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Games Entertainment

Will Sex In Games Ever Be Sexy? 110

Posted by Zonk from the as-opposed-to-creepy dept.
The Guardian Gamesblog has an editorial up discussing the pitiful state that sexuality is in when it comes to games. Titles like "Singles: Flirt up your Life" and "The Guy Game" are not sexy...they're just embarrassing. From the article: "Historically, you can understand the reasons behind the industry's adolescent handling of adult themes: a younger audience, a male-dominated development environment and, of course, basic pixilated visuals which only ever really allowed a nudge, nudge, wink, wink, 'Confessions of a Bitmapped Bikini Lady' approach to portraying sex."
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Will Sex In Games Ever Be Sexy? More

Will Sex In Games Ever Be Sexy?

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  • A distinct lack of discussion here. This could even be the first post.
    • I would take a gander everyone is reading the article... I mean it's about sex [in games].

      Most likely first article most have read all day. :)
    • A discussion about sex on Slashdot? I guess you missed the title of website.

      But anyway, my thoughts...

      Sex is a very visceral and a very physically intimate thing. While emotions have been conveyed well before in video games, for the most part it isn't conveyed as well in movies or books for example. This is because of the whole thing about video games being interactive art. I don't doubt a sex scene could be good in a video game. I've had a couple ideas myself. Let's take for granted that we're able to ma
    • "Will ? games ever be ?y ?" is a bad analogy, it's like saying "Will violent games ever be lethal?", or "Will sport games ever be equivalent to excersize?" (I'm not talking about excersize machines). The real question here is "Will dating games get me laid?"

  • Easy..just need smooth lines (Score:3, Funny)

    by pio!pio! ( 170895 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @04:35PM (#12718123) Journal
    Well written dialogue can be very successful at drawing the user in and creating a suspension of disbelief. It can overcome cartoony or 3d polygonal looking graphics and having to use a keyboard and mouse.

    Example

    Man: "I put on my robe and wizard hat....uh oh going limp!"
    Woman: "HAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!"

    • Re:Easy..just need smooth lines (Score:4, Funny)

      by jericho4.0 ( 565125 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @05:50PM (#12718800)
      from bash.org;

      bloodninja: Baby, I been havin a tough night so treat me nice aight?
      BritneySpears14: Aight.
      bloodninja: Slip out of those pants baby, yeah.
      BritneySpears14: I slip out of my pants, just for you, bloodninja.
      bloodninja: Oh yeah, aight. Aight, I put on my robe and wizard hat.
      BritneySpears14: Oh, I like to play dress up.
      bloodninja: Me too baby.
      BritneySpears14: I kiss you softly on your chest.
      bloodninja: I cast Lvl. 3 Eroticism. You turn into a real beautiful woman.
      BritneySpears14: Hey...
      bloodninja: I meditate to regain my mana, before casting Lvl. 8 chicken of the Infinite.
      BritneySpears14: Funny I still don't see it.
      bloodninja: I spend my mana reserves to cast Mighty F*ck of the Beyondness.
      BritneySpears14: You are the worst cyber partner ever. This is ridiculous.
      bloodninja: Don't f*ck with me bitch, I'm the mightiest sorcerer of the lands.
      bloodninja: I steal yo soul and cast Lightning Lvl. 1,000,000 Your body explodes into a fine bloody mist, because you are only a Lvl. 2 Druid.
      BritneySpears14: Don't ever message me again you piece of ****.
      bloodninja: Robots are trying to drill my brain but my lightning shield inflicts DOA attack, leaving the robots as flaming piles of metal.
      bloodninja: King Arthur congratulates me for destroying Dr. Robotnik's evil army of Robot Socialist Republics. The cold war ends. Reagan steals my accomplishments and makes like it was cause of him.
      bloodninja: You still there baby? I think it's getting hard now.
      bloodninja: Baby?
      --------------
      BritneySpears14: Ok, are you ready?
      eminemBNJA: Aight, yeah I'm ready.
      BritneySpears14: I like your music Em... Tee hee.
      eminemBNJA: huh huh, yeah, I make it for the ladies.
      BritneySpears14: Mmm, we like it a lot. Let me show you.
      BritneySpears14: I take off your pants, slowly, and massage your muscular physique.
      eminemBNJA: Oh I like that Baby. I put on my robe and wizard hat.
      BritneySpears14: What the f*ck, I told you not to message me again.
      eminemBNJA: Oh ****
      BritneySpears14: I swear if you do it one more time I'm gonna report your ISP and say you were sending me kiddie porn you f*ck up.
      eminemBNJA: Oh ****
      eminemBNJA: damn I gotta write down your names or something

