Videogame Sex
- Thread starter John Scott Tynes
- Start date
Noo... sex should be for real people only. If you need something to uhh...'frap' to...there's way better things than a friggin game.
I always found it strange that Kratos had the time to stop and do the dirty with a couple of women that were laying around, I mean in the second game he had just been thrown a couple of hundred feet and crashed through the ceiling, you'd think he'd be more worried about getting stepped on or something.
Great article, but people are always going to be a little skittish when it comes to sex in videogames. The problem could possibly be rectified if someone sent a few Bouncing Bette's to the game developers studios during production of a new game.
Great article, but people are always going to be a little skittish when it comes to sex in videogames. The problem could possibly be rectified if someone sent a few Bouncing Bette's to the game developers studios during production of a new game.
Someone needs to watch that episode of 30 Rock where whatshisname tries to make a sex video game.
UNCANNY VALLEY NEEEEEERAAAOOOWWWW*boom*
The big problem I have is trying to project it on the player. The scene in Farenheit was semi-ok since it was a very detached cutscene. Trying to get me involved makes a lot of low assumptions of the player. Besides, there's this assumption that I find the character 'sexy' anyway. If I don't, then you're really up a creek.
You ever notice in the typical action movie, it's the comical, dumb thugs who are distracted by sex (passing red dress, etc) while the hard-ass hero ignores it and kicks their ass? We enjoy seeing the distraction on-film, but the protagonist doesn't need to grope over it.
UNCANNY VALLEY NEEEEEERAAAOOOWWWW*boom*
The big problem I have is trying to project it on the player. The scene in Farenheit was semi-ok since it was a very detached cutscene. Trying to get me involved makes a lot of low assumptions of the player. Besides, there's this assumption that I find the character 'sexy' anyway. If I don't, then you're really up a creek.
You ever notice in the typical action movie, it's the comical, dumb thugs who are distracted by sex (passing red dress, etc) while the hard-ass hero ignores it and kicks their ass? We enjoy seeing the distraction on-film, but the protagonist doesn't need to grope over it.
I actually like the way BioWare handles sex in video games. With its two most recent entries, ME and Dragon Age: Origins, it treats sex as one more facet of the narrative and characterization. What's so wrong with that? Then again, I'm female and asexual to boot, so the amount of time I think about sex is pretty minuscule compared to that of the averaged teenage boy. Which apparently is the demographic games like God of War cater to. At least BioWare is fairly respectful to the women involved. They're always treated as actual people instead of simply sex objects.
Bioware needs to make the sex in there games worth all the time and effort I put into romancing up my party members.
What's the big deal, Mass Effect said they would have sex in game, but it was just cut to black. I'm not too fussed about it at the moment because full frontal nudity is a long way off in mainstream games.
yer im very disappointed in dragon ages sex choices, right now ive spent most of my time whit a ***** who oppose every decision i make, an older wise, smart, funny, experienced women, and a boytoy whom i have served in the army whit, and they will only let me have sex whit the *****, and the worst part is, i dont really have a choice, when we sleep together i get approval from her which will give me game play beneficial, in theory a great idea, but it means im prostituting my character for mana.
Tongues and cheeks not withstanding despite any potential sexual applications, I actually think I might agree with the whole "rewarding" players with sex scenes thing, insofar as any bit of story or writing should be considered a reward. That is, as long as there'd be the possibility of having good writing instead of just IKEA erotica [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IKEAErotica] dolled up with a bunch of clumsy metaphors, which could just as easily be applied as punishment, though I never remember deserving such, alas, the world of storytelling can be a cold and cruel place at times.
Of course, what would constitute good erotic fiction is an entirely different and convoluted matter, and I dare say more than a little subjective, so I won't be adding any real substance to the comment thread. Neener neener. (Not to imply anyone wanted it. Or indeed that anyone would have gotten it in any amount of verbosity from me.)
Of course, what would constitute good erotic fiction is an entirely different and convoluted matter, and I dare say more than a little subjective, so I won't be adding any real substance to the comment thread. Neener neener. (Not to imply anyone wanted it. Or indeed that anyone would have gotten it in any amount of verbosity from me.)
