3D to get some virtual mojo going
While ultra violent and racist games continue to be developed, and the violence and stereotyping mostly left unchecked and/or swept under the rug, sex in videogame is still as controversial as ever. I don't know if this is off topic considering the title of the thread "On the Advent of Controversial Video Games" but as chairperson of the IGDA Sex-SIG I feel somewhat compelled to comment. http://www.igda.org/sex/ [igda.org]
Even though the average age of gamers is 28+ years and older... its kind of hypocritical that youth can get relatively easy access to this kind of ultra violent and/or seemingly racist content (typically ERSB approved ) that is training and desensitizing another generation of gamers.
Throw some good old missionary or doggy style sex between a man and a woman and your in hot water. Enough hot water to make a lot of people boil over with antiquated ideas and opinions that games are for kids and they need to be sex needs to be kept out of the game experience period.
'Hot Coffee' as GTA pulisher Take2 found out... creates more controversy than its worth for mainstream publishers to venture forward. Maybe its teh way they did that matters inthat case but it was quite the controversy for a while.
Sony's God of War threesome and Bioware's Mass Effect alien lesbian scenes that cut away from the real action but leave pretty much nothing to the imagination about what's going to happen next are posted all over YouTube for anyone to see. These two semi-famous examples haven't landed those publishers in too much hot water so maybe attitudes are changing. After all any under age person who known's how to Google two keywords 'Free Porn' will see more than any virtual sex scene in any RPG game will ever be able to portray.
That said as Chairperson of the Sex-SIG (with a personal and professional goal of evangelizing Sex in Games), and also as a developer and publisher promoting sex RPGs I have coined the phrase 'Sex is Not the Enemy". We basically sell only online to consenting adults with credit cards who want to see sex in a videogame like environment, and you would be surprised how many do! We feel that letting users play out whatever fantasy the want from straight sex to gay to you name it, is one of the last frontiers in the storytelling required to make games as complete and compelling as Hollywood movies for instance or even a good smut book.
For a publisher in the sex in videogames niche its a fine line between commerce and artistic merit for the fantasy simulations that gamers want too see and control but we have to do what we have to do to strike a balance between giving what our users want and providing an experience that users will subscribe to from month to month and development costs.
That said I want to leave a link to a video clip by Daniel Floyd I think summarizes the challenges and controversy about sex in games and the challenges between getting it right from an interactive storytelling experience and creating a game that is commercially viable with all the obstacles a sex game faces.
http://www.gamerotica.com/video/view/57-video-games-and-sex
BTW we realize about 50% of gamers think sex in games is a waste of time and lame but with 100's of millions of gamers now in the world the other 50% are demanding it so us and others like Red Light Center, Bonetown etc. will continue to deliver.
While ultra violent and racist games continue to be developed, and the violence and stereotyping mostly left unchecked and/or swept under the rug, sex in videogame is still as controversial as ever. I don't know if this is off topic considering the title of the thread "On the Advent of Controversial Video Games" but as chairperson of the IGDA Sex-SIG I feel somewhat compelled to comment. http://www.igda.org/sex/
Even though the average age of gamers is 28+ years and older... its kind of hypocritical that youth can get relatively easy access to this kind of ultra violent and/or seemingly racist content (typically ERSB approved ) that is training and desensitizing another generation of gamers.
Throw some good old missionary or doggy style sex between a man and a woman and your in hot water. Enough hot water to make a lot of people boil over with antiquated ideas and opinions that games are for kids and they need to be sex needs to be kept out of the game experience period.
'Hot Coffee' as GTA pulisher Take2 found out... creates more controversy than its worth for mainstream publishers to venture forward. Maybe its teh way they did that matters inthat case but it was quite the controversy for a while.
Sony's God of War threesome and Bioware's Mass Effect alien lesbian scenes that cut away from the real action but leave pretty much nothing to the imagination about what's going to happen next are posted all over YouTube for anyone to see. These two semi-famous examples haven't landed those publishers in too much hot water so maybe attitudes are changing. After all any under age person who known's how to Google two keywords 'Free Porn' will see more than any virtual sex scene in any RPG game will ever be able to portray.
That said as Chairperson of the Sex-SIG (with a personal and professional goal of evangelizing Sex in Games), and also as a developer and publisher promoting sex RPGs I have coined the phrase 'Sex is Not the Enemy". We basically sell only online to consenting adults with credit cards who want to see sex in a videogame like environment, and you would be surprised how many do! We feel that letting users play out whatever fantasy the want from straight sex to gay to you name it, is one of the last frontiers in the storytelling required to make games as complete and compelling as Hollywood movies for instance or even a good smut book.
For a publisher in the sex in videogames niche its a fine line between commerce and artistic merit for the fantasy simulations that gamers want too see and control but we have to do what we have to do to strike a balance between giving what our users want and providing an experience that users will subscribe to from month to month and development costs.
That said I want to leave a link to a video clip by Daniel Floyd I think summarizes the challenges and controversy about sex in games and the challenges between getting it right from an interactive storytelling experience and creating a game that is commercially viable with all the obstacles a sex game faces.
http://www.gamerotica.com/video/view/57-video-games-and-sex
BTW we realize about 50% of gamers think sex in games is a waste of time and lame but with 100's of millions of gamers now in the world the other 50% are demanding it so us and others like Red Light Center, Bonetown etc. will continue to deliver.
thXXX
Brad Abram