    • Re:Easy..just need smooth lines (Score:5, Funny)

      by pipingguy ( 566974 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @06:34PM (#12719164)
      sexg0d: Hello, Sally_nicetits. What do you look like?<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I am wearing a red silk blouse, a miniskirt and high heels. I work out every day, I'm toned and perfect. My measurements are 36-24-36. What do you look like?<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm 6'3" and about 250 pounds. I wear glasses and I have on a pair of blue sweat pants I just bought from C&A. I'm also wearing a T-shirt with a few spots of madras sauce on it from dinner...and it smells funny.<br><br>

      Sweethart: I want you. Would you like to screw me?<br><br>

      sexg0d: OK<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: We're in my bedroom. There's soft music playing on the stereo and candles on my dresser and night table. I'm looking up into your eyes, smiling. My hand works its way down to your crotch and begins to fondle your huge, swelling bulge.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm gulping, I'm beginning to sweat.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I'm pulling up your shirt and kissing your chest.<br><br>

      sexg0d: Now I'm unbuttoning your blouse. My hands are trembling.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I'm moaning softly.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm taking hold of your blouse and sliding it off slowly.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I'm throwing my head back in pleasure. The cool silk slides off my warm skin. I'm rubbing your bulge faster, pulling and rubbing.<br><br>

      sexg0d: My hand suddenly jerks spastically and accidentally rips a hole in your blouse. I'm sorry.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: That's OK, it wasn't really too expensive.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'll pay for it.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: Don't worry about it. I'm wearing a lacy black bra. My soft breasts are rising and falling, as I breath harder and harder.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm fumbling with the clasp on your bra. I think it's stuck. Do you have any scissors?<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I take your hand and kiss it softly. I'm reaching back undoing the clasp. The bra slides off my body. The air caresses my breast. My nipples are erect for you.<br><br>

      sexg0d: How did you do that? I'm picking up the bra and inspecting the clasp.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I'm arching my back. Oh baby. I just want to feel your tongue all over me.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm dropping the bra. Now I'm licking your, you know, breasts. They're neat!<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I'm running my fingers through your hair. Now I'm nibbling your ear.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I suddenly sneeze. Your breast are covered with spit and phlegm.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: What?<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm so sorry; Really.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I'm wiping your phlegm off my breasts with the remains of my blouse.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm taking the sopping wet blouse from you. I drop it with a plop.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: OK. I'm pulling your sweat pants down and rubbing your hard tool.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm screaming like a woman. Your hands are cold! Yeeee!<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: I'm pulling up my miniskirt. Take off my panties.<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm pulling off your panties. My tongue is going all over, in and out nibbling on you...umm... wait a minute.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: What's the matter?<br><br>

      sexg0d: I've got a pubic hair caught in my throat. I'm choking.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: Are you OK?<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm having a coughing fit. I'm turning all red.<br><br>

      Sally_nicetits: Can I help?<br><br>

      sexg0d: I'm running to the kitchen, choking wildly. I'm fumbling through the cabinets, looking for a cup. Where do you keep your cups?

  • In the old days (Score:3, Funny)

    by FidelCatsro ( 861135 ) <fidelcatsro@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Friday June 03, 2005 @04:47PM (#12718241) Journal
    Well joystick waggling games went out of fashion in the days of the zx specturm and commodore 64.

  • Second Life (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Solder Fumes ( 797270 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @04:47PM (#12718243)
    Lotsa sex in Second Life. Basically there is financial competition to produce the sexiest clothing, poses, "accessories", and animations. Since you can make anything, there are some pretty advanced genitalia out there. Second Life allows you to tack anything anywhere on your avatar, including the Barbie- and Ken-like flat nether regions.

    Not that I get involved in such things.
  • In order to have a game which contains good sex, you need to have an audience who knows what good sex is.

    Unfortunately, judging by the popular porn promoted by most gamers and netiziens, most people don't have a fucking clue,

    It's fine if an 18 year old doesn't know what good sex is, but a 30 year old adult? Give me a fucking break.

    99% of porn on the net and on the videos is complete utter crap: Same formula, different girl, staged sex, fake orgasms-- all ending with a goddamn cumshot. Why the hell would you pull out of a great orgasm to cum on the girls face??? BOOOOOORRRRRING!