One thing I've always thought is that there isn't enough sex in games, simply because it restricts how seriously you can take the in-story romances. This isn't about sex, it's about love and how it contributes to the plot. I can only think of four games with serious in-game romances which actually culminated in a love scene- Xenogears, Persona 3 FES, Persona 4 and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (I'm not sure what happened at the end of Warrior Within and in any case, the Prince and Kaileena never had a "romance" anyway). The Xenogears case is an especially good one- Xenogears is a particularly mature game, despite the 2D anime sprite-ish graphics, and the love scene (completely non-explicit, there's an anime cutscene where Fei and Elly kiss then we cut back to ingame graphics with Fei getting dressed while Elly is lying naked in bed) is the culmination of a love story which has been central to the plot for most of the game. Persona 3 was actually kind of mind-blowing for letting your high-school aged character sleep with up to 5 different girls (6 in the FES edition). Sure it was really only implied in most cases (Elizabeth's, on the other hand, was rather explicit) with a fade to black in the girl's room while you're told you "shared a tender moment" with the girl, but it was pretty obvious what they meant. However in all cases these scenes came at the end of their social link, which means you've spent a lot of time getting to know and building up a relationship with these girls- you're not just boning them because they're hot and in fact, THEY come on to YOU in their love scenes. Of course, this does mean that if you want 100% completion you basically have to cheat on them, which is why Persona 4 allowed you to opt to keep the relationship platonic for any of the girls you could romance (while still allowing you to sleep around if you chose).
The majority of other romances, especially in JRPGs, have all the maturity of a kids cartoon- the most erotic thing you'll see the characters do is kiss, if they're lucky; FFX for example had The Spring scene, although this isn't a game I think would have been improved by a love scene as Tidus and Yuna's romance was fairly juvenile, like a young crush and was pretty much fine as it was. I see this as a carry-over from anime storytelling where the culmination of a passionate romance is often no more than seeing the characters embrace for the first time. My thoughts are just that sex is a powerful and dramatic thing which should far more utilized in love stories, but guardedly. When you can bone practically any female that crosses your path (see: The Witcher) there's absolutely no emotional attachment formed there. To be honest, it's best left to compulsory or linear stories as making it optional generally reduces the amount of depth that's allowed to be assigned to the relationship before it becomes intrusive on the storyline: Persona 3 was able to get away with this because your character was just trying to carry on a normal school life by day while fighting monsters by night, but in Xenogears the relationship between Fei and Elly had gone back hundreds of years through reincarnation and had impacted massively on the back story, as well as the antagonists of the game.
The majority of other romances, especially in JRPGs, have all the maturity of a kids cartoon- the most erotic thing you'll see the characters do is kiss, if they're lucky; FFX for example had The Spring scene, although this isn't a game I think would have been improved by a love scene as Tidus and Yuna's romance was fairly juvenile, like a young crush and was pretty much fine as it was. I see this as a carry-over from anime storytelling where the culmination of a passionate romance is often no more than seeing the characters embrace for the first time. My thoughts are just that sex is a powerful and dramatic thing which should far more utilized in love stories, but guardedly. When you can bone practically any female that crosses your path (see: The Witcher) there's absolutely no emotional attachment formed there. To be honest, it's best left to compulsory or linear stories as making it optional generally reduces the amount of depth that's allowed to be assigned to the relationship before it becomes intrusive on the storyline: Persona 3 was able to get away with this because your character was just trying to carry on a normal school life by day while fighting monsters by night, but in Xenogears the relationship between Fei and Elly had gone back hundreds of years through reincarnation and had impacted massively on the back story, as well as the antagonists of the game.
hahahaha... well, while I generally agree with what you're saying, this line brought tears of mirth to my eyes:
I for one, would think that would create a hilarious game, where all you do is kill and fuck, kill and fuck.. Talk about sending a mixed moral message... I mean, call me a Freud, but I think having sex be a reward for killing people is a pretty slippery slope to the worst possible thing ever.
This - and I'm someone taken aback by John Scott's statement:high_castle said:
Seriously, I'm getting pissed off with game folks going 'oh, it never matched what we see in TV in terms of quality' - I loved Battlestar, but I don't see why some really great games are cast down against it. Ok, the vast majority of games don't live up to Battlestar - nor do the vast majority of other TV programs.
Bleh, it increasing seems to me Scott is abit of a blow hard - the only project I've seen him directly linked with is the "Pirates of the Burning Sea's".
I agree to an extent, it should be a totally optional reward though. Hey, some people get it, others don't. Nice article though.