Erotic MMO Targets Female Audience

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.'"

Re:Weird game

[cgenman]

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.

Re:Weird game

[thesandtiger]

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