    The audience of this porn obviously doesn't have a fucking clue what 'hot sex' is, and doesn't tire out from bad crap porn.
    • Not only that, you have to have game makers who know what good sex is.

      Most porn is utter crap probably because the director (if any) and the cameraman have no idea what they're doing.

    • Why the hell would you pull out of a great orgasm to cum on the girls face??? BOOOOOORRRRRING!

      Umm...maybe because porn is a visual medium and you can't SEE someone having a great orgasm. Porn is not an instructional video. It's a way to excite you VISUALLY. This is the same reason you see flicking tongue's in porn during oral sex. Anybody with real experience knows that doesn't really work. But, apparently, it's visually enticing.

      I'm not trying to argue that porn is amazing. But you don't seem to have
    • The porn industry isn't trying to portray great sex. Great sex isn't something you can convey in a movie. It's something you experience. It's not something you experience with a stranger or a vibrating Nintendo controller and a tissue. It's far to deep to explain in a videogame; they will never succeed at making sex much more than a story element.
    • You know what, I just have to give you and huge fucking pat on the back. The kind that knocks the eyeballs out of your head and gives you a bloody nose.

      Now, I don't necessarily pass your standard of sexually experienced being only 19; but I speak for many people (mostly women) when I say:

      "What the fuck?"

      Pornography in this day and age sets a standard for sexual intercourse that is enjoyed almost exclusively by men. Attention is focused on one thing and one thing only: male pleasure. The only foreplay you

      • Interesting, but I have to question the "when there's more than 2 people" statement. That may be temporarily thrilling but it's a recipe for a train wreck.
        • I disagree. If you and your partner agree to a polygamous relationship and you lay out some sturdy ground rules then you should be fine.
          • I realize this is a "me too" post, however, I want to add that I have to agree with this. The notion of a one man one woman relationship is no more or less natural than any other kind of sexual relationship between consenting adults. The only thing that -really- gets in the way of alternative relationships is the reaction of society as a whole, and of course the fact that many relationships fail -anyway- due to incompatibility, lack of communication, lack of trust, etc.

          • Great if it works for you, but I'd bet that the vast majority of people (from any upbringing/social background/religion) are not ready for this and people's outlooks can change given time. Females nearing 30, for example, given the "mother instinct". Or is that just a myth?

            I'd guess that same-sex relationships might be more welcoming to such arrangements because the consequences of sex don't have the potential of "popping out a new one", but I wouldn't say that as being universal.

            In any case, it's alwa
      • Am I the only one who expected Slashdot to be the last place to ever see a post like this?

      • Re:You need an audience who knows what good sex is (Score:4, Insightful)

        by AstrumPreliator ( 708436 ) on Saturday June 04, 2005 @01:32AM (#12721521)
        I agree with most of what you said, but I'd like to point out that sex isn't purely physical. It isn't about the number of positions you are in during a session nor the amount of foreplay you do or how many different places you can stimulate at once. Don't get me wrong they're a part of the equation, but you need a bit more for great sex. You need an emotional and spiritual connection of some sort.

        In response to your second to last paragraph, every man and woman is different. Get over being embarrassed in the bedroom and communicate with eachother. Everyone has a fetish or two and you can get pretty turned on fulfilling your partner's desires and I know they will enjoy it.

        Besides, porn is just visual stimuli.
        • I wish I could mod you up.

          That's what I was thinking as I read the parent - sure, sex is all of those things...but sex isn't about doing 12 different positions, reading the Kama Sutra, lighting incense, etc.

          Do what's right at the time...are you fucking? Are you making love? There is no such thing as a "gross" sexual activity between two consenting adults.
      • Rarely do I comment on such obvious bullshit, but...

        Pornography in this day and age sets a standard for sexual intercourse that is enjoyed almost exclusively by men. Attention is focused on one thing and one thing only: male pleasure. The only foreplay you'll see in 9 out of 10 scenes is oral, usually being performed by the female party. Even taking your clothes off can be sensual if you do it right, pornographers can't even think try.

        Nonsense. There is plenty of porn with extended scenes of foreplay, l
    • It could just be that different people like different things,and you perhaps just don't like watching what most porn-buying blokes do. If people didn't want to watch the standard porno formula, it wouldn't be the standard porno formula.

      The problem with making "porno for women" or other such things is that porn is the most pirated material on earth, and if you want to make any money you need to go for the biggest market. And there's no such thing as porno for women. I know a lot of women who love porn, and
    • In order to have a game which contains good sex, you need to have an audience who knows what good sex is.

      Ummm, I gather from this article that "good sex" being referenced here is more about good video game porn and not, as you are leaning towards, "good sex." Honestly, do we have to explain that real good sex will have to take place among actual humans? The question is, why aren't there really good hardcore porn video games?

      fake orgasms-- all ending with a goddamn cumshot

      Somehow I think those are pro
  • From the post at the bottom of the article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_Valley [wikipedia.org] really made me think about the kind of characters that can make it work for me. Probably one of the best scenes I can remember from the games I've played is from Max Payne 2, there's a sex scene with Max and Mona that's told using the panel-and-narrator style and that did more for me than anything in GTA or Mafia or Bloodlines.

    The same can be said for films, for example when I watched the Incredibles I WANTED them to s
    • The uncanny valley is bogus. It was research done for robot appearances that culminated in very life-like manequins. Yes, with better graphics poorly designed models, textures, and lighting can combine to make one scarey looking face. However, I don't think this "uncanny valley" is as uncrossable with todays graphics as is purported.

      When I played Half-Life 2 on my medium-low end PC, the human characters were pretty dang believable at times. Of course Valve paid great attention to facial expressions, just l
      • I really do not think that the Uncanny Valley is completely bogus. There is a definate sense of creepiness to the characters in a lot of lifelike CG films/shorts, such as Final Fantasy and Polar Express, as opposed to the more styalized characters in say the Incredibles. I do not think that this has been fully researched to my knowledge.
    • I think the other comment, about Loser Association Syndrome, is more cogent. Video games are an escape. If I'm escaping to what ought to be real-life experiences, something is wrong.

  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Blakey Rat ( 99501 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @05:11PM (#12718467)
    They need to go play Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The writing in that game was excellent, including the sex scene.
    • Sex scene? I don't remember any sex scene in the PC game. And yes, I finished it.

      • Re:Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Score:4, Insightful)

        by snorklewacker ( 836663 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @06:44PM (#12719237)
        The bath scene. Hardly a sex scene ... it was all "off camera". Very PG. However, what was there was done exquisitely and tastefully, which was the thrust (ahem) of the article. I'm quite sure the artistic and writing talent behind that game could have gone on to show an even more erotic scene, but that would get the "AO" label slapped on it, Wal-Mart wouldn't carry it, and the console makers wouldn't publish it. Welcome to the repression of the "free" market.

        Not that I think it would have been entirely appropriate to put such a scene in that particular game, but sheesh, I'm 32 years old, I think I could handle it. Games are still for kids. Come to think of it, just about every mass-marketed entertainment out there is -- if not for actual children, then ones that are mentally.

  • Michael Ninn's Latex: The Game (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tm2b ( 42473 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @05:37PM (#12718690) Journal
    The one game I can name in this genre that was any good was Michael Ninn's Latex: The Game [earthlink.net].

    It was interesting... sort of a dumbed-down (but not completely trivial) combination of Myst, Pink Floyd's The Wall, and a porn flick (it included FMV clips from the porn movie, Michael Ninn's Latex).

    What was cool about it was that it immersed you in a surreal world, inside the mind of a lunatic. There was an otherworldly quality to it that by far exceeded what one would expect from a game based on a porn flick.

    I count it as the only truly sexy (and not braindead) "adult" game.

  • Erogenous (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Inmatarian ( 814090 )
    The brain is the largest erogenous organ in the body. And thats both literal and figurative, given most human brains weighs in at several pounds. The developers, if they're so keen on using interactive media as a conduit for the sex industry, have to realize that games appeal to our brains first.

    Unless its the rez vibrator pack. That thing appeals to a different organ entirely.

  • Sex vs. Sexual tension (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Daetrin ( 576516 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @06:30PM (#12719123)
    Although there is some overlap and some exceptions, generally you have the straight (so to speak) approach to sex taken by porn and anything else intended as a masturbation fantasy, which is the kind of thing that is generally pretty embaressing in any other context. Those who are trying to include sex in a work they consider to have artistic merit usually focus on sexual tension rather than directly on the sex itself.

    Stories about sexual tension usually have a lot more depth and layers of meaning to them than stories about sex alone. You can even have very sexy stories that don't actually have any explicit sex at all. More commonly an "artistic" story will have a lot of sexual tension followed by a little bit of sex, as opposed to porn which has a little (if any) sexual tension up front followed by a lot of sex.

    There's also always the "less is more" philosophy. It's often the stories with the least actual sex in them, and sometimes the least sexual tension, at least as intended by the author, that ends up with hordes of obsessed fans writing slash about them.

    So i expect the sex in video games will be sexy as soon as the developers and/or marketing departments realize it isn't about sex and body parts but about well developed characters and the social interactions between them which create sexual tension.

  • confusing the issue (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kaptron ( 850747 )
    I think a lot of people are confusing the idea of a simple sex/porn videogame with the idea of an actual legitimate game trying to deal with sexuality in an interesting/appropriate/mature manner. People have pointed out that google image search is easier than trying to play a porn game, or that porn itself doesn't deal with sex appropriately anyways; but the point of the article (albeit not a particularly profound one) was that a game like GTA, an M-rated RPG, or whatever hypothetical game you could think o

  • Stealth Game Sex? (Score:5, Funny)

    by pyrrhonist ( 701154 ) on Friday June 03, 2005 @07:19PM (#12719487)
    From the article:
    Arnold Schwarzenegger once said that he hated the sex scene in Terminator because it was totally at odds with the rest of the film - the same complaint would no doubt be levelled at sex in, say, Metal Gear Solid. Although 'stealth sex' is an intriguing concept.

    They'll never see you coming!

    • Arnold Schwarzenegger once said that he hated the sex scene in Terminator because it was totally at odds

      That's a really silly thing to say, because that sex (and the pregnancy it produced) was the whole focus of the movie's plot. You know that hero in T2 and T3? "John Connor"? That's where he came from...

      In fact, T3 would've been a better film if it had worked in a little time-travel sex as well...
      • That's a really silly thing to say

        I think his point was that there are less clumsy ways of integrating this aspect of John Conner into the films.

        Wait, why are we discussing an unconfirmed anecdote in a quote from an article that was attached to a joke post again? :)

        • I think his point was that there are less clumsy ways of integrating this aspect of John Conner into the films.

          No his point was that he's a moron who doesn't understand that the first movie is the story of Kyle Reece, NOT him. He probably doesn't even realize that James Cameron only gave him a few lines for a reason.

          -Eric

    • Don't worry, I hear the stalker game series has quite a few sequels already. Sad but true [illusion.jp].
  • Does anyone remember a "game" called MacPlaymate?

    It was a game with a naked woman and a number of "toys" with a self evident objective. This was all the rage at our University Macintosh lab for about 2 days, and then never to be seen again.
  • Maybe there is something wrong with me but I find this game a bit titillating. I still haven't been able to win, but I'll keep trying.

    Orgasm girl [flabber.nl]

  • I think one of the problems of sex in video games is the uncanny valley. The beach volley games like DOA look kinda spooky in my opinion, and not really sexy. Feel the Magic XX/XY [gamerankings.com] worked around this problem successfully by having a very stylized female. Basically, they leave it to your imagination, and it works. Opening her top actually is kinda sexy.

    Still, I think in many games, sex simply has no place. Mario and Peach would be very uncomfortable, and having the Halo guy get it on would really pull you ou

  • I dunno, I thought the girl-on-girl lesbian action in The Sims 2 was pretty sexy, especially in their bikinis. Not that I'll ever admit to making them do that.
  • I think that the problem with Sex in videogames is that the storylines and character development are, in general, not mature enough or explored in enough depth to allow for sex in games. Off the top of my head, I can only think of a handful of games with storylines, character development, and interaction that would be really deep enough to be able to include sex (off the top of my head: Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII could have gone there if they would have put a bit more into the dynamics between clo
  • Judging from the way "h-games" sell in their home country, Japan, I guess they are the correct way to do it. Games not focusing on sex itself, but building up to it by actually forming relationships and the end of the game being sex.
  • I will likely get flamed for this but "actual real life graphic sex" isn't really all that "sexy" either. The flirting, seduction, and foreplay are truly more "sexy" in every way.
  • you want a sexy game check out these SCREENSHOTS [myphotos.cc]
  • Adult Anime is animated sex as well, and that sells and is popular, good storyline or no good storyline.Sex is used in movies quite often, when it would be natural, and in some cases plot specific, for characters to engage in sex. We're not necessarily talking about porn, soft porn, or Basic Instinct here.

    The problem is that there is a an aversion by western and specifically American publishers to include any sort of overt sex; and this has to be because they're afraid of the ESRB rating hit, or the backla